"You are the FIRST person to bai nian--you are the first to call us this year!" -Dad (Chinese New Year's Eve--they are a day ahead in Shanghai)

Already teary-eyed, I called my extended fam next. They were all gathered for dinner at my aunt's house, where my mom was already on speaker phone. "Should I put you on speaker next to mom?" my brother joked, and instead passed me (on his cell phone) to make the rounds. I am truly thankful that just a (chaotic) 5 minute phone call--heck, just my grandma's voice--reminds me of an overwhelming depth of unconditional love that is my family.


Anyway, for every Chinese New Year, my dad would make red bean nian (double meaning! year & sticky) gao (cake). It's essential.

He always made 3 pans of it at once (in fact, those 3 pans seem to be reserved for them)--one for our big family party, one that stayed home for my family (because my brother inhales this stuff), and one just for my cousin who loves it even more.

My dad's secret (actually I just couldn't make out the faded Chinese characters) recipe is the best, but I had to resort to one I found online. But no worries, this is equally addictive, takes muuuuch less time to prepare, and uses slightly less oil. It used to take us forever (good bonding time though!) to roll out red bean paste between saran wrap, whereas for this recipe, you just dump in 3/4 of a can of sweetened mashed red (adzuki) beans, which takes 2 seconds.

It was fun making this at a Chinese New Year dinner that consisted of eating hot pot and watching Mulan! :)

Red Bean Nian Gao
adapted from tinyurbankitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 lb sweet/glutinous rice flour (white/green bag at Asian grocery stores is usually cheaper than Mochiko)
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups milk (when desperate, half soymilk and half water comes out ok too!)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup (I used 3/4 can and reduced amount of sugar) red bean paste
• handfuls of sesame seeds

Steps:

1. Mix together all the ingredients except the red bean paste. 
2. Stir in the red bean paste. 
3. Scatter sesame seeds on top.
4. Bake at 350 degrees in a 9 x 13 pan for 45-50 min.