Chinese Steamed Cupcakes – Faat Go/Prosperity Cakes
:Edit:
If you happen to live in New York City and you want to try this faat go recipe, I suggest that you take a visit to Chinatown and purchase a bag of homemade “wet” rice flour which is low-gluten. I can honestly tell you that I don’t know how to make this flour but I can tell you where to buy it. Having the right kind of flour is key to your prosperity cakes.
Fong Inn Too, Inc.
Fong Inn Too Menu
Now in Cantonese it is called, “Zhi mai fun.” Once you tell the clerk that you want this, he will give you a bag of rice flour which is shown below:
Hong Kong Rice Flour
Notice that this flour is clumpy and not dry like most flours. My mother tells me that this flour is essentially rice and flour that has been fermented for two days. Unfortunately I do not possess the know how, but I can tell you how it was made.
Good luck!
***
It all started with an obsession with Chinese cupcakes. AKA faat go (or huat kueh) as you say in Cantonese. My good friend Sally over at the tastyconfection and I wanted to learn how to make Chinese cupcakes because we have always eaten them. These special cupcakes are only available in Chinese bakeries during the time of Chinese New Year since they represent prosperity and success. There’s an old Chinese proverb which my mother always says that translates, “The more the cake blossoms, the more prosperous your year will be.” Something along the lines of this. Sally and I can care less about the superstitious properties that these cakes hold and wanted to eat them whenever we wanted to. The journey to find the most successful recipe was a frustrating one.
Complicated and non-traditional prosperity cupcake recipes disappointed me. I was amazed how I could not find a good old fashion Chinese recipe. There are many Malaysian and Singaporean recipes, but they’re not the ones that I am used to having. Sally tried learning the recipe from her grandmother, but unfortunately the cupcakes’ corners did not form which is why she is uncomfortable with sharing the recipe.
Now one day, my mother decided to make these cupcakes for my father’s birthday. She got the recipe from my aunt and then a couple of hours in the kitchen, she makes this:
Steamed Chinese Cupcakes aka Faat Go
Chinese Style Mushrooms, Stir-Fried Vermicelli Noodles, and Instant Pillsbury Biscuits
And for the rest of the Thanksgiving Day meal, my mom made the following:
Mushrooms with Carrots
Rice Vermicelli Noodles
Unfortunately I do not have the recipes for the above two dishes, but at least you can see what else I have eaten at home!
Pillsbury Instant Fat Free Biscuits
I did not have the time to make biscuits from scratch as I had already baked a Pumpkin Cheesecake and a Poundcake which I will feature later. I wasn’t quite sure if my relatives were opened on having biscuits, so I thought instant was the best way to go. At 350 degrees, bake it for about 15 minutes and you will have soft and delicious biscuits that is not salty at all, which was what I experienced in the past.
The Thanksgiving Day Feast
Anyways, I hope you have enjoyed your Thanksgiving day meal and I cannot wait to hear about yours!
Until next time,
<3 FCG
Caramelized Walnut Shrimp with Broccoli (核桃虾)
Caramelized Walnut Shrimp with Broccoli
This is my ABSOLUTE favorite signature Chinese dish at Chinese restaurants! In Cantonese it is translated to be “Hop Toh Ha” which means walnut shrimp and I always, always order this. So for this Thanksgiving, instead of making Pan Fried Sticky Rice, I wanted to have a go at Walnut Shrimp and looked up a recipe to make it happen.
Honey Walnut Shrimp
via Rasa Malaysia
Good Chinese Food Outside of Chinatown? Sammy’s Noodle Shop & Grill – West Village
Sammy’s Noodle Shop & Grill
453 6th Avenue
(at 11th Street)
New York, NY
(212) 924-6688
Outside Photo of Sammy's Noodle Shop & Grill
Have you ever had a craving for Chinese food or noodles but didn’t feel like going downtown to Chinatown to get it? I know I do and sometimes, I just don’t have the time or the patience to go over there. Be advised that you must bring a fatter wallet than you normally do because Sammy’s is not only not located in Chinatown, but they also do not charge Chinatown prices. Think about that! Located in the West Village, Sammy’s is the sure quick solution for your my Chinese craving!
Delicious Chinese Almond Cookies
Chinese Almond Cookies
Chinese almond cookies are my absolute favorite of all time! I used to buy Amay’s Almond Cookies in the tub load! My god, I can eat handfuls of it at a time because that is how addictive it is. When you take that first bite, the crumbs from the cookies explode all over your lips and your front teeth, followed by the nice hollow crunch of subtly sweet almond goodness and ending with supreme buttery awesomeness. Oh yeah. The almond. Oh yes, you must have a whole almond on an almond cookie! You must! Now with Amay’s cookies, the almond is placed perfectly on the center of the cookie, which made my eating experience that much more exciting because I would always wonder if I should bite the almond in half or pick it out and then eat the rest of the cookie. Yes, consider that! You can find these cookies in any Chinese supermarket/grocery. If they don’t have it, you should no longer shop there!
Ok, that was my five minutes of droolage for that cookie. But this post isn’t about the Amay almond cookie, it is about the recipe that I found to imitate or improve on that cookie. Now, I have looked for recipes online, asked my favorite Chinese pastries chef at work, and even asked my distant aunts on how to make the perfect Chinese almond cookie and ‘lo and behold, it’s in an American recipe book in Borders. Yes Borders.
Last Friday I decided to stop into Borders to “take care of business.” I refused to use the Starbucks one because that’s absolutely gross and sometimes there’s no TP. I personally think some of the best public bathrooms are in bookstores. I could be wrong, but in my positive experience, I’ve been fortunate to be in the clean ones! But please don’t get the impression that I do not go to bookstores to read books. I go there all the time! Amazingly I never go there to look for recipe books, but for business and other pleasures.
Anyways, at the Borders on Wall Street, next to the “restroom” is the section for recipes! I don’t know whether that is a good thing or not, but I would definitely chose a recipe book for my reading material if I need to do my business there. After maybe 45 minutes of looking and deciding on which book I should get, I decided to get the “Favorite Brand Name Recipes: Cake Mix Cookies” published by Publications International, Ltd (PIL). Unfortunately I cannot find the book online, but I will take a picture of it next time. The only reason why I chose to buy this recipe book is because of the Chinese Almond Cookies recipe. I kid you not. Plus at $9.98 for over 60 cookie recipes and with pictures, I think that’s a bargain.
Please click on the following link to see the recipe and other pictures!
