Water Chestnut Cake (Ma Ti Gao): For children, this snack may be their favorite because of the “Q” taste. Main materials of this food are rice flour, black sugar powder, water chestnut powder and sesame. It tastes sweet. Suitable for all seasons to eat.
♦ What is water chestnut
The water chestnut is not a nut, but a vegetable! They are called water chestnuts because they are shaped like chestnuts and grow in ponds and lakes. It's widely used in Asian stir fried dishes, desserts and can be eaten raw. But it tastes quite bland alone so it's usually accompanied by other foods and ingredients.It contains a good amount of fiber and vitamin B.
♦ What is Water Chestnut Cake
Water Chestnut Cake, originally as the popular snack in Guangdong, has became one of the common street food in Guilin. Water Chestnut Cake is a kind of semi-transparent cake with the color of tea. It is popular of its soft, smooth and sweet taste.
A suggested recipe to make Water Chestnut Cake
Ingredients:
1& 1/2 cups water chestnut flour
4 cups water
1 cup rock sugar
1 slab raw sugar
5 whole water chestnuts fresh or canned
Instructions:
1. In a large bowl, add 1 cup of water with water chestnut flour and stir it until it's smooth, leave aside.
2. Peel the skin off the water chestnuts or open a canned water chestnuts and chop them into roughly small dices.
3. Add 3 cups of water into a saucepan and bring to boil under medium heat. Add rock sugar and raw sugar and boil it till the sugar dissolves. Then add the chopped water chestnuts and boil for a further 2-3 minutes.
4. While still boiling, add 1/4 of the water chestnut flour liquid into the saucepan mixture and stir well. This should immediately form a thick semi-transparent mixture. Turn off the heat and leave to cool for 3 minutes.
5. After the mixture has cooled down a bit, add the rest of the water chestnut flour liquid into the saucepan and mix well. Because the heat has cooled down the mixture should turn back into thick light yellow paste.
6. Pour the water chestnut flour mixture into a square baking cake pan about 20cm x 20cm and 3cm in height.
7. In a wok, add about 8 cups of water and steam it under medium heat for about 20-25 minutes. After steaming, let to cool. Cut it into square slices and then it's ready to serve.
8. To serve it pan fried, simply add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil to a pan and use medium heat to cook the water chestnut cake slices till both sides turns slightly golden brown. This takes around 5 minutes. (See most bottom pic)
