Hawaiian Butter Mochi

Aloha, everyone!

This week I would like to share an amazing little treat I discovered during my trip to Hawaii. Firstly, I have to say that the food is amazing. I had the pleasures of sampling many of the local cuisine during my visit but what really made my little sweet tooth sing was Hawaiian Mochi. These tasty little sweet morsels are readily available everywhere much like our beloved DATE SQUARES are here in Newfoundland. You can find them in supermarkets, restaurants, bakeries, gas stations, in drug stores and everywhere in between.

Yellow & green colored mochi from blog.sfgate.com

Store bought butter mochi from seriouseats.com

They come in all shapes, color and sizes. Some have a sweet filling in them and others are filled with mixture of toasted nuts, sesame seeds and flakes of sweetened coconut. Come as they may, they are more than likely made from glutinous rice or flour. They have a soft, chewy, sticky, jelloish-marshmallow texture which gives an excellent mouth feel when you bite into them. It's quite moreish and I have craved for them on several occasions. Since then I've perfected the recipe and my friends and family all love it. I hope the recipe below will tie you over until you end up somewhere tropical!

Until next time, Mahalo! 

Butter Mochi

Ingredients:

DRY:

4 cups Glutinous rice flour

3 tsp Baking powder

3 cups sugar

WET:

1/2 cup Butter (salted), melted

4 Eggs

1 can Coconut milk

1 can 2% evaporated milk

3 tsp Vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 F

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Mix together all the wet ingredients in another bowl, then add them into the dry ingredients.

Continue to stir and fold until the whole mixture is is even and free of lumps. (There is no fear of over mixing here so put some muscle into it!)

Pour the batter into a 9x13 baking dish coated with cooking spray. 

Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the top of the dessert is golden and just begining to brown around the edges.

You can eat it while it's still warm but I find it much nicer the next day when it is cooled and setup overnight. (This dessert does not require refrigeration.)

恭禧發財! Gong Hey Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year! 

Everyone from TamGood would like to wish everyone a joyous, 

prosperous and healthy New Year in 2016!

