Crispy Peanut Sticky Rice Cake
Smooth on Top, Crispy on Bottom, Tasty All Round
Crispy peanut sticky rice cake, also known as "scissor sticky rice cake", is smooth on the top and crispy on the bottom. It is a popular street food in Teochew, China. Making this scissor sticky rice cake requires frying well-steamed sticky rice cakes in oil until they turn golden brown, and then cutting them into small pieces with scissors. Then, crushed peanuts are sprinkled on top. Their name comes from the fact that they're cut with scissors.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups (300 grams) glutinous rice flour
- 3.52 ounces (100 grams) shelled peanuts
- 1.76 ounces (50 grams) white sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon (20 grams) condensed milk
Seasonings
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
- cooking oil as needed
Cooking Directions
Preparations
- Heat pan. Add shelled peanuts. Fry over low heat until shells become slightly black, then allow to cool briefly. Remove shells. Blend peanuts in blender with 2 scant tablespoons (20 grams) sugar.
- Add condensed milk and 2 heaping tablespoons (30 grams) sugar to glutinous rice flour. Mix evenly. Slowly pour in 2/3 cup water. Use chopsticks to stir into a relatively thick sticky rice paste.
How to make sticky rice cake
- Cover the interior walls of a rectangular mold with plastic wrap. Apply a layer of cooking oil. Add sticky rice paste and gently stir. Add to steamer pot. Cover. Steam over high heat for approximately 20 minutes. Remove and let cool briefly. This is the sticky rice cake.
- Add an appropriate amount of cooking oil to pan. Heat it to a moderate temperature over medium heat. Add in sticky rice cakes and fry over low heat, gently stirring it with chopsticks as it fries. When bottom is golden-brown, remove and strain away excess oil.
Put it all together
- Place sticky rice cake on cutting board. Absorb excess oil from surface with paper towel. Place on plate. Cut into rectangular pieces with scissors. Sprinkle crushed peanuts and white sesame seeds on top evenly.
- Tip: When cutting the sticky rice cake, you may first wet the blades of the scissors with water. This will prevent the sticky rice cakes from sticking to the scissors.
Chinese New Year’s Sticky Rice Cakes
In the past, people in southern China's Guangdong region would start visiting their relatives on New Year's Day every year. People would wish their relatives a happy New Year one by one depending on seniority and degree of closeness. This activity was a major event in traditional Chinese culture, so New Year gifts of course had to be special. They would include snacks like sticky rice cakes, crispy peanut sticky rice cakes, sugarcane, candy scallions, and even sesame balls (jian dui) sometimes.
Meanings Behind Each Gift
Sticky rice cake's circular shape represents unity and completeness, while its stickiness represents cohesiveness between family and friends. Sugarcane and candy scallions are both sweet, which stands for living a sweet, satisfying life. Gifting one's friends and relatives round sesame balls means you're wishing them great fortune for the entire year.