Chili Oil Potato Rice Cakes (Nian Gao)

Name: Chili Oil Potato Rice Cakes (Nian Gao)
Yield: 4 bowls

Aug 24, 2023 · in Noodles

Potato chips? Rice cakes?! Yes. Stick with me here. The salty potato chip is one of those common food items I regularly take for granted. From a size relative to flavor impact ratio, it's powers are unmatched. I knew I wanted to impart this flavor onto the chewiness of a rice cake, and so my mission began to create this recipe. Rice cakes or nian gao, are typically sold in vacuum sealed packages that are readily available at the Asian market. But it's actually quite easy to make these at home. The collective cooking time from raw dough to cooked dough is literally four minutes (plus cooling!) thanks to Maangchi's genius method of using a microwave to steam the dough. If the rice cakes themselves are a love letter to potato chips, then the sauce is my ode to Barbecue Lays. It's a savory and sweet bonanza in your mouth with chili crisp, soy sauce, and honey all becoming best friends to coat these QQ rice cakes in a glossy Midwest Asian American tribute.

–Frankie

Yield

4 bowls

Time

1 1/2 hours

Ingredients

Rice cakes

5 ounce bag of potato chips

1 cup rice flour

1 cup glutinous rice flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 3/4 cups boiling water

Sauce

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

5 scallions, finely chopped

2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1/2 a lemon)

2 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon chili crisp

Toppings

Fresh dill

Sesame seeds

Flaky salt

Preparation

Make rice cakes

In a food processor, blend potato chips until completely ground (they should look like fine bread crumbs). Add ground potato chips into a large mixing bowl along with rice flour, glutinous rice flour, kosher salt, and boiling water. With a spatula, mix everything together until it becomes the texture of smooth mashed potatoes (It'll start out clumpy and over a couple minutes come together into a smooth dough).

Place dough into a microwave safe bowl and cover with a wet paper towel. Microwave for two minutes. Uncover and give it a quick mix with a spatula, then cover with the wet paper towel and cook for another two minutes until full cooked through.

Once cooked and cool enough to handle, place the dough onto a working surface and cover with piece of parchment paper on top. Give it a few good punches, then knead the dough. Repeat this process until the dough becomes bouncy with a smooth texture, around 3-5 minutes (depending on how resilient your biceps are).

Beat the crap out of it until it feels like a bouncy ball

Cut the dough into quarters, then shape into cylinders the width of hot dogs. Cover and let cool for 30 minutes until they reach room temperature.

With an oiled knife, cut diagonally across the cylinder to make discs. Toss the discs in oil so they don't stick to each other, then set aside.

Give it a nice oil rub so they don't stick

Make sauce and serve

In a non-stick pan on medium heat, melt butter. Add half of the chopped scallions (reserving the other half for topping the rice cakes) and cook for 30 seconds until sizzling and fragrant. Pour in the lemon juice, honey, soy sauce, and chili crisp. Mix until combined, then add in the rice cakes and stir until coated and glossy. Turn the heat off and pour the rice cakes and sauce into a serving bowl. Top with the other half of the scallions, fresh dill, sesame seeds, and salt to taste.

Chili Oil Potato Rice Cakes (Nian Gao)

At a glance

Yield

Time