China is famous for its delicious food. Especially during festivals, there are different traditional foods. Among them is niangao.
Niangao, a kind of Chinese New Year's Rice Cake, is made from glutinous rice (糯米). It is very popular during the Spring Festival.
The pronunciation of niangao sounds like year and high, which means higher income (收入), better jobs, higher marks, the growth of children, and generally the promise of a better year.
Niangao is usually made from glutinous rice flour (糯米粉), wheat starch (麦粉), salt, water and sugar. The tastes can be divided into two main kinds: sweet niangao in northern China, while sweet or salty niangao in the south. Salty and sweet tastes are both fantastic. In the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, people can put different things inside niangao, such as flower sugar, oil, and sweet red beans.
▲ The ways to make niangao include braise (炖), stir-fry (炒), deep-fry, piece-fry, soup cooks and so on. Stir-fried niangao with sugar is quite popular.
Stir-fried niangao with Shepherd's Purse (荠菜) is also very delicious. Chicken soup niangao should appear in every family on Chinese New Year's Eve.
Niangao is not only delicious but also meaningful. Do you want to learn to cook it or just want to eat it?