Large Steamed Rice Cake

Large Steamed Rice Cake

　　Large Steamed Rice Cake

　　It is called “niangao” in the north, “sweet cake” among the Hakka people, and “Large Steamed Rice Cake” is the distinctive local term used in Huizhou. Since it is often used during the New Year for worshipping gods, ancestors, and the Kitchen God, it is considered a ceremonial food for the holiday.

　　The ingredients of the Large Steamed Rice Cake differ slightly from those of the northern niangao but are similar to the Hakka sweet cake, both mainly using glutinous rice flour as the main ingredient. Depending on the recipe, brown sugar, rock sugar, white sugar, or granulated sugar may be added, and sticky rice flour is included based on the desired softness or hardness. During preparation, no yeast starter is used. First, the sugar is boiled into syrup, then cooled to around 90 degrees Celsius before being slowly poured into the flour mixture and stirred until smooth. The consistency should be thick enough that chopsticks can lift it into strands (colloquially referred to as “sling flour”). Then it is placed in a large container and steamed over high heat for one to two hours. As a New Year food, it is customary for locals to stick a small red paper on the steamed Large Steamed Rice Cake to mark it as an offering or to give as a gift to relatives and friends.