Happy Chinese New Year Everyone! It's the year of the Snake!
I wish you guys a prosperous and lucky New Year. I hope you guys made the 发糕 Fa Gao. It will let you guys know how prosperous you guys will be! The more the "petals" bloom, the better.
Remember to make the 烤年糕 Nian Gao and the Buddha's Delight (Jai) for the New Year. You're suppose to eat Vegetarian for your first meal of the New Year.
So, it has been 2 years since I first started my blog! Well, it's been 2 lunar years. Here's my first blog post on Chinese New Year of 2011. I can't believe it has been 2 lunar years. So much has happened since then. I can't believe it. I hope the best for the future.
As you know, Chinese New Year (CNY) is coming up. It's on February 10th. 新年快乐！By the way, today is also my blog's birthday! Anyway...
Since the New Year is coming up soon, I thought I'd link up some of my recipes here so that you guys can make things for the CNY. It's also known as the Lunar New Year.
This recipe is from another website but it's a Chinese recipe. On Chinese New Year, the first meal eaten should be vegetarian. It's called Buddha's Delight, or Jai. Here's a link to a recipe.
I hope you guys enjoy these recipes!
Do you celebrate the lunar New Year or CNY?
What's your favorite CNY treat?
Dajia hao! Hi everyone. Today's post is going to be more of a cultural one.
Chinese New Year is coming up pretty soon. It's coming in two weeks, February 10. It's on a Sunday. And, as you know, us Chinese make a lot of things to celebrate the New Year and do things to make sure that the New Year will be prosperous and good.
So, today's recipe is going to be the Chinese Prosperity Cake (Cupcakes), also known as Fa Gao (发糕). Fa go is a steamed cupcake. As you see, there are "petals". The more the petals have blossomed, the more prosperous you will be and the more wealth you will obtain in the New Year. I do have another recipe but this recipe is different from the other one. Here's the link to my other recipe. This recipe here is more traditional but if you are unfamiliar with the taste and texture of rice flour, then I suggest you use my other recipe. Servings: 6 cupcakes Calories: ~ 140 calories Recipe adapted from Random Cuisine. Ingredients:
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 1/2 sticks brown candy sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp water
Directions:
Boil 3/4 cup of water and then add in the candy sugar. Wait until it dissolves.
In a bowl, mix together the flours.
Pour the sugar mixture into the flours and mix as you are pouring it in.
Combine the baking powder with water and then add it into the batter.
Pour into cupcake pans and steam for 15 minutes.
Enjoy!
The texture of these cupcakes are a bit dense but they would be denser if you used all rice flour (which I've tried before). I hope you guys enjoy these! Zaijian!
Do you guys like cupcakes?
Do you guys celebrate the Lunar New Year (aka CNY)?
恭喜发财!新年快乐！身体健康！今天是中国的新年。This year is the year of the 龙。I wish everyone a prosperous New Year!
I can't believe that it has been one full lunar new year since I have started this blog. Blogging has been quite an experience for me and I really enjoy it. I thank you readers who come stop by to see what I have cooked up in the kitchen. I'm hoping that more readers come the upcoming year.
Anyway, for the New Year, I've decided to change my blog layout a bit, to make it more organized. I'm going to make a separate page for the different types of foods I have made. For example, I might make a category for "Asian" food, "Breakfast" and so on.
To celebrate the New Year, here's a really cute Chinese New Year song:
Here are some recipes that can be made for the Chinese New Year:
However, for the 发糕，I'm going to repost the recipe here. It's seems like everyone loves that recipe and, I've changed some of the measurements for the ingredients.
Chinese New Year Prosperity Cupcakes Ingredients
1 box yellow cake mix (18.25 oz) any other flavor is fine
1 cup Glutinous Rice flour 糯米粉
1 cup Rice Flour 米粉
1 1/4 3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, sugar and both the rice flours.
Next, mix in the water. oil and eggs.
Boil water in a wok or steamer.
Fill the cupcake pans.
Once the water has boiled, put the pan into the steamer or wok, cover it, and steam for 15 minutes. Once 15 minutes has gone by, take the lid off.
Take it out of the wok, take out the cupcakes, and repeat until all the batter is gone. Wait until the cupcakes cool down before eating them. Enjoy! There is no need for frosting. :)
大家好！下个星期是中国的新年！一月二十三日！星期一．What sucks is that the week of Chinese New Year, is also the week of finals. I would rather celebrate the holidays than study for finals. 4 AP classes to study for!
So, anyways, to celebrate the Chinese New Year, I decided to make these, 煎堆 . They're deep fried sesame glutinous rice balls. These have red bean filling in them. I love read bean. Anyway, even though they are really unhealthy (being deep fried in peanut oil) , they are so delicious! Don't eat too much of them though. Just a warning. Also, the deep frying part is the hardest part. Good luck. Here's the recipe.
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups glutinous rice flour
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup boiling water
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1 cup red bean paste
Directions:
In a bowl, add the sugar to the water.
In another, put in the rice flour. Gradually add in the sugar water to the flour.
Dust your hands with rice flour and form balls the size of golf balls.
Then, with the red paste, form balls smaller than the dough.
Punch a hole into the rice balls (but not all the way) and shape it into a cup like container. Place a red bean ball inside the cup and close the dough over the red bean.
Roll it into the sesame seeds. Then deep fry in peanut oil.
