• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

China Sichuan Food

Chinese Recipes and Eating Culture

  • Recipes
    • All Time Popular
    • Sichuan Food
    • Staple| Rice|Noodles
    • Pork
    • Beef & Lamb
    • Chicken & Poultry
    • Fish & Seafood
    • Egg & Dairy
    • Salad & Cold dishes
    • Beverages & Tea
    • Dessert
    • Soup
    • Vegan
    • Vegetarian
  • Pantry
  • Blog
  • About
    • PRIVACY POLICY
  • Video
  • How to
  • Hot Pot
    • Chinese Hot Pot e-Cookbook

Steamed Rice Cake–Rice Fa Gao

November 5, 2015 50 Comments

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Easy and healthy Chinese steamed rice cake recipe (Rice Fa gao) that you will love once you tried. I have planned quite a long time ago to make the two types of Chinese steamed rice cake with videos. And finally I bring the two on the blog.

There are two types of Chinese steamed rice cake– one is made from pure rice flour (with large spongy like holes) and the other one is made with rice flour and plain flour (with small holes). Although the ingredients are similar, the two types of steamed rice cakes are different. Pure rice flour rice cake, also known as Bai Tang Gao in mandarin and Bak Tong Gao in Cantonese, is fluffy and chewy. Usually Bai Tang Gao is served after cooling down. However rice fa gao should be served when still warm. This post introduces steamed rice fa gao firstly and then Bai tang gao recipe will come later in next recipe.

steamed rice cake- Rice Fa gao

In China, this is usually served as a dessert as breakfast or between meals. My favorite serving way is with tea as those rice cakes are a little bit too sweet for me.

The batter for this one is quick thick, something similar to chiffon cake batter. The final steamed rice cake is not middle  fluffy and dry. We have another steamed rice cake with a thin batter, which is moist and more fluffy.

steamed rice cake-rice fa gao

5 from 1 vote
Print
Steamed Rice Cake
Prep Time
3 hrs
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
3 hrs 20 mins
 

Steamed Chinese rice cake-- Rice Fa Gao

Course: Breakfast, staple
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: Rice, steamed
Servings: 24 Making 24 middle size steamed rice cake
Calories: 69 kcal
Ingredients
  • 250 g water milled rice flour
  • 50 g plain flour
  • 120 g to 150g sugar
  • 210 ml hot water
  • 5 g instand yeast
  • Oil for brushing
Instructions
  1. Dissolve sugar in hot water and set aside to cool down to warm or room temperature (under 38 degree C)
  2. Mix rice flour, flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl and stir in sugar liquid. Combine and mix well.
  3. Set aside to ferment for 2-4 hours based on the temperature. It takes me 2.5 hours in room temperature around 25-28 degree C until there are lots of small bubbles on the surface and the batter rises twice.
  4. Brush the moulds with oil and scoop the liquid to full 80% full. Bring water to boil in wok and then steam the cakes for 20 minutes over high fire.
  5. Wait for 5 minutes, transfer out, cool down slightly and de-mould when still warm.
  6. This cake should be served warm. Reheat before serving if necessary.
Recipe Notes

The left rice cakes should be covered with a wet cloth or plastic wrapper to avoid drying out. Reheat before next serving.

 

The Nutrition Facts is based on each single Fa Gao.

Nutrition Facts
Steamed Rice Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 69
% Daily Value*
Potassium 12mg 0%
Total Carbohydrates 15g 5%
Sugars 5g
Calcium 0.1%
Iron 0.7%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

steamed rice cake- rice fa gao

Filed Under: Breakfast, Recipes, staple food, Vegan, video

« Beef Chow Mein
Siu Mai Recipe (Shao Mai) with Sticky Rice »

You may also like

Pork and Chive Crystal Dumplings

Pork and Chive Crystal Dumplings

pork and pepper stir fry|chinasichuanfood.com

Pork and Pepper Stir Fry

ants climbing a tree|China Sichuan Food

Ants Climbing a Tree-Cellophane Noodles Stir Fry

Comments

    Leave a Reply to Tonya Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. vicky says

    December 18, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    I have been successful on almost every recipe you posted here, but not this one. I don’t know why.
    First of all, after I add half amount of the rice flour into boiling water, all water was obsorbed completely by the flour. It was difficult to add another half flour and kept it a little running like your picture shows here. I added more water and another half flour; the batter still didn’t like yours; mine was too dry. Second, the batter didn’t raise. I used coconut sugar instead of normal sugar. What’s wrong here? I failed on this one.

