Traditional 20 Years Old Chinese New Year Recipes

This is an oil-free, unsweetened yet aromatic version of CNY rice cake.

(Makes 4)
125g gula Melaka
35g dark sugar
450g water
260g glutinous rice flour
60g rice flour
(Medium high heat, steam for 1 hour).

Today, I'm excited to share my 20-year-old unique recipe for Chinese New Year cake with you all. It's really easy to make, all you need is glutinous rice flour and some rice flour. If you don't have rice flour on hand, you can just use the same amount of glutinous rice flour instead.

You just need two kinds of sugar: gula melaka, which has a traditional shape and is authentically made in Malaysia. You can buy it online from Asian grocery stores for about £3.

You can also grab it on Amazon for 6 pounds, delivery included. It really has that nostalgic, authentic gula melaka taste. As for dark muscovado sugar, I always go for Billington's brand because it tastes the best in the UK so far.

You can substitute half a cup of brown granulated sugar for a caramel and toffee flavour, and of course, it should be Billington's brand.

In a saucepan, add 125g of gula melaka and 35g of dark muscovado sugar. You could also use one piece of Chinese brown sugar to replace 125g of gula Melaka.

Bring it to a boil over medium heat, then add 450g of water. Cook until the sugars are completely dissolved.

In a bowl, combine 260g of glutinous rice flour with 60g of rice flour, then pour in the syrup water and mix until you have a smooth batter. If you don't have rice flour on hand, you can just use the same amount of glutinous rice flour instead. The reason I add rice flour is that it helps the cake be less soft and gives it a nice chewy bite.

For the steamer, fill it with enough water and steam it on high heat for about 5 minutes to warm the bowl and prevent sticking. Next, divide the batter into 4 stainless steel bowls and steam them on medium-high heat for one hour.

I've had great success with this in my many New Year cake recipes, but this particular recipe is my go-to for being easy, flavourful, delicious, and addictive.

If you're not satisfied with your homemade rice cake, give this a try. I am sure you will become addicted to it. You can enjoy it right after steaming with chopsticks, or the next day, just cut it into pieces with scissors to savour that coconut and toffee mochi taste, or fry it with eggs. It's my favourite to pair with jasmine green tea or homebrew coffee.

You can make a healthy and yummy homemade Chinese New Year cake for someone special. Just put the cleaned red dates on top, steam it for another 5 minutes, and you're all set!

I'd love to see if you try out this recipe! Send me your recreated photos on Instagram, tag me @JosephineRecipes, and give me credit. It really makes me proud of all of you!

This video recipe is filmed naturally using my iPhone, and it's different from my previous ones. I used to use a heavy Canon 90D camera, and tripod, it really messed up my neck. It got so bad that I had to stop using it. Those were more like therapy sessions, filled with peaceful vibes, beautiful birds, and flowers.

This new style is simple, quick, and natural, focusing less on perfection and taking less time to create and produce the video recipe. Thanks for watching! Good bye, my friends.