SEATTLE —
Shanghai Rice Cakes (Chao Nian Gao /炒年糕）
PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES
COOK TIME: 15 MINUTES
YIELD: 4 SERVINGS
I love developing copycat recipes and feel a great sense of achievement when I successfully re-create my favorite restaurant meals at home. This recipe draws inspiration from one of my favorite dishes at Ding Tai Fung (DTF), a world-famous Taiwanese restaurant chain that serves Shanghai soup dumplings and Shanghai rice cakes.
What I love about this dish is that it's a complete meal that can be prepared in less than 30 minutes. The base recipe, which doesn't include any meat-based proteins, is both vegan and gluten-free (when you use gluten-free soy sauce).
The rice cakes have a chewy texture with a slight crisp and char, and their rich flavors are enhanced with wok hei.
You'll probably want to make this dish over and over again, experimenting with added shiitake mushrooms or tofu one night, shrimp or pork belly on an-other, or just the rice cakes and sauce on their own. Have fun personalizing this copycat dish any way you'd like!
You can also substitute the rice cakes with thick Shanghai noodles to make cu chao mian (Shanghai fried noodles).
Ingredients:
- 3 scallions, chopped into 3- to 4-inch (7- to 10- cm) segments
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- A small piece of ginger, about 1 inch (2.5 cm), minced
- About ½ to 1 pound (227 to 454 g) of any protein of choice, chopped (firm tofu, shrimp, pork, beef, chicken, seitan, or a mix, like the shrimp and pork belly l used for my dish)
- About 1 cup (85 g) baby bok choy or napa cabbage, washed, dried, and chopped
- About 1 pound (454 g) rice cakes (fresh or dried, available at your local Asian supermarket)
FOR THE SAUCE:
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Black sesame oil (you can substitute with peanut oil)
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) black vinegar
- 2 tablespoons (26 g) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Shaoxing, rice, or cooking wine
FOR THICKENING THE SAUCE (OPTIONAL):
- Mix 1 teaspoon cornstarch with 2 teaspoons cold water to make a slurry
FOR GREASING THE PAN:
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml)
- Neutral oil
Directions:
- Make the sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients in a bowl.
- Rehydrate the rice cakes according to the instructions on the packaging.
- Typically, this involves soaking them in water. Strain and set aside.
- Preheat the wok (or frying pan or skillet) over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke, then add the neutral oil. Cook the aromatics (scallions, garlic, ginger) until the garlic turns golden, about a minute. Add your protein of choice and cook until slightly browned on all sides, then toss in the bok choy or napa cabbage.
- Add the rice cakes. Be sure to continuously stir and toss the ingredients while frying. If you find any ingredients sticking too much to the wok or frying pan, deglaze with a splash of cooking or Shaoxing wine.
- Pour in the sauce (be sure to mix it first, as some sugar may have settled at the bottom of the bowl) around the perimeter of the wok (or drizzle it over the rice cakes if using a pan or skillet) and stir to combine and coat all the ingredients with the sauce. Add the optional cornstarch slurry and stir again.
- Once the sauce and slurry have thickened and everything is nicely coated with sauce, remove from heat and serve immediately. A little Fire Chili Crisp Oil (page 176) or XO sauce pairs well with these rice cakes.
- TIP: Have Shaoxing or cooking wine close by to deglaze the wok as needed while stir-frying.
Segment Producer Joseph Suttner. Watch New Day Northwest 11 a.m. weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.