Tikoy or Nián gāo is a type of rice cake made from glutinous rice flour and considered as a centerpiece during Chinese New Year. This is also popularly known as Chinese New Year pudding.
The Philippines is once considered as the melting pot of Asia. People of different origins call it home – including the Chinese. Chinese customs, traditions, and good food were embraced by the Filipino’s and even make it a part of their own.
The legend behind the Tikoy tells about a Kitchen God that observes the behavior of each family for a year. It was said the Kitchen God goes back to heaven before the Chinese New Year to report the findings; a depressing report would mean a year of bad luck for the family. According to the legend, feeding sticky rice cake to the Kitchen God will make it difficult for him to say anything against the family – it will be difficult to speak when his mouth is full and the sticky rice cake will keep his mouth shut.
How do you want your Tikoy cooked? I like mine dipped in beaten egg then fried.
Happy Chinese New Year! Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Ingredients:
3 cups glutinous rice flour
1 ½ cup warm water
½ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons roasted sesame seeds
½ cup dates, pitted and chopped
Watch the cooking video:
Cooking procedure:
1. Combine water and brown sugar then mix well
2. Combine glutinous rice flour with the water and brown sugar mixture then mix thoroughly.
3. Add the pitted chopped dates then mix until every ingredient is well distributed.
4. Grease a round cake pan and transfer the glutinous rice flour mixture then sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.
5. Steam for 45 minutes. Make sure to cover the top part with cheesecloth to avoid water drippings.
6. Remove the tikoy from the cake pan and transfer to a wax paper or cling wrap then refrigerate for at least 5 hours.
7. Take the tikoy out of the refrigerator. *Cook using your desired method.
* Tikoy can be re-steamed, microwaved, or fried after dipping in beaten egg mixture.
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If you use a bamboo steamer, no need to use cheesecloth, walang condensation ito.
Thanks for the recipe, simple lang pala ang ingredients ng tikoy.
it is ok to use bamboo
bossing vanj, maraming salamat po s recipe, magagawa ko po i2, steam lang po kc ang meron kmi, wla p po kc kaming oven…. maraming salamat po tlaga…. ingat po lgi. god bless!!!
Hmmm! This is interesting
It looks good though, yumm!
oi sakto may mga ingre ako d2 para sa tikoy…thanks kaayo dong ha!:)
masarap namasarap ang tikoy mo ok !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bakit yong ibang tikoy na nalaman ko at natikman, pina fried nila at may palaman na monngo? tikoy din ba yon?
kung meron syang palaman na mung beans, i guess hindi sya tikoy. i am not sure, baka butse? nabibili ang butse sa Phils na fried with munggo inside. chinese have different version of tikoy as well. they put taro and chinese sausage. i tried them because my chinese officemate brought me some. but this tikoy from panlasang pinoy is more like the tikoy that we pinoys got used to.
bakit yong ibang tikoy piniprito at may palaman na monngo?
hi naden, walang problema iprito mo rin yan at presto
masarap. i tried dis tikoy yesterday and its gud.
wow! madali lang pla gawin ang tikoy,tnx kuya,try kong gawin 2morow
Thanks very much for this recipe!
Instead of steamer, pwede kayang gamitin ang oven? Thank you!
Hi, I made this tikoy following your recipe and it looks good. I think it will taste good as well. I left out the dates because it is not available here at the moment.
How do you take the tikoy from the pan? It sticks to the pan and it is very hard to take out. Maybe this tikoy will be ruined if i take it out.
A friend of mine told me that tikoy is tastier if their are molds in it. Is it true? How do we get the molds to grow in it.
did you grease your pan?
hi kuya vanj,
anong klase po ng dates ang gamit nyo? fresh po ba ito? thanks po
Hi dulz, hindi fresh ang dates na ginamit ko dito.
tikoy is always my favorite, but i have to wait every chinese new year to have a taste of it, thanks that now, i can do my own tikoy. thank you very much for all the recipes i am receiving in my mail. God bless
tnx sa pag share .. madaling gawin lang pala.. luto ako
Thanks for sharing!
…now i can do tikoy without just experimenting. Simple recipe with great taste!
Keep it up & more power!
wow ok to ha!hindi ko na kailangan bumili ng tikoy,pwede na akong gumawa.pag na master ko pa,pwede na ako magbenta dagdag income.kaya i really luv your site.
tnx and more power
hmmm this is one of my favorite’s…love it!!!
Need ba tlga glutinous ung rice flour?
Wla q mblan e rice flour walang glutinous na nklgay pwde nrin ba un?
hello gusto ko poh mag tanong kung pwede b yung ricecooker na pang steam sa tikoy? maramang salmat po
can i use white sugar… not brown..
We always have tikoy every chinese new year it signifies good luck. I always coat it with egg then deep fried and its also very yummy. I like most of your receipy bec its always nice and simple. Easy to follow especially with the video. I am an avid fan of yours.
God Bless you and your family.
Always,
mindy
hi kuya,,ask ko lng po baket sa part ng Quezon province they not using steamer sa halip they cook tikoy in the big pot until maging sticky na sya..just like espasol procedure..halo lng cla ng halo kya sobrang matrabaho..but is so good kc sobrang sarap tlga..as in special. but thanks a lot kc i try ur style mas easy pla..thanks again & God Bless
can i use aluminum foil instead of cheesecloth?
thanks and more power to you! God speed.
Hello there! Thank you for your tikoy recipe. I tried it and it worked. I just used my rice cooker as a steamer and it went well too.
I follow most of your recipes because they are easy and I linked your website and videos in my blog as a reference for the recipes I’ve made.
Thank you and keep sharing your recipes! =)
mabibili mo ba yung dates sa local grocery?thanks
hi kuya… ang tagal ko na di nakakatikim ng tikoy almost 5 years na since nandito na kami sa italy.. i was so happy ng makita ko tong recipe mo.. now i can make a tikoy.. just a few questions.. pede po ba walang DATES? and ano pong alternative kung walang cheesecloth? thanks po
Gladen, dates adds flavor, but you can still make this without it.
i love tikoy so much,,, i will do it this week end. ask ko lang how many minutes to steam?. thank you.
kuya, gaano po b natagal itong tikoy n 2? i mean ilang araw po ang itatagal nya?
@edlozada, maybe your friend means it is better to eat tikoy when it is in the molding pan, not with molds. = )
yung walang mahanap na glutinouse rice flour. pwede po malagkit na bigas at ipagigiling nyo po ito ng 2 o 3 beses, sa mga palengke sa pinas meron yan. dun po sa walang cheesecloth naman pwede po kayo gumamit ng malinis na tela o damit. pwede din po ioven ang tikoy. malalaman nyo po na luto na ang tikoy pag tinusok nyo ng stick at walang sasamang tikoy dun sa stick, pag malinis ang stick o toothpick pag tinusok mo ito, ok na po yun mga kabayan. Salamat panlasang pinoy! dabest ka kuya.