Lunar new year is a special time to be with family and loved ones, everyone celebrates differently but one thing you can count on is good food. While the pandemic has impacted how we gather with each other, our traditions and community connections are strong. We adapt, take care of each other and find creative ways to share a meal.
I joined APEN as a community organizer in 2012 after working with black and brown incarcerated young men to attain education and reconnect with their cultures in Washington state. Soon after joining APEN, I met Li Shao Yu at one of our new members’ meetings and have been building with and learning from her ever since. She helped fight for stronger tenant protections in Oakland, advocated for equitable development and affordable housing in Chinatown, marched with us for racial justice, speaking out against Anti-Blackness and even helped us shape statewide EJ policy through participating in our Leadership Steering Committee. In addition to fighting for our working class immigrants, we share a love for cooking and eating. When we’re not organizing together, we try to find some time on the weekends to share recipes and stories.
There’s so much to love about my people, food and culture is an easy one. But what I really love is the ferocity by which my people, our community, our aunties, grannies, new immigrants and young people keep striving not just for “a better life” but a healthier, safer and more regenerative world for all of us.
With that, I’m excited to share this offering from Li Shao Yu to help nourish us in the fights ahead and the new year to come.
Li Shao Yu’s Zhong Shan Style New Year Cake
Ingredients
2 bags glutinous rice flour (green bag)
1 pack brown sugar slab
1 ½ cup water (add more as needed)
Toasted sesame
Optional:
½ pound pork belly boiled, cubed then cooled in refrigerator
1/8 cup sugar
Equipment:
2–8” round cake pans
steamer
Instructions
Optional prep:
- Wash the pork belly and boil in hot water until cooked (about 15–20 min, depending)
- Drain the water and cute the pork belly into smaller cubes
- Place pork belly in the refrigerator and once cooled, add sugar to the pork belly and let rest (the sugar will help the pork belly keep its crisp in the new year’s cake
Making the cake:
- Melt sugar slabs into hot water and let cool to room temperature
- In a large bowl, prepare the glutinous rice flour
- With your hands (or a spatula) mix the hot sugar water into the flour and start kneading into a dough
- Add more water as needed to get a taffy-like consistency (when you pull some of the dough apart, is should slowly fall back into the bowl in one continuous stream while still maintaining its shape)
- Optional: add about 1–2 tablespoons of vegetable oil for shine
4. Start boiling water in the steamer
5. Place a thin layer of dough at the bottom of two 8” cake pans, sprinkle pork belly and then cover with another thin layer of dough — recipe should be just enough for 2 cake pans.
6. Once the water is boiling in the steam, place the cake pans in the steaming trays and cover for about an hour — you’ll see the dough puff up a little bit but should not spill out.
7. After an hour, test the cakes by sticking a chopstick through the bottom. If the chopstick comes out clean, the cake is ready! If the dough still sticks, steam for another 10–15 minutes and try again
- There may be some excess water from the steamer, you can keep or pour out
- Garnish with some toasted sesame seeds or leave plain!
8. Slice the cake and enjoy it fresh or let it cool and pan fry with a little oil. Alternatively you can slice the cake, dip in scrambled egg and pan fry as well.
May the new year bring us all good health, good fortune, happiness and a Just Transition for all!
