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Epicurious

Water Chestnut Cake

3.8

(2)

Sang Maw Mah Tai Goh

Editor's note: This recipe is reprinted from My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen: 100 Family Recipes and Life Lessons, by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo.

This simple dish is a New Year prize. Its sweet flavor is one of the recurring themes of the New Year. It was special to my grandmother, and it is to me as well. I make it not only every New Year, along with Turnip Cake, but also at other times throughout the year when I fancy it. The water chestnut powder at this recipe's base is cereal-like and can be eaten as a breakfast porridge when cooked with water and dark brown sugar. Among traditional Chinese it is considered a substitute for mother's milk when cooked with water. My granddaughter, Siu Siu, loves it.

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