Happy Chinese New Year (Cake)
Chinese New Year Cake | 年糕 might be one of my favorite foods. It's also my dad's favorite. The cake is the equivalent of mochi in texture, something White Boyfriend is not fond of. The filling is a delicious mixture of sweet red bean and Chinese red dates. Mama makes this every time I am home, but traditionally, it's eaten during the Spring Festival, which is the two-week long celebration starting with the first day of Chinese New Year.
My confession is that this was my first time making this. There was a lot of texting with my mom. These days, she is the chef of the household and Baba has been relegated to sous chef. Mama claims his cooking isn't as good anymore, but my theory is it's mostly learned helplessness because she takes care of him.
Mama is a strong-willed, fiery woman; I get that from her. She did not starve like Baba during the Great Famine, but her family fared much worse throughout the Cultural Revolution. During this time, Mao Zedong attempted to purge the country of capitalist and bourgeois elements, which included the often arbitrary and violent imprisonment of senior leadership. Because my mom's father was the head of the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, he was accused of being a capitalist roader and locked away for three years from 1967 to 1970. Mama could visit him once a week, when she would bring clothes, medicine, and cigarettes. She remembers the watchful eyes of the Red Guards, always close by, wielding their batons threateningly.
To make matters worse, my mom's mother overdosed on streptomycin, an antibiotic, and lost all her motor functions. She would not fully recover for nearly ten years. Mama became the caretaker for the family, which included her four brothers. At the tender age of fourteen, she cooked, cleaned, sewed, and looked after her paralyzed mother. She remembers purchasing a roll of black cloth—the cheapest—and using it to make coats for everyone, which the kids at school tormented them mercilessly about.
I am in awe of Mama when I hear these stories. Nowadays, she spends her time fussing over me, Baba, and White Boyfriend. The black cloth that haunted her from her teenage sewing tribulations has been replaced by colorful fabrics that she cuts and pieces skillfully into beautiful quilts—her favorite pastime.
This New Year Cake is Mama's specialty. I look forward to it whenever I'm home. The two key ingredients are glutinous rice flour and Chinese red dates—both of which you'll need to procure from an Asian grocery store. Start by soaking your dates in water.
This next step I totally cheated. Mama prepared the red bean and date filling for me when she visited and left the bag in the freezer. All I had to do was thaw it. You'll have to boil and simmer red beans for hours, then add the dates, and slave away over a hot stove. The filling mixture will need a lot of sugar to make it sweet enough for this cake, so don't skimp when you read the "one cup" in the recipe.
The dough portion is almost impossible to mess up—just flour, water, and a bit of brown sugar. The end product should be almost like Play-Doh in texture, but a tad softer.
The next steps are just like making a pie. I used a tart pan with a removable base so that it'd be easier to get out. Be sure to generously oil your pan, because this mochi is damn sticky after it's steamed. Divide your dough into two parts and use one for the base of the "pie". Add your filling inside and top with the other half of dough, which you've formed into a large round. Decorate with the remainder of the dates.
Steaming your cake will take a good hour. Don't be tempted to lift the lid while you wait. What comes out will be pure bliss—unless you're White Boyfriend. Now you just gotta sweet talk Mama into shipping you some bags of that red bean/date filling so you don't have to make it from scratch!
For the straight-up Chinese New Year Cake recipe, click here.