Taro Nian Gao – Recipe

It's Chinese New Year's Eve, and it's sticky rice cake-making time again. I make more or less the same nian gao every year, and was looking to mix things up this year. On finding some long-forgotten taro bubble tea powder in my cupboard the other day, I decided to roll with that – I've never seen a taro nian gao before, so this was quite an experiment.

Depending on which brand of taro bubble tea powder you have, you may need to adjust the amount of sugar to taste (some brands may be sweeter than others). It's best to start small, then gradually increase the amount of sugar.

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients:

500g glutinous rice flour
100g taro bubble tea powder
80g caster sugar, or to taste
400ml coconut milk
300ml water
A few drops of purple food colouring
Coconut oil, for greasing
Gold leaf, to decorate (optional)

Method:

1. Grease a 7" round pan generously with coconut oil and set aside.

2. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients thoroughly, pour into the pa and steam for 50 minutes.

3. Leave to cool completely before unmoulding and serving. I decorated with gold leaf – got to get that good fortune in.

That's it! Enjoy, and have fun.