Rice Cake Stir Fry (炒年糕, Chao Nian Gao)

What is rice cake stir fry?

If you’ve never heard of rice cake stir fry, don’t worry! It’s a regional dish from the area around Shanghai and a bit of a local specialty there.

The rice cake itself is a bit like mochi – a dough made from rice flour – but cut into thin slices. In this way it’s not too different from rice noodles, though the shape and texture are unique. Once cooked, the pieces of rice cake have a satisfying soft-bouncy texture that just makes them a joy to eat.

This dish incorporates the rice cake in a savory stir fry with sliced chicken, leafy greens, and fried egg. The umami Chinese-style oyster and soy sauce based stir fry sauce ties all the ingredients together and makes the dish familiar and comforting.

Ingredients for making rice cake stir fry

What type of rice cake to use

There are a few different kinds of rice cake available on the market, including cylinder shaped and flat oval shaped. I recommend using the flat oval shaped rice cakes for this recipe, since their thinness allows more surface area to caramelize on the hot pan. Also, this shape is the one typically used for this dish in China.

You can find sliced rice cake at the refrigerated section or freezer section at most Asian market or on Amazon.

What skillet to use for rice cake stir fry

I highly recommend using a nonstick skillet for this recipe. Rice cake is quite sticky and starchy once it’s rehydrated, which might cause sticking to the pan. It is possible to use a cast iron or carbon steel skillet to cook this dish. In this case, you need to make sure the rice cake is properly browned before stirring them, which minimizes the sticking.

Substitutions you might make

The rice cake stir fry is a lot like fried rice or fried noodles, since you can use various kinds of meat and veggies in them, to adapt the dish to your current mood (or what you happen to have in the fridge).

Here are some possible tweaks you might make to the recipe to make it your own:

• Use mushrooms in addition to (or in place of the chicken) – no need to marinate them. In this case, you can also use a vegetarian oyster sauce to make the dish vegan.
• Use napa cabbage or any other green veggie instead of the baby bok choy
• Replace the chicken with your favorite sausage (no marinating needed)
• Instead of scrambling the egg, fry it sunny side up and add it at the end (not traditional but very tasty)

Mise en place

When you’re ready to cook, your table should have:

• Marinated chicken
• Rice cake (pre-soaked if using dried)
• Baby bok choy, washed and chopped
• Beaten eggs
• Chicken broth
• Mixed sauced
• Chopped green onion and ginger 

How to cook rice cake stir fry

Easy cooking process

Traditional recipes usually use a separate pot to parboil the rice cake before the stir fry. My recipe simplifies the process by steaming the rice cake in the same stir fry skillet with a bit of chicken broth. It is much faster and the rice cake ended up more flavorful.

Here is the gist of the cooking process:

1. Scramble and cook the beaten eggs in a skillet and set them aside
2. Stir fry the chicken until browned but not fully cooked and set it aside
3. Steam the rice cake with chicken broth
4. Add the baby bok choy and keep steaming for a little longer
5. Add the green onion and ginger
6. Mix with the sauce
7. Add back the cooked chicken and eggs
8. Stir everything together and serve

More one-dish meals

• Beef Pan-Fried Noodles
• Shrimp Fried Rice
• Sweet and Sour Salmon with Bok Choy
• Cantonese Ground Beef Rice and Eggs
• Singapore Noodles (星洲炒米粉, Singapore Mei Fun)

Rice Cake Stir Fry (炒年糕, Chao Nian Gao)

By Maggie Zhu

5 from 5 votes

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 servings

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Rice Cake Stir Fry (炒年糕, Chao Nian Gao) is a Shanghainese classic dish that combines chewy, gooey rice cake with chicken, bok choy, and egg in a tasty brown sauce. This one-dish meal has some really fun textures and the flavors are instantly familiar. {Gluten-Free Adaptable}

To make the dish gluten free, use dry sherry instead of Shaoxing wine. Use tamari to replace the soy sauce. And use a gluten-free oyster sauce.

Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

Marinating

• 8 oz chicken breast , thinly sliced against the grain (or thigh)
• 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

Sauce

• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce (Optional) (*Footnote 1)
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Stir Fry

• 12 oz baby bok choy , cut to bite-size pieces (see the video below for the cutting method)
• 2 eggs , beaten
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 2 green onions , sliced
• 1 tablespoon ginger , minced
• 4 cups rice cake , sliced (pre-soak if using dried) (*Footnote 2)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (or water)

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Instructions

• (Optional) If using dried rice cakes, pre-soak them in water for about 3 hours or overnight in the fridge. Once done, separate the rice cakes with your hands so they’re not stuck together.
• Add the chicken in a medium-sized bowl along with the marinating ingredients. Mix well with your hand so the chicken is coated evenly.
• Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
• Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet until hot. Add the beaten eggs. Cook for 30 seconds until the bottom is set, then scramble until the eggs are just cooked. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
• Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan and spread out the chicken with minimal overlap. Let cook without moving until the bottom turns light golden, 30 seconds. Flip to cook the other side until just turning white, another 30 seconds or so. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.
• Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon and the rice cake. Stir a few times and spread the rice cake into one layer. Pour in the chicken broth. Cook over low heat for 1 minute. Uncover and add the baby bok choy. Cover and cook for another minute, until the rice cake just turned tender and the bok choy is not quite cooked.
• Add the green onion and ginger. Give it a quick stir.
• Pour in the sauce. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
• Add back the cooked chicken and eggs. Cook and stir until the sauce is absorbed. Serve hot as a main dish.

Video

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Notes

1. Dark soy sauce add a nice dark brown color to the dish, which is a way I prefer but not typical for Shanghai style rice cake stir fry. You can skip it without any issue.
2. If using frozen rice cakes, you don’t need to thaw them before cooking.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 482kcal, Carbohydrates: 68.1g, Protein: 23.7g, Fat: 12.8g, Saturated Fat: 2.7g, Cholesterol: 115mg, Sodium: 1047mg, Potassium: 615mg, Fiber: 4.4g, Sugar: 3.9g, Calcium: 125mg, Iron: 3mg

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