Steamed New Year rice cake

Your ingredients

Get ready: Bowl, saucepan, 20 cm solid cake tin, baking paper and large covered steamer.

• 🥣100 g dried Chinese dates
• 🥜100 g walnuts
• 🍚450 g glutinous rice flour
• 🍚100 g regular rice flour
• 🍯180 g dark brown sugar
• 🥣1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced
• 💧470 ml water
• 🥜45 g coconut oil

Let’s make it

1. Soak and chop

   Soak dried jujubes and walnuts overnight in the fridge. Drain, remove all jujube stones and chop finely, keeping one whole pitted date for the top. Mix chopped fruit and nuts with both flours.

2. Make ginger syrup

   Simmer brown sugar, sliced ginger and 470 ml water in a covered pan for 3 minutes. Remove ginger, stir in oil and let the liquid cool enough to handle safely.

3. Mix a soft dough

   Gradually add most of the syrup to the flour mixture, mixing and lightly kneading. Add the rest only as needed to make a soft dough.

4. Steam the cake

   Oil and line the tin base. Press in dough, flatten and add the reserved date. Steam over boiling water for about 45 minutes, checking the steamer water and topping up carefully. The cake should be cooked through, with no dry floury centre.

5. Cool before slicing

   Cool promptly in the tin, then refrigerate within 1–2 hours. Slice once firm. Eat as a chewy cake, or pan-fry slices in a little oil until hot through and lightly blistered.