Here is our table filled with delicious, symbolic dishes.    Food Symbolism during Chinese  New Year Celebrations (Source: One World Nation Online Website - link below) The Chinese like playing with words and symbols. Often homonyms (words that share the same pronunciation but have different meanings) are  gladly used. Names of dishes and/or their ingredients which will sound similar to words and phrases  referring to wishes expressed during the Chinese New Year, while other foods hold a symbolic meaning.    Food offerings are a prayer or a wish and can be  addressed to ancestors and other beings such as the Jade Emperor and The Kitchen God. The offering of food serves to bring ancestors and other beings in  the other world closer to oneself. The food offerings serve as a bonding tool to bring both worlds together. Below a brief list of the food's symbolic meaning: Abalone (sea snail; 鳆; fù) - definite good fortune Apple (苹果; píngguǒ) - wisdom, peace Apricot, dried (杏脯; xìngfǔ) - gold, wealth Arrowhead (bot.: Sagittaria sagittifolia; 慈菇; cí gū) - benevolence Arrowroot (bot.: Maranta arundinacea; 竹芋) - good life Bamboo fungus (stinkhorn fungus; bot.: Phallus indusiatus; 竹笙, zhúshēng),  also called bamboo pith (竹荪; zhúsūn) - meaning: long life Bamboo shoots (竹笋尖; zhú sǔn jiān) - wealth (term sounds like "wishing that everything  would be well" - xǔyuànchí), new start Banana (香蕉; xiāngjiāo), on altar, offering - wish for education, brilliance at work/ school Bean curd, dried/ tofu, dried (豆腐, dòu fǔ)- fulfillment of wealth and happiness ( note: dried tofu is not of white colour) Bean curd sticks (腐竹; fǔ zhú) - blessing the house Bean sprouts (豆芽; dòu yá, literally "bean sprout/germ" 芽菜; yá cài, literally  "sprout vegetable" or 银芽; yín yá, literally "silver sprouts") - 'to your heart's content', positive start into the new year Black moss (hair moss, hair weed), fat choy (髮菜; fàcài; a black hair-like cyanobacteria) - wealth Cabbage, Chinese (pak choy, 白菜) - 100 types of prosperity luck Cabbage, stuffed packages - wealth (the shape symbolises an ingot) Calms (scallops; 扇贝; shànbèi) - opening of new horizons calm roll (干贝; gānbèi) - gold, wealth Carrots (胡蘿蔔; hú luóbo; or 紅蘿蔔; hóng luóbo), red colour- good luck Cashew nut (腰果, yāoguǒ)- gold, money (the nut's shape symbolises the gold bar of  ancient times) Chicken (whole) (鸡肉; jīròu) - prosperity, togetherness of the family, joy  (note: chicken with its head, tail and feet symbolizes completeness) Chinese garlic chives (韭菜, jiǔcài) - everlasting, eternity, long life Coconut, nut (椰子; yēzi), flesh (椰肉; yēròu), juice/milk (椰汁; yēzhī) - promoting togetherness Daylily buds, golden lily buds (金针; jīnzhēn; also called "golden needles") - wealth Duck (鸭肉, yāròu) - fertility Dumplings - dumplings exist in various kind, see: jiaozi dumplings, they represent the  ancient good pieces Egg (蛋, dàn) - fertility egg roll (蛋皮春卷, dàn pí chūn juǎn) - money, wealth, gold Fa Gao (发糕; fāgāo) the steamed "Prosperity Cake"; the sound "fa" means either  "to raise/generate" or "be prosperous" Fish (whole) - The word 魚 (yú), meaning "fish", has the same pronunciation as the word 餘, which is "remain or surplus", 'having leftovers of money', an increase in prosperity fish ball (鱼蛋; yúdàn) - reunion Golden lilly buds, Daylily (bot.: Hemerocallis; 金针; jīnzhēn) - wealth Gingko nuts ( 銀杏; yín xìng; or 白果, bái guǒ)- hope for silver, wealth (the nut's shape represents a silver yuanbao/ ingot) Dried unbroken glass noodles symbolise long life. Photo: © Valeska Gehrmann  Glass noodles, Chinese vermicelli, cellophane noodle, noodle threads (粉絲; fěn sī; also called "bean threads ", mung bean thread) - silver chain Grapes (葡萄, pútaó) - wealth, abundance, fertility, many descendants, family harmony Jiaozi- Dumplings (jiǎozi, 饺子) - wealth (the shape of the jiaozi dumplings is that of a yuanbao ingot, also the word jiǎozi shares the same pronunciation with 角子 (jiǎozi) that is a small jiao coin used in old times.  Jujube symbolise wealth, prosperity, as well as fertility. Photo: © nationsonline.org Jujube (kind of date, red colour; 枣; zǎo, candied  jujube: 蜜枣; mìzǎo) - wealth, prosperity, fertility Kumquat (金橘; jīn jú) - gold, hence fortune, wealth Lettuce (生菜; shēngcài) - prosperity lettuce roll, food being rolled into lettuce  - having a child soon Longan (龙眼) - many good son Lotus seeds/ -nuts/ -beans (蓮子; lián zĭ)  - a full wallet, many (male) offspring lotus seeds,crystallized (蓮子糖; lián zĭ táng)  - a full wallet, many (male) offspring Lychee (荔枝; lìzhī) - close family ties Maize (玉米; yùmǐ) - growth Mandarin (瓯柑; ōugān) - gold, wealth Meat ball (肉丸; ròuwán)- reunion Melon (瓜; guā) - family unity melon, candied - growth, good health Mixed vegetable (什锦蔬菜; shíjǐn shūcài) - family harmony Muer mushroom, Black fungus, Three ear fungus, Wood ear (木耳; mù ěr) - longevity Noodles (面条; miàntiáo) uncut - long life Onion (洋葱; yángcōng) - cleverness Orange (柑橘; gānjú) - wealth, good fortune, gold Oyster (牡蠣; mǔlì) - receptivity to good fortune, good business Oyster, dried (ho xi) - all good things, good luck Peach - immortality Peach, pair of (桃; táo) - wealth, abundance, long healthy life, great fortune for many generations Peanuts (花生; huāshēng) - health, long life, birth of prosperity, continuous growth, multiplication in wealth and good fortune, stability Pineapple (凤梨; fènglí) - wealth, luck, excellent fortune, gambling luck Pomegranate symbolises many offsprings Photo: © Valeska Gehrmann Pomegranate (石榴; shíliu) - many offsprings Pomelo (柚子; yòuzi) - abundance, prosperity, having children, good health, family unity Pork (猪肉; zhūròu) - strength, wealth, abundant blessing Prawn (大虾; dàxiā) - liveliness Pumpkin (南瓜; nánguā) - prosperity, abundance, descendant's luck, illustrious children, enchantment, fruit drawsearth energy to manifest gold Rice (米饭; mǐfàn) - fertility, luck, wealth, rice symbolizes a link between Heaven (Gods) and Earth (Men) Nian gao, (Chinese: 年糕; pinyin: nián'gāo) Sticky (Rice) cake, Chinese new year's cake. It is considered good luck to eat nian gao because it has the symbolism of increasing prosperity every year. The New Year greeting 'Nian Nian Gao Sheng' (年年高升 niánnián gāoshēng) is to wish people "advance toward higher positions and prosperity step by step." Sticky rice - cohering of family Rice is one of the Twelve Symbols of Sovereignty Roseapple (Syzygium jambos; 蒲桃; pú táo) - calmness, peace of mind, no fighting Seaweed, especially black moss, Fat Choy, (in Chinese: 髮菜; pinyin: fàcài; literal meaning: hair vegetable). The two syllables of Fat Choy in Cantonese sound the same as a Cantonese Chinese New Year greeting "Gung1 hei2 faat3 choi4" (恭喜发财) meaning "congratulations and be prosperous"; additional meanings:  - good luck, exceeding wealth. Seeds - lotus seeds, watermelon seeds, etc. - having a large number of children 籽 [zǐ] Shitake mushrooms, since long a symbol of longevity in Asia, they also symbolise sizing opportunities Photo: © nationsonline.org Shitake, Black mushroom (冬菇; dōnggū) -longevity, sizing opportunities Shrimp (小虾; xiǎoxiā) - happiness and good fortune Slender Noodle (細粉; xì fě) - see glass noodle Snowpeas (荷蘭豆; hélándòu) - unity Spring roll (春卷; chūnjuǎn) - wealth (the shape represents a gold bar) Sweet corn (甜玉米; tián yùmǐ) - growth, increase Sweets, (糖食; tángshí, 糖果;tángguǒ) rice cake (年糕; nián'gāo) - safety, good fortune and 'sweeten' Tangyuan ( 湯圓 ,tāngyuán, "round balls in soup"), sweet dumplings - togetherness, reunion Tofu, dried (豆腐干; dòufǔgān) - fulfillment of wealth and happiness, blessing the houses (note: dried tofu is not of white colour) Tofu, fried (炸豆腐; zhá dòufǔ) - gold, hence wealth Turnip cake (萝卜糕; luóbo gāo) - good omen Vegetable, green (绿叶菜; lǜyècài) - close family ties vegetable/ tofu (dried) - harmony, happiness and prosperity Walnut (核桃仁; hétàorén) - happiness of the entire family Water chestnut (荸薺; bíqí) - unity Winter noodel (冬粉, dōng fěn) - see glass noodle Yuanxiao, sweet dumpling (元宵; yuánxiāo) - togetherness, reunion Information Source: http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Chinese_Customs/food_symbolism.htm

