Chinese New Year Cakes are like  a taste of childhood. They are warm, sweet and chewy, with a hint of ginger or coconut flavour. I began making my own Chinese New Year Cakes a few years ago, while I was pregnant with Jordan. At the time, I was thinking about the family traditions that my new family would have. I asked myself, “What will my children remember about their childhood?”

I knew right away that I would want my children to remember something special about Chinese New Year. Yes, they will, of course, remember the red envelops that they are going to get, but I want them to remember “the taste of Chinese New Year”. So I decided to start with the New Year Cakes. I will call them Nin Go from here on (The Cantonese name).

There are generally two types of Nin Go: Ginger Cane Sugar and Coconut. I personally likes the ginger one more, so that’s the only one that I make :). Richard loves anything chewy and sticky so Nin Go is perfect for him. He often eats half a Nin Go in one sitting.(Word of caution here, Nin Gos are quite filling. Eating too much in one go will result in the “clomp in your tummy”kind of feeling! Haha! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!) Either kind of Nin Go is super easy to make, and ingredients are easily accessible at your local Chinese market. So take a look and what I have here and give it a whirl!

Since I usually make the Ginger Cane Sugar Nin Go, that’s what you will see here in this post. You can easily adapt the recipe to make Coconut Nin Go 🙂 !

Ready? It’s super easy to make and very low maintenance. First, your ingredients.

These, my friends, is all that you will need to make Nin Go. You can easily get them at your local Chinese grocery stores. (The coconut milk here for this Nin Go is optional. I use just a table spoon of it for a hint of color and flavour. You can omit them if you don’t want to have to wonder what to do with the rest of the can of coconut milk.)

I start by making the cane sugar syrup for the Nin Go. Boil 2 cups of water, 300g of the cane sugar, and a few slices of ginger together for a few minutes until the cane sugar dissolves. Let the mixture cool (I just pop it in the fridge for half an hour.)

When your sugar syrup has cooled to room temperature, add in 1 tbsp of the coconut milk (if you choose to). At this point, you can add the syrup to the flour mixture. Does it really matter what you add to what? The answer is, I have tried both ways and I don’t notice a difference 😛 . So do as you like! The mixture will be clumpy but don’t worry! These will help:

It doesn’t really matter what size of a sift you have. Of course the bigger the easier, but whatever gets the job done! Run the batter through the sift twice to ensure a smooth batter. Your batter should run like a thin pancake batter.

If you find your batter too thick, just add a couple of table spoons of water to thin it down.  I find runnier batter result in a softer Nin Go. Just make sure that you don’t put too much water in or else you’ll have a blob of Nin Go instead of something that has a shape.

And the Nin Go is ready to be poured into the containers and steamed!! This recipe will fill an 8″ round pan (about 3/4 full), or a few of these small loaf pans.

I usually steam the 8″ size for about an hour on medium high heat (on my stove it’s 8), or 50 minutes for these little guys in the picture. As soon as they are done, I like to put a red date in the middle for decoration. Just a pop of color 🙂 ! Then I leave them in the steamer to cool off.

Tah Dah!!!

Richard, my hubby, likes to eat them fresh and warm as it is. Or you can also prepare them the traditional way: dip them in eggs and pan fry them on low until golden brown and soft. If you use medium heat or higher, you will burn them before they become soft and chewy! Good food takes patience!! The best thing that I love about Nin Go is that they can last a while in the fridge. Yes they may look like they have hardened, but as soon as you pan fry them, they will be soft as new!Genious, right?! Make sure you always serve them hot/warm. If they even last that long for them to cool off, you can always microwave it for 10-15 seconds to warm them up again!

This year, I have made many batches of Nin Go for friends and family. It’s my way of wishing them a good year, and a token of love from me to them. I made little Chinese New Year gift tags to go with them! I love that picture of my boys:)

And that, my friends, is my Chinese New Year Nin Go! It will be Chinese New Year tomorrow, but It’s not too late to whip up your first batch of Nin Go to celebrate! We wish you a wonderful and prosperous year of the Monkey, and may you and your family fill this year with many happy memories. Gong Hei Fat Choi!! Happy New Year!

 

Stephy’s Nin Go Recipe

  2-1/2Cups of glutinous rice flour

 300g of cane sugar

1/2cup + 2 tbsp wheat starch

2 cups of water

1 tbsp of coconut milk (optional)

a few slices of ginger (about the size of a large coin. More if you like ginger flavor, like me)

1. Make sugar syrup by boiling the 2 cups of water on the stove. Add in cane sugar and ginger. Let the syrup cool to room temperature.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the glutinous flour with the wheat starch.

3. When the syrup has cooled off, add into the flour mixture. Mix until combine. Batter will be clumpy.

4. Sift the mixture twice to dissolve everything.

5. Oil the containers, pour batter into the containers about 3/4 of the way. Be careful not to over fill them as it will be difficult for you to put them into the steamer.

6. Steam Nin Go for 50minutes to 1 hour. You know your Nin Go is done when you test it with a skewer and the skewer feels sticky inside the Nin Go.

7. Enjoy it fresh and warm as it is, or dip them in eggs and pan fry them on low for a golden, warm, and decadent treat!

I have combine several recipes and adapted them to make this my very own Nin Go recipe. Should you want to share it on your site, I would appreciate it if you would credit to this site or to link to my blog. Thanks! 🙂