The Chinese Lunar New Year is coming up. Time to see reds, fireworks, dancing dragons, and of course everyone’s favorite delicacy, tikoy (sticky rice cake) or the Chinese New Year Pudding. This and other Chinese food delights make the Filipino-Chinese celebration of the joyous event unique from its Asian counterparts.
The sweet tikoy is made from grounded rice flour, wheat starch, lard, water, and sugar. The sugar type determines the color of the pudding. That’s why when you go the stores, you have a choice of brown or white tikoy.
Making one of these puddings is arduous and involves steaming for two hours. Good thing we now have the convenience of buying them in the local grocery especially during the Chinese New Year.
But the tikoy we buy is not ready to eat. They are sliced into small pieces, dipped in egg and fried. Here’s a simple tikoy preparation:
- Chill the tikoy in the fridge for a few hours to make it firmer for easier to slicing.
- Sliced the tikoy to about 1/2 - 1/4 inch thick.
- Dip the sliced tikoy pieces in a beaten egg for coating.
- Fry on low to medium heat in a pan with a little oil for a few minutes.
The sticky tikoy is thought to seal the kitchen gods’ mouths, so they can’t report the family’s misdeeds to higher deities. And that’s why it is an ever present delicacy in the Filipino Chinese household.
Hmmmm.. Yummy! Kung Hei Fat Choi!
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