Cantonese-Style Nian Gao

A pair of nian gao fish my mother made this year.

Nian gao is also known as Year cake or Chinese New Year Cake since it is traditionally eaten during this time of year. It is made with glutinous rice and pien tong (Chinese brown sugar bars) which are readily available in Asian supermarkets. It's believed that consuming this sweet sticky treat would bring good luck and fortune for the upcoming year. Growing up in the middle of Newfoundland, I remember my mother going out of her way to make this dessert for me as a child and the fond memories our family created together during the years. I want to share this recipe with everyone and pass along wishes for wealth and happiness! 

Nian Gao

400 G (1 bag, green label) glutinous rice flour, sieved
100 G (1/4 bag, red label) rice flour sieved
4 bars of brown sugar (pien tong)
1 1/2 cup of water

1) In a saucepan, dissolve the 4 bars of brown sugar in the 1 1/2 cups of water over medium heat
once dissolved, let cool

2) In a mixing bowl, sieve the two kinds of rice flour.  Add the cooled sugar water and mix with the flour until a thick batter consistency (thinner than dough, but thicker than cake batter).  If the batter is too thick, add some water to thin it out a bit.

3) In a large pot, add water about half way to avoid boiling dry (and check it every 15 mins or so to make sure it's not dry), and put on high heat

4) pour batter into greased dishes or molds and place in your steamer.  Steam for about an hour-2 until nian gao has taken on a firmer texture.

5) allow to cool and enjoy

Some people like to fry their nian gao, to do so, you cut the cooled nian gao into pieces and dip in beaten egg and fry on medium heat until the egg turns a golden brown.