发糕 Fa Gao "Chinese Prosperity Cake"

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:

1. Boil 3/4 cup of water and then add in the candy sugar. Wait until it dissolves. 
2. In a bowl, mix together the flours. 
3. Pour the sugar mixture into the flours and mix as you are pouring it in. 
4. Combine the baking powder with water and then add it into the batter. 
5. Pour into cupcake pans and steam for 15 minutes. 
6. 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)?

紅豆沙 Red Bean Soup

 I love eating anything red bean. I think I've said that before. So, I was so happy when my mom decided to make 紅豆沙, red bean soup, today. It's been a long time since I have eaten it. It's delicious.
I remember when I was younger, I used to not care for this dessert. I don't know what I was thinking. My mom would try to get me to eat it, but I refused. Now, it's my favorite. Red bean is awesome.
The restaurants make it a bit differently then my mom does, in that they don't add many nuts and beans and that stuff. Usually, restaurants just have the soup, red beans, rice and occasionally some weird pearl stuff. Theirs is also sweeter. I like mines sweet but not to sweet. Also, when my aunts make 紅豆沙, theirs is twice as sweet. Literally, since they add twice as much brown sugar pieces than my mom does. Me and my mom don't like it too sweet and it's also a bit unhealthy adding all of that sugar. So, if you guys like things sweet, you can add more sugar than stated in the recipe. Also, there are no exact measurements for this recipe. Enjoy.


Ingredients:

• half a bag of red beans
• 1/4 bag of mixed beans
• 1/4 cup lotus seed
• peanuts 
• 1 cup rice (my mom uses Jasmine White Rice)
• 1 bag Brown Sugar Pieces (Rock Sugar)
• water

Directions: 

1. In a large saucepot, combine all the ingredients EXCEPT for the brown sugar pieces. Rinse and rain them a few times. Then, let it sit in the water for half an hour to an hour. 
2. Add water until the pot is almost full. Then, bring it to a boil. 
3. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and let it cooked uncovered for 1 1/2 hrs to 2 hrs. 
4. Then, add in the brown sugar pieces. Stir until it melts. Taste the soup. If you like it sweeter, add another bag. 
5. Enjoy. 

煎堆 Red Bean Sesame Balls

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: 

1. In a bowl, add the sugar to the water. 
2. In another, put in the rice flour. Gradually add in the sugar water to the flour.
3.  Dust your hands with rice flour and form balls the size of golf balls. 
4. Then, with the red paste, form balls smaller than the dough.
5. 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.
6. Roll it into the sesame seeds. Then deep fry in peanut oil.
7. Blot the balls (because of the oil) and enjoy. :) 
8. Don't eat too much. ;)

Steamed Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls

These are the ones my aunt made. I helped her.

I've had a craving for the steamed glutinous rice balls since my aunt made them a week ago. The only time I ever eat them is when my aunts make them to bring to the huge family gatherings. So, I finally decided to ask them how to make these Steamed Sweet glutinous rice balls. It's the not actual translation, but it's what I'm calling it. In Taishanese, it's called yuan tei. The ones I made look ugly, while the ones my aunt's made look nice. I added too much water, which gave it that look. My aunt never told me the liquid measurements for the recipe, so I guestimated. I did measure the liquid though, so, I can say to not go over 5 cups of water.

Mines didn't turn out so pretty, but they were delicious.

 However, they taste just the same. Maybe another problem is that I halved the recipe to make this, but, it's okay. I'm sure your guy's attempt will be better. I'll remember to use less water next time. It'll make it look better too. I will replace the picture once I made it again. They taste pretty good though. As long as something tastes delicious, the looks of it shouldn't matter. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag glutinous rice flour
• 1 bag wheat starch
• 1 bag of brown  candy sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3 cups water

Directions:

1. In a pot, boil the water and add all the sugar until it all melts and dissolves. Then, mix in half the bag of wheat starch. Keep mixing and stirring until it gets a bit thick. Remove from heat. 
2. In a bowl, mix together the rest of the dry ingredients and form a volcano. In the center of the volcano, add in the sugar mixture. 
3. Mix the mixture together until it forms a dough. You may need to mix and knead it a few times. Be careful, since the mixture is hot. 
4. Once the dough has formed, you take small bits of dough and roll them into palls. Place them on a pan. Put them all together on the pan. Once you have used up all the dough to make the small balls, steam them for 30 minutes. You may need more than 1 pan.
5. Take out and enjoy. You might want to let them cool a bit first. Remember to cover these soon, for these tend to dry out a bit easier due to the lack of lipids. 

As you see, mines didn't turn out so pretty, but the ones I helped my aunt make did. At least mines tasted the same. It just looks different.