The Way Overdue Fried Nian Gao

It was a dish meant for the celebration of the Chinese New Year, but due to work commitments, I never had a chance to get down to preparing it until now.

This is a traditional Chinese ‘sandwich’ of sorts, with bread as per the Western sandwiches, but with a different filling that melts in the mouth, thus allowing it to stand out among its variants.

Ingredients:

  • Egg: 2, lightly beaten
  • Self-raising flour: 110g
  • Baking powder: 1/2 tsp
  • Water: 100ml
  • Sesame oil: 2 tsp
  • Pepper: to taste
  • Freshly baked bread: 8 slices
  • Nian Gao: 1 small cake, sliced into 8 pieces
  • Toothpicks: About 30 pieces
  • Oil: enough for deep frying

Method:

  1. Heat oil for deep frying.
  2. Mix egg, flour and baking powder together.
  3. Pour in water. Add sesame oil and pepper. Mix well.
  4. Fold each slice of bread over 1 slice of nian gao so that it becomes halved. Secure the sides with toothpicks.
  5. Dip sandwich into batter and deep fry till golden brown (about 5min).
  6. Dap with paper serviettes to remove oil.
  7. Remove toothpicks before serving.

Tricks:

  • Use double acting baking powder to ensure that the batter rises.
  • Use a frying wok instead of a commercial deep fryer to prevent the batter from sticking to the sides of the dipping pan.
  • Use sweet potatoes to substitute the bread for an authentic Teochew dish.

Serving:
4 persons

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