I don’t remember any time in my life when I chose an egg tart or a pineapple bun over a grilled rice cake at my local Chinese bakery. Unlike a pineapple bun, these rice cakes aren’t available at every Chinese bakery and I often have more luck finding them in a less trendy, more traditional-style bakery. These rice cakes only have two Chinese characters for its description, 燒餅, and the best translation for it would be ‘grilled rice cake.’ What the simplicity of the name doesn’t tell you unfortunately is what truly makes these grilled rice cakes so special – it uses glutinous rice flour instead of regular rice flour, which produces a mochi-like texture. Grilling or frying these mochi-like cakes give them an extra layer of flavour and texture compared to traditional steamed mochi. A common filling for these rice cakes is red bean but I actually prefer it plain (reasoning: I don’t want any filling to disrupt the chewy sensation of the glutinous rice cake).
I’ve never thought of making these rice cakes because they’re usually $1 at the bakery; I didn’t see the need or have the desire to make them because they’re so affordable to buy. Now that I see these rice cakes less and less, I needed my own recipe as a backup just in case I have a craving (which is always) and can’t rush to a Chinese bakery in Richmond (a 30 minute drive) to buy one (or many).
Ingredients
- 1 cup and 3 tbsp (150g) glutinous rice flour
- 100 ml (100g) water
- 3 tbsp (45g) granulated sugar
- 40 ml (40g) coconut milk
- 2 1/4 tsp (10g) vegetable oil
Instructions
- Weigh out 150g of glutinous rice flour in a medium-sized bowl. It is important that you use glutinous rice (also called sweet rice flour) and not regular rice flour. Regular rice flour does not create a chewy rice cake. Set aside the bowl.
- Combine water, sugar, coconut milk, and oil in a small pot and bring it to a simmer.
- Once mixture reaches a simmer, quickly pour mixture into the bowl with the glutinous rice flour. Using chopsticks (or a spatula), stir the mixture quickly until fully combined and forms a ball. The mixture might look shaggy and broken at first, but keep on stirring and it will come together. Once the dough can be gathered into a ball, add a little bit of vegetable oil to your hands and knead the dough until it is elastic-y and smooth, about 10 minutes. If the mixture is still too dry, add water a tablespoon at a time.
- Once mixture is smooth and shiny, divide the dough into 6 – 8 equal portions and roll into balls. Flatten each ball with the palm of your hands and a set aside.
- Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. Coat pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil. Add 3 – 4 discs of dough at a time and cook until golden brown, about 4 – 5 minutes on each side.
- Remove from the skillet and allow to cool a couple of minutes before eating.
Notes
Happy baking!
Joanna says
Ohh this looks so good! I’ve only ever had savory shao bing, but I’ve been on a mochi kick lately so would definitely love to try this!
fiona says
hi! these seem like they would be a great vehicle for carrying another flavor- do you have any recommendations for what i could eat these with?
Dee says
Love this as it’s super easy to make. Just one downside is your hands gets rather ‘sticky’ but taste so delicious 🙂
Les says
Have you made these with cinnamon and raisins or with star anise or Chinese five spice .goat milk should work to replace coconut milk
Alex says
I have a ton of mochicko flour in the house and got sick of making butter mochi, so I was looking for a different recipe to use it up and this is AMAZING. I just made a batch and they were absolutely delicious. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Brenda says
I made it and it was yummy! It’s not good the next day, so eat it the same day!
Richard says
I followed the recipe exactly, using a scale to be sure of amounts. The result was like a porridge; it didn’t come together, so I kept adding flour, probably another 3-4 tablespoons, and it was still a gooey mess that stuck to my fingers, even when I lightly floured them. Is there something else that should have been in the recipe, like some all-purpose flour?
Lol says
Lol
ayla says
turned out great, thank you 🙂 <3
Marilyn says
Made these with milk and put them in my waffle iron on pancake setting. Absolutely delicious! Fantastic recipe! Thank you!
Yolanda says
Excelend, thank you for recipe
Noa says
made this with regular milk and a traditional soy sauce glaze for dango. so good that my brother told me to put it away for his sake. i have made something dangerous
Annie says
Soooo good! I followed the recipe exactly. Perfect amount of sweetness, thought I could go for ~10g less.
My dough was super sticky and difficult to work with at first, but I suspect it’s because my liquid mixture was too hot — it was almost at a boil. If I made this again, I’ll just warm it a tiny bit to melt the sugar, or maybe not heat it at all? Once the dough cooled, it was a lot easier to work with.
Lauranne says
I have a question. Could I use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil?