Pandan Nián Gāo (年糕) is the chewy, gently sweet, glutinous rice cake that marks Lunar New Year.
We wanted to scent ours with pandan and rich coconut milk to reference Nyonya kueh (bite-size snacks made with rice flour and coconut milk), and as a nod to the pandan that C-Y’s aunt grows in her herb garden.
We bake it in a rectangular pan (rather than steam it in a round pan) for crispy, browned edges on every slice. Niángāo is often fried before serving, so this felt obvious. It’s a labor of love, but the intoxicating aroma of caramelized coconut that takes over the kitchen, alone, is well worth it.” — C-Y Chia and Shane Stanbridge
Pandan Nián Gāo
Ingredients
- 1⅔ cups (250 g) glutinous rice flour
- ⅔ cup plus 2 tablespoons (160 g) sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 5 pandan leaves (or fig leaves), snipped into small pieces
- 1¾ cups (420 ml) coconut milk
- 3 tbsp melted coconut oil or grapeseed oil, plus more for greasing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a 9 by 5-inch (23 by 13 cm) loaf pan with parchment paperand grease the bottom and sides well. In a large bowl, whisk together the glutinous rice flour, sugar,baking powder, and salt.
- In a blender, blend the pandan leaves and coconut milk till homogeneous. Pour the coconut milkmixture through a fine-mesh strainer set over a medium bowl. With a spoon, push down on the pulpin the strainer to fully extract the liquid. Whisk in the meltedcoconut oil.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk until thoroughly combinedand smooth.
- Pour in the batter and bake for 45 minutes, or until the cake is dramatically puffed and has a lovelygolden brown top. A skewer inserted into the cake should emerge clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes (it will deflate but that is to be expected). Run a knifealong the sides of the loaf pan, then unmold the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cut thecake in half lengthwise with a serrated knife, then slice each half into 7 pieces to serve.
Recipe from PlantAsia: Asia’s Vegetable Wisdom in Recipes, Stories and Techniques by Pamelia Chia ©2023, 2025. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, The Experiment. Available everywhere books are sold. theexperimentpublishing.com
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