Neen Gow

Neen Gow is also called Sticky Cake or New Year’s Cake. Daddy loves it. So Mommy decided to learn how to make it. She called Albert’s Mommy to get the recipe. Then she and Rebecca started to make it at home. They put all the ingredients in a big bowl and mixed. After the mixing, Mommy poured it to a pan and then put the pan into an oven to bake. Albert’s Mommy said it was very easy to make Neen Gow. Rebecca and Mommy also thought it was not that hard.

After about 25 minutes, Mommy took a chop stick to poke the Neen Gow. This is how you tell if the Neen Gow is done. If the chop stick comes out clean, the Neen Gow is done. If the chop stick comes out with some sticky flour on it, the Neen Gow is not done yet. Mommy got a clean chop stick. So the Neen Gow was done. But wait a minute! It didn’t look like the Neen Gow Albert’s Mommy made. The Neen Gow she made was gold, sticky and soft. But this one was yellow, dry and hard. It didn’t taste like Neen Gow, neither. At the first time they failed.

After consulting Albert’s Mommy, Mommy decided to try again. She figured out that the rice flour they used last time was too old. It was bought a couple of years ago. Mommy bought new rice flour. She and Rebecca started their Neen Gow experiment again. At the second time they failed. Mommy forgot to put eggs in it. The Neen Gow was pale, dry and hard and tasted even worse than the first time.

Mommy and Rebecca started their Neen Gow experiment for the third time. This time Rebecca reminded Mommy and they didn’t forget eggs. They waited excitedly after the pan was put into the oven. Daddy was the first one to taste the Neen Gow. He said it was better than the last two times. Looking at the Neen Gow, Mommy knew they failed at the third time because it didn’t look right. It was dry and hard still.

“Don’t give up.” Daddy said, “You are close.” Mommy and Rebecca felt a little frustrated, but they didn’t want to give up. Actually they didn’t think of giving up at all.

They needed to figure out where to get started for the next Neen Gow experiment. Mommy remembered that when she called Albert’s Mommy for the recipe she didn’t write it down. She thought she memorized everything correctly, but she might not. So the first step was to get a correct recipe. This job was given to Daddy. He successfully got a written recipe very soon.

At the fourth time, Mommy and Rebecca put the recipe in front of them when they put the ingredients in a big bowl. Mommy double checked the list before starting to mix. In the big bowl, they put 2 and ½ cups of milk, 3 eggs, 1/3 cup of sugar, 8 tsp of olive oil, 1/8 tsp of baking powder, and 1 bag of sticky rice flour (1 lb). Everything was exactly in the same amount as the recipe said. The oven was turned on to 350⁰ and this was the temperature the recipe said. (Mommy tried 375⁰ in later experiments and the Neen Gow turned out better.)

“Failure is the mother of success.” After all the failure, Mommy and Rebecca finally succeeded at the fourth time. The Neen Gow was exactly what it should be - gold, sticky, and soft. And it tasted yummy!

“We did it!” Mommy and Rebecca started to do a Dora dance. Daddy and Gabby joined them, too.