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      December 18, 2014 at 9:53 pm

      Hi Vicky,
      Thanks for your feedback. I have made a mistake about the amount of water used. It should be around 2 cups or 2 plus 1/2 cups of boiling water. I have updated the recipe.
      For the second question, try to place the batter container in warm places if the room temperature is low and wait for a longer time. It will raise as long as the yeast is working. Remember use warm water around 35 degree C to melt the yeast. Hot water will kill your yeast.

      Reply
      • vicky says

        December 20, 2014 at 4:34 am

        Thinks for the answer.

        Reply
        • Lulu says

          June 16, 2017 at 11:23 am

          Pls…may I ask if you can….use cups, tablespoon next your blog…or I
          nstead of ml or grams ?thanks…

          Reply
      • clover says

        March 17, 2018 at 2:16 am

        Hi, just so you know I just try your recipe today but you forgot to update the liquid amount in your recipe (should be around 475ml/2cups not 220ml/1 cup).

        Reply
        • Elaine says

          March 17, 2018 at 8:26 pm

          Clover,
          Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Would you please send me a picture of your version with 2 cups water?

          Reply
  2. vicky says

    December 20, 2014 at 4:36 am

    I am going to try it again. Really miss the taste of rice cake I normally ate in my childhood. Thanks a lot. 🙂

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      December 24, 2014 at 6:26 am

      Thanks for your kindness Vicky. It is my childhood cake too. Enjoy and Merry Christmas.

      Reply
      • Lloyd says

        January 29, 2017 at 4:07 pm

        Hi

        Reply
  3. Agnes says

    January 12, 2015 at 7:16 pm

    I tried your recipe and it didn’t work:( I’m thinking that maybe the flour/yeast I used was wrong. Can you post links if possible for the 2 ingredients?

    Thank you 🙂

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      January 13, 2015 at 2:39 am

      Hi Agnes,
      Those steamed cake can be made with very common rice flour and instead yeast. Can you just give me more details so that I can help to try to figure out what’s wrong. The rice flour is the plain rice flour but sticky rice flour. In most cases, it should be the proofing process. I have updated the recipe to proof it in larger container instead of the steaming container. So you can check the proofing process easier. Please try again and let me know about how it works.

      Reply
  4. Agnes says

    January 13, 2015 at 2:38 pm

    Hi Elaine,

    When I added the flour to the boiling water it took all the water, once I added the second part of the flour I had to add more water but it never became as watery as yours on the pic. I added sugar and yeast, waited and then I mixed and purred into another container and then I waited a little bit longer and steamed for about 40 min as I had 1 big container not the small ones. Do you think that this was my mistake?

    Thank you for helping me :):)

    Agnes

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      January 15, 2015 at 7:47 am

      Hi Agnes,
      The problem might lay in the flour. If it is slightly waxy, the flour might become a dough after mixing with boiling water. Would you please try again with the latest recipe to directly mix all the flour with room temperature water.

      Reply
  5. Tonya says

    January 16, 2015 at 6:26 pm

    I was so looking forward to trying this recipe. I saved it for weeks till I found the right rice flour. I let it proof all afternoon till it was heavily foamy. Poured into ramekins and steamed for 15. Opened and there was no way they were done. They looked like pots of glue. So I steamed for another 15 and still not done. Taking it off the stove. They’re not firming up at all. When I tasted the goo it just tastes like sweet yeast. Nothing like I’ve had at Asian restaurants. So disappointed.

