New Year's Cake, Ranunculuses, and Wine-Dyeing

Well, this may seem like a random post, but I've decided that the unifying element is the color purple . . . that and these are all things that make me happy.

Chinese New Year's Cake (nian gao, 年糕) can be steamed, baked, or fried and include a variety of ingredients - and eaten whenever, even if it's a month past New Year's! While I love steamed nian gao, I don't have a steamer. But my mom has an excellent and simple recipe for baked nian gao, which also includes red bean paste and walnuts. Yum! Recipe at the end of this post.

Red bean paste is dolloped into the batter - see the deep purple goodness oozing out?

I love these Ranunculuses I picked up at the market.

Finally, we had a friend over for dinner the other night. In the middle of our lovely evening, he overturned a full glass of red wine on our roommates white tablecloth. Whoops. It's already been stained to bits by wine, however, and I thought: why not just dye the whole damned thing? I tried with leftover wine and some cheap cooking wine, with some vinegar added to make it set more. After drying the wine-saturated cloth, I then rinsed it thoroughly in scalding hot water. Don't know how permanent the results are, but I do like them!

A pale lavender cotton.

My Mom's Baked New Year's Cake Recipe:

1 pack of sweet rice flour (1 lb) I only trust Mochiko brand
1 cup sugar (I usually use 3/4 cup)
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cups milk
1 cup cooking oil
3 eggs
1 or 1/2 can of red bean paste
1/2 cup crushed walnuts, cashews, or pine nuts, or mixed (we prefer walnuts)
A little cooking oil or butter, some flour

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Oil and flour a 9x13x3 baking pan.
Mix 1 through 6 well, pour mixture into baking pan.
Use a spoon to scoop red bean paste and drop it onto the batter so that, when done, each piece will have some paste. The paste will sink to the bottom of baking mixture. DO NOT MIX.
Sprinkle nuts on the baking mixture.
Bake at 350 for one hour. A toothpick should come out clean.
Cut when cool. A buttered knife will cut better.

Persimmon Pudding with Toffee Sauce

At this time of year persimmons are dangling on bare tree branches, like lanterns or brilliant pendant earrings. I've had the pleasure of eating two types of persimmons, the squatter, crispy type ("Fuyu") and the heart-shaped, soft-fleshed type ("Hachiya").

A Hachiya persimmon. My parents ripen them on the windowsill, bottoms up.

The sweet bounty of persimmons in winter sometimes poses a conundrum - what to do with all these orange beauties ripening into softness at the same time? Since only my dad and I eat the Hachiya persimmon (my mom ONLY eats crisp fruit, so no papayas, bananas, or Hachiyas for her), something had to be done about all our extra ripe persimmons. Hence this recipe, which I baked for our family Christmas Eve dinner. Persimmons really do not have a strong flavor (except for their tannins, and that is only when they're not fully ripe) so this recipe yields a very English plummy-pudding cake. With toffee sauce drizzled on top, it's a sweet, festive end to a holiday meal.

For the Pudding

2 Cups Persimmon Pulp

1 3/4 Cups Sugar

2 Egg

4 Tbs. Melted Butter

2 Cup Milk

2 Cup Flour

3 Tsp. Baking Soda

1 Tsp. Cinnamon

1 Tsp. Salt

1 Cup Golden Raisins
3/4 Cup Chopped Pitted Dates

1 Cup Nuts

Preheat oven to 325 degees. Grease a bundt pan.
Mix sugar, pulp, egg, melted butter and milk.
In separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
Gradually add pulp mixture, mixing well.
Dust raisins, dates, and nuts with flour to keep them from sinking to bottom; add them to mixture.
Pour into bundt pan and bake at 325 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes.

For the Sauce

2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick)
1/4 Tsp. Salt

Combine ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until mixture is beginning to caramelize. Remove from heat and cool. Drizzle lavishly over pudding.

This would be lovely served with vanilla ice-cream!