Stir-Fried Shanghai style Rice Cakes (Chow Nian Gao)

Stir-fried rice cakes are one of our favorite dishes to order after devouring a couple orders of soup dumplings aka xiao long bao at a Shanghai restaurant! We recreated this dish at home after buying plain rice cakes at our local Asian market. It's very simple to make if you have all of the ingredients!

Ingredients

Servings: 3-4

• 1 lb Rice cakes

• 2 handfuls Bok Choy, chopped in 1/2 if leaves are long

• 8 dried Shiitake mushrooms, sliced (soak in warm water 1st until softens before slicing)

• 3-4 scallions, cut 1 inch long

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce (we used Braggs Liquid Aminos)

• 1/2 Tbsp Dark soy sauce (we used Lee Kum Kee)

• 1 Tbsp Oyster Sauce (we used Lee Kum Kee)

• 1 Tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine (Ying Feng brand)

• 2 teaspoon brown sugar

• 3 Tbsp water *see notes below*

• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. If rice cakes aren't soft already: Soak them in warm water for at least 3 hrs or until soft. You can also soak in cold water in the refrigerator overnight. If you don't have time, the fastest way is to boil it in water for 30 seconds or until slightly soft. Drain and then rinse in cold water (make sure the cakes are all separated before stir frying).

2. Prepare Soy Sauce mixture: Combine soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, shaoxing cooking wine, brown sugar, & water in a bowl. Mix well.

3. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over high heat in a wok. Sauté garlic then add shiitake mushrooms. Cook for 1 min. Add bok choy and cook for 3-5 minutes.

4. Add rice cakes then stir fry for 30 seconds. Add soy sauce mixture and mix until all rice cakes are coated with sauce. Stir fry until rice cakes are cooked but don't let it cook too soft. Transfer to a plate. Enjoy!

Notes:

• You can add meat to this recipe. Typically it's Pork or Chicken cut in thin strips. Marinate the meat with soy sauce, cornstarch, & a little bit of oil for at least 30 minutes. Heat 1 Tbsp oil over high heat then sear the meat before adding the vegetables.

• Try out your soy sauce mixture before you add it to the stir fry. We generally eat low sodium. We added 3 Tbsp of water to dilute the saltiness.

If you make this recipe, we'd love to see it! Tag us at @NY.Foodie on your stories & posts.