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      January 17, 2015 at 8:49 am

      Hi Tonya,
      Thanks for your feedback and there might be something wrong during the process. Just wait me for sometime and I will update a video showing how to make those steamed rice cake at home, so you guys can follow the exact process.

      Reply
      • Carla says

        February 2, 2015 at 5:31 am

        Hi, you said that you’d upload a video. Have you done it? I have an assesment this week and wanted to know how they worked.
        Thank you

        Reply
        • Elaine Luo says

          February 2, 2015 at 8:18 am

          Hi Carla,
          The video is not done yet because I move my house last week. But I will be as quick as possible.

          Reply
  6. marla says

    January 20, 2015 at 5:31 am

    after having them in water for 2 days how to store them? in water? room temperature? kid wants them for lunch every day

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      January 20, 2015 at 8:07 am

      Hi Marla,
      It is really nice to hear that you succeeded with this recipe. I get too many failure reports. Our traditional way is to store them in water and cover with a wet gauze from drying out. They can be kept for around 3 days in winter.

      Reply
  7. Agnes says

    February 16, 2015 at 12:19 am

    Hi Elaine,

    It was the rice flour I was using, Bob’s Red Mill, but once I switched to thai rice flour I got a prefect rice cake :):)

    Agnes :):)

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      February 18, 2015 at 8:09 am

      Great News Agnes! And thanks for bringing that to attention.

      Reply
  8. Selina says

    February 22, 2015 at 8:28 pm

    Hi,

    My batch comes out very runny, am i supposed to add the flour to the ‘boiling’ water like some mention here. The recipe asks for room temp…
    I am worry it will not rise due to the batter looks runny to me..?!

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      February 23, 2015 at 1:03 am

      Hi Selina,
      What type of flour are you using? Water grounded or some other type?

      Reply
  9. Selina says

    February 22, 2015 at 8:29 pm

    Runny batter..

    Reply
  10. Lily M. says

    February 26, 2015 at 10:19 am

    Can glutinous rice flour be used instead? If so how much is needed?

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      February 27, 2015 at 4:09 am

      Hi Lily,
      I am not sure about whether glutinous rice flour can work now. And I am planning to figure that out soon.

      Reply
  11. Baili pass says

    February 26, 2015 at 3:49 pm

    Can you use cake flour or glutinous rice flour instead of rice flour? Will the results be the same? If so, do I use the same amount?

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      February 27, 2015 at 4:08 am

      Hi Baili,
      I have never used cake flour or glutinous rice flour actually for the steamed rice cake. I will figure out soon and update the recipe when the test is done.

      Reply
  12. joventina b burce says

    March 2, 2015 at 9:06 am

    i tried the recipe, but it didn’t work.

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      March 2, 2015 at 9:25 am

      Hi Burce,
      What type of rice flour are you using? I get failure report form some readers because of the wrong type of flour.

      Reply
  13. Luke says

    March 15, 2015 at 1:16 am

    Is it possible to swap yeast wth baking powder or soda

    Reply
    • Elaine Luo says

      March 15, 2015 at 7:47 pm

      Yeah.Baking powder can work but never tried with baking soda. However the taste might be slightly different.

      Reply
      • Timwemwe says

        May 11, 2015 at 5:21 am

        Thanks for the receipe, I’ve tried to find rice flour in some malls , but they aren’t import rice flours, so what kind of fluor should I use, is it good to use potato starch, or corn flour?

        Thank you.

        Reply
        • Elaine Luo says

          May 12, 2015 at 5:58 am

          Hi Thimwemwe,
          If you want the exact taste, using other flour is not a good choice. However we make steamed cake with corn flour and wheat flour.

          Reply
  14. Elisabeth says

    August 13, 2015 at 4:42 am

    Hi Elaine, what is water milled rice flour? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Elaine says

      August 13, 2015 at 7:23 pm

      Hi Elisabeth,
      Water milled rice flour is different from directly grounded rice flour. Usually, the rice is soaked with water and then milled. After that, we will use large gauze to remove the water. The last step is to dry the wet rice flour. Water milled rice flour will be finer.

