Kitchen
6 Fun Tikoy Recipes Your Kids Will Love
Here are fun and creative ways how to cook Tikoy with your kids.
Tikoy, commonly known as Nian Gao in Chinese, is the star delicacy of Chinese New Year. The sweet, glutinous rice cake has a chewy, gum-like consistency which we cook in a variety of ways. But we’re sure sometimes the said recipe can be quite tiring. It loses its appeal because it’s the same way every year. But don’t lose hope! There are a lot of fun ways to cook tikoy especially with your kids.
1. Butter Tikoy
Who doesn’t love butter? How some people cook Tikoy at home is that there’s no fancy wrapper or anything. They grease the pan with a healthy serving of butter and toast the sides. It’s a simple recipe that anyone can do and a sure-fire way to enjoy it. Biting into that crunchy golden-brown butter crust is definitely going to have you and the kids eating it one after the other without knowing you’re out.
2. Tikoy Lumpia
We’re familiar with Lumpiang Shanghai as being the ultimate “party food“. So’s Lumpiang Tikoy. All it takes is some lumpia wrapper, sliced-up Tikoy, butter, and maybe some egg wash for browning. It’s a fun group activity for the kids too if they want to help out in the kitchen. Kids can start wrapping the sweet treat with lumpia wrapper or do some egg wash brushing on the wrapper. The older ones can try slicing them into strips or pan-frying them. If you’re not in the mood to pan-fry, some of us use the toaster oven too for mass production. You can add all sorts of stuff, like nutella or langka, if you want to upgrade it to a Turon.
3. Tikoy Siomai
A vegan option for kids, this tikoy recipe substitutes the meat with the rice cake. And unlike the first two recipes, it’s a healthier alternative because it’s steamed. Steaming the delicacy creates a soft and gelatinous consistency, akin to Japanese Mochi. And to add more color, some moms can make red bean paste or sweetened monggo paste to hide inside the siomai. Others even use melted chocolate to make the recipe look more eye-catching!
4. Tikoy Cheese Sticks
If your kids are in love with salted caramel, tikoy and cheese complement each other as the sweet and salty parts. With some lumpia wrapper or rice paper, wrap the stacked slices together before placing them in a deep-fryer, a pan with oil, or even a toaster oven. For those with an air fryer, brush a little oil to prevent the wrappers from becoming rock-hard.
While some use cheese sticks, others can use cheese dip and dunk the rice cake before refrigerating. Once slightly hardened and sticky, some moms make it similar to Mozarella sticks. Roll it in flour, dip in egg, and then roll it in bread crumbs before frying. But for those who are just starting out, pre-made wrappers are the cheat code for making these pretty cheese sticks.
Here’s one recipe guide we often use and modify to our kids’ tastebuds!
5. Tikoy Tteoboki
Instead of us running over to the Korean Mart and Convenience store to answer our kids’ (or even our) craving for Tteoboki after a long K-Drama binge, we can use tikoy instead! Boil the noodles together with the delicious rice cake to soften them both before adding the cheese and the flavoring to the broth. Afterward, we can add some protein like steamed dumplings or fish cakes to make the meal more filling. For healthier options, some create the flavoring mixture using one tsp of Gojuchang, a teaspoon of sesame oil, 3 drops of light soy sauce, and a teaspoon of chopped whites from the spring onion.
6. Stuffed Tikoy Rolls
While this tikoy recipe might need a little more prep work, it’s a surefire favorite among the kids. Steam the rice cake for at least 20-30 minutes or until it’s soft enough to roll. Then, take a cling-wrap-covered or oiled rolling pin to flatten the cake. But if there’s no rolling pin, even a weighted heavy pot will do the trick!
Now that it’s flat, the kids can join the fun part of combining all their favorite ingredients! From cheese, ice cream, custard, peanut butter, and even Ube jam, there will never be a day that these rolls will be a bad idea to indulge in!
May these tikoy recipes make Chinese New Year fun for you and the kids!
Because glutinous rice flour is one of the most traditional and flexible ingredients in most Asian desserts, it’s capable of creating the most heartwarming and nostalgic desserts for our families to enjoy. While Filipinos have their various and colorful kakanin, the Chinese have the ever-flexible and classic Nian Gao. And even past Chinese New Year, we’re sure that these recipes comfort us and the kids when we need that sweet bite after a hard day. Happy cooking!
Learned how to cook tikoy but don’t have any? Clueless on how to spend Chinese New Year? Check out here!
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