Chinese New Year (4) 过年篇（4）蒸年糕(不败版)，煮汤圆

I grew up in the Northern part of China. Our rice cake is quiet different from Southern China . Usually they are stuffed with different type of sweet, nuty fillings. We love them as snacks or dessert. Late 1990s, Southern style rice cake becomes popular in North when people celebrate the Chinese New Year. It is because they are given good names/words that people like to hear during the Chinese New Year. Same with stuffed sweet sticky rice balls, we call them "tang yuan". Anyway, both of them are delicious. It doesn't matter the Northern way or Southern way. We love them all.
在北方，凉糕是北方的传统食品，有不同种馅，甜的较多。做零食，点心很多，一年四季商店市场都有的卖，年糕是90年代后期从南方传到北方的。由于名字很吉祥，春节期间很受欢迎。汤圆也一样，北方有元宵是滚出来的。汤圆是包出来的，从南方“进口的”。不管是凉糕还是年糕，不管是汤圆还是元宵，我们统统喜欢。

Chinese Rice cake: (fool proof version)
8 Oz Sweet rice flour
1 cup water
2 tsp oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins and dates
Mix all together. Pour the mixture into a heat proved container which brushed with oil.  In a steamer, steam for 20 minutes.
我的不败年糕的做法和配方见下图。
小贴市: 我很喜欢我的蒸锅,但是我发现用蒸笼做年糕比用蒸锅好.表面不会集水. 买了蒸锅后一直想把蒸笼扔了,幸亏没有.....


The purpose of adding oil is to prevent hardness after rice cake is cold. See below picture for sliced rice cake. They are soft and sweet.
加油的目的是凉了以后不会硬硬的。下图是蒸的年糕，凉后切片。香甜绵软。


Below picture is pan fried rice cake. They are delicious!
下图是油煎的，外脆内软。和蒸的风味不同，很香！


Tang Yuan:
See below picture for recipe and instruction.
我们喜欢元宵，也喜欢汤圆。我发现包汤圆比做元宵干净些，面粉不会飞得到处都是。下图是我包的汤圆。



They are soft, sweet and can be surprised sometime........
我的配方加些大米粉，全部用糯米粉会太软，又粘牙。这样口感正好。


These traditional Chinese holiday dessert are so delicious and very easy to make at home.
好香，好甜， 又好做。。。。。。。