      Reply
  15. Juls says

    September 8, 2015 at 7:47 pm

    This recipe is NOT correct!!!!! What a waste of money, time and energy I put into making these today!!!!!!! I have been eating steamed rice cakes for many, many years and now of them are like the result of this recipe!!!!! They turned brown during the steaming process, they are heavy, pastey and the longer they cooked the more that stuck to the toothpick during the doneness test! Advise to others….use a different recipe! Even with the additional water they still were a HUGE failure!!!

    Reply
  16. Ann says

    November 9, 2015 at 11:37 pm

    Can I use coconut milk instead of water?

    Reply
    • Elaine says

      November 10, 2015 at 10:46 pm

      Yes, you can replace it for sure.

      Reply
  17. P says

    January 24, 2016 at 6:50 pm

    Hi Elaine

    Can I cut down the sugar from this recipe.. significantly? Only adding 20g of sugar for example, I do not want a sweet rice cake and would like to have this dipped in savory curry instead. Looking forward to you reply, 10Q.

    Reply
    • Elaine says

      January 24, 2016 at 10:18 pm

      Hi there,

      You can slightly reduce the sugar but I am not sure whether savory curry taste good in this recipe.

      Reply
  18. Italia Caruso says

    February 21, 2016 at 11:32 pm

    I’m falling in love of this recipe I must do it!

    Reply
  19. mai says

    February 29, 2016 at 11:34 am

    Can you put the measurement in cups and not grams. I had a hard time converting gram to cup.

    Reply
    • Lulu says

      June 16, 2017 at 11:30 am

      Hi Mai…I want that kind of measurements too. Mostly I use the cups & tablespoon, teaspoon…NOT ml or grams!!!

      Reply
      • Elaine says

        June 19, 2017 at 8:12 am

        Hi Lulu,
        I understand that cups and tbsp measurement is much easier than gram if you do not have a kitchen scale in kitchen. But weight measurement is the most accurate method. I will try to give out the volume measurement in future recipes.

        Reply
  20. clara mark says

    September 4, 2016 at 10:11 am

    I like to use baking powder and not yeast. How much baking powder to replace the yeast???

    Reply
    • Elaine says

      September 8, 2016 at 8:38 am

      You can only substitute part of the yeast. For example using 1 gram baking powder+ 4 grams yeast.

      Reply
  21. Nina says

    January 13, 2018 at 11:33 pm


    Is this very moist inside. I’m looking for a recipe that is extremely moist almost wet to the touch and so far have not found what I am looking for. I get the dessert in a Chinese buffet.

    Reply
  22. rodha says

    May 8, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    hello

    my question is, Can i replace the yeast with something else ? I have yeast allergy and i would love to try this recipe!

    Thank you

    Reply
    • Elaine says

      May 11, 2018 at 8:36 pm

      There is a mixed flour with baking powder, which can be used to make this recipe. It is called “预拌粉”. You can try to search it.

      Reply

Hi, Welcome!

Please not be limited by site name, as Elaine shares Chinese recipes beyond Sichuan dishes. Know me more from About Page

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Subscribe for Updates

Most Popular

Chinese Steamed Chicken Recipe

steamed chicken recipe

Lo Mai Gai (Steamed Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf)

Lo Mai Gai (Steamed Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf)

Saliva Chicken—Mouthwatering Chicken

mouth watering chicken-Saliva Chicken

Chinese Pantry

Wood Ear Stir-Fry with Celtuce Stem and Yam

Wood Ear Mushrooms

how to toast black sesame seeds

How to Toast Sesame

Century eggs|chinasichuanfood.com

Century Eggs

Chinese sausages | ChinaSichuanFood.com

Chinese Sausages

ChinaSichuanFood.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use only images without prior permission. 图片和文字未经授权,禁止转载和使用。

Copyright © 2019 · Privacy Policy