Chinese New Year (4) 過年篇（4）蒸年糕(不敗版)，煮湯圓

I grew up in the Northern part of China. Our rice cake is quiet different from Southern China . Usually they are stuffed with different type of sweet, nuty fillings. We love them as snacks or dessert. Late 1990s, Southern style rice cake becomes popular in North when people celebrate the Chinese New Year. It is because they are given good names/words that people like to hear during the Chinese New Year. Same with stuffed sweet sticky rice balls, we call them "tang yuan". Anyway, both of them are delicious. It doesn't matter the Northern way or Southern way. We love them all.
在北方，涼糕是北方的傳統食品，有不同種餡，甜的較多。做零食，點心很多，一年四季商店市場都有的賣，年糕是90年代後期從南方傳到北方的。由於名字很吉祥，春節期間很受歡迎。湯圓也一樣，北方有元宵是滾出來的。湯圓是包出來的，從南方“進口的”。不管是涼糕還是年糕，不管是湯圓還是元宵，我們統統喜歡。

Chinese Rice cake: (fool proof version)
8 Oz Sweet rice flour
1 cup water
2 tsp oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins and dates
Mix all together. Pour the mixture into a heat proved container which brushed with oil.  In a steamer, steam for 20 minutes.
我的不敗年糕的做法和配方見下圖。
小貼市: 我很喜歡我的蒸鍋,但是我發現用蒸籠做年糕比用蒸鍋好.表麵不會集水. 買了蒸鍋後一直想把蒸籠扔了,幸虧沒有.....


The purpose of adding oil is to prevent hardness after rice cake is cold. See below picture for sliced rice cake. They are soft and sweet.
加油的目的是涼了以後不會硬硬的。下圖是蒸的年糕，涼後切片。香甜綿軟。


Below picture is pan fried rice cake. They are delicious!
下圖是油煎的，外脆內軟。和蒸的風味不同，很香！


Tang Yuan:
See below picture for recipe and instruction.
我們喜歡元宵，也喜歡湯圓。我發現包湯圓比做元宵幹淨些，麵粉不會飛得到處都是。下圖是我包的湯圓。



They are soft, sweet and can be surprised sometime........
我的配方加些大米粉，全部用糯米粉會太軟，又粘牙。這樣口感正好。


These traditional Chinese holiday dessert are so delicious and very easy to make at home.
好香，好甜， 又好做。。。。。。。