Ingredients
Sugar 300g (can be brown sugar or gula melaka or mixture) - I used both gula melaka n sugar
Glutinous rice flour 300g
Water 400ml
Banana leaf or cellophane plastic sheet/glass paper meant for cooking or baking paper.
Method
1. Heat sugar on low heat on a sauce pan until it melts and caramelised to a golden brown colour.
2. Add water in slowly and mix it well.
3. Let the sugar syrup cool to room temperature.
4. Add in the glutinous flour and combined well.
5. Sift the mixture and pour into lined mould. Make sure to cover the top part of the mould to prevent water droplets from dripping into the nian gao.
6. Steaming time approximately 3-5 hours as a gauge as I could not monitor it as closely as I wanted to. I switched from steaming it while I am awake at night to transferring it to electric lunchbox and went to sleep. So please monitor this step at maybe after every hour interval. It is ready when colour has turned a darker shade of brown as it has caramelised and the end product has set.
Notes
Steaming time can be 1 hour to 5 hours or more depending on the type of mould or steaming basket, the size of the mould, the quantity of the mixture and the intensity of the fire.