Water Chestnut Cake is one of the popular cakes made during Chinese New Year in Hong Kong and it’s also available in the Guangzhou Chinese dim sum restaurants all year round (too bad this delicious water chestnut cake is not available in most of our local Chinese restaurants nowadays). They are usually served either steamed or pan fried. The cake is soft, springy and not too sweet but one can still have wonderful crispy and crunchy bites of the water chestnuts, even after the cake has been steamed. Slab sugar (片糖）is also used to give the cake a nice golden colour but rock sugar or brown sugar can be replaced if slab sugar is not available at your nearby grocery store. The cake can be kept in the refrigerator to chill for 3 to 4 days and it’s best to cut the cake with a wet knife, dipped in some water as the cake can be quite sticky. You may like to read the benefits of water chestnut from here
Soft, springy and delicious pan fried water chestnut cake
中文食谱 ~ 请往下看
Water Chestnut Cake
Ingredients
- 115 g water chestnut flour
- 250 ml water - 1 cup
- 500 ml water - 2 cups
- 125 g rock sugar
- 1 tbsp dried osmanthu flower - optional
- 4 fresh water chestnuts - peeled and crushed to pieces
Instructions
- Soak water chestnut flour and 250ml water together, stir well and set aside for later use.
- In a pot, boil 500ml water with sugar together until sugar dissolved. Add dried osmanthus water and bring to a boil again. Turn off heat and cover pot with lid for 10 minutes. Remove some dried osmanthus flowers with a fine sieve.
- strain water chestnut liquid (step 1 ) through a fine sieve.
- Bring osmanthus liquid to boil again, pour in the chopped water chestnut and stir well. Lower heat and pour water chestnut water slowly into the pot. Stir the mixture as you pour until mixture thickened. Stirring the mixture constantly to prevent the batter sticks at the bottom.
- Grease pan (7 x 5 inches) with little oil and pour chestnut paste into it. Steam at high fire for about 25 minutes until cake turns translucent or test it with a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Leave water chestnut cake to cool before removing it from pan.
- Slice the water chestnut cake with a wet knife, serve immediately or chilled. Alternately pan fry the cake till golden brown on both sides with cooking oil if preferred.
Notes
I chilled the water chestnut cake till next day before cutting.
马蹄（荸荠）糕
- 很棒的马蹄糕点心，非常有弹性，而且很弹牙又不会很甜。煎香了更好吃！我是把马蹄糕冷藏至隔天才切片。
- 我喜欢有桂花的清香味，所以加了1汤匙桂花干在马蹄糕里。
材料：
- 115克 马蹄粉
- 250毫升 清水 （1杯）
- 500毫升 清水 （2杯）
- 125克 黄水晶冰糖
- 1汤匙 桂花干 （可不放）
- 4粒 新鲜马蹄，削皮剁碎或拍碎
做法：
- 将马蹄粉浸泡在250毫升水里，搅匀成马蹄浆备用。
- 把500毫升水和冰糖放入锅中煮至冰糖融化。加入桂花干再次煮沸。熄火盖上锅盖静置10分钟。然后用过滤网舀出煮过的桂花干，留下少许在锅内。
- 将马蹄粉浆过滤 （步骤1）备用。
- 再把桂花水煮开，倒入马蹄碎搅匀。该换小火慢慢冲入过滤好的马蹄浆，边搅边倒以免马蹄浆黏底。搅至混合物浓呈浓稠的面糊状。
- 在一个小盘（7 x 5 寸）里抹上少许食油。然后倒入马蹄面糊状，抹平。放入已烧开蒸锅里，用大火蒸约25分钟至马蹄糕变透明或用牙签扎入糕内部，拔出没有粘糊，就表示熟了。
- 蒸好的马蹄糕完全待凉后才脱模。
- 可马上切片或冷藏后享用（刀面上要沾点水才好切）。也可以用油微煎至马蹄糕两面金黄色后食用。
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