stir-fried rice cakes (for Lunar New Year)

Stir-fried rice cakes, also known as Shanghai stir-fried rice cakes, is a great dish to celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year! Growing up, I’d get so excited when my mom would make these — she’d actually make them year-round. The chewy texture of these oval rice cakes were such a great break from the typical dinner with white rice. I’d always have multiple helpings!

Using Chinese sausage in this dish for the protein makes the it come together very quickly and effortlessly. You can also substitute the protein or veggies with anything else you have in the fridge. For veggies, I love a mixture of napa cabbage and bok choy.

Why do we eat rice cakes during Lunar New Year?

At every Chinese celebration, you’ll find symbolism behind most dishes. In many cases, the words that make up the dish are homophones for words that represent prosperity, wealth, or good fortune in the new year.

Rice cakes (in savory or sweet form) are often eaten around this time because the word 年糕 (nian gao), which translates to “year cake”, sounds like 高 (gao), a different word which means “tall” or “high”.

年年高高 is a phrase that means “better or higher every year.” I hope we can all bring this energy into this new year!

What types of rice cakes should you get for stir-fried rice cakes?

There are several types of rice cakes most commonly found at Asian grocery stores:

Refrigerated, perishable rice cakes (most preferred for convenience)

These refrigerated rice cakes (specifically the oval-shaped ones) are my preferred option for this stir-fried rice cake because of their convenience. There’s no long soaking needed prior to cooking, which helps the dish come together in just about 30 minutes.

These are found in the refrigerated aisle of most Asian grocery stores. They’re commonly vacuum-sealed, and once opened, are quickly perishable. If you don’t use up the whole package and don’t plan to within the same week, you can also freeze them and just thaw in room temperature water once you’re ready to use.

Here’s an Amazon link to purchase these (please note, I haven’t tried ordering these from Amazon myself! I usually get them from my local Asian grocery store, but understand that’s not an option for everyone).

Completely dried, shelf-stable rice cakes (least preferred for convenience)

These completely dried rice cakes are typically found in the dried goods area of the grocery store.

One benefit about this option is that they’re shelf-stable and can be stored for (likely) years. However, the inconvenience of needing to soak them for hours, sometimes days, makes this option my least favorite.

This is what my mom used growing up, and she’d soak them for several days in room temperature water, changing the water every day.

Fresh rice cakes (less common)

Sometimes at Korean grocery stores like Hmart, you can find fresh rice cakes. I personally haven’t used fresh rice cakes in this recipe, but think they should probably work similar to the refrigerated kind. The only difference in cooking is that you would reduce the amount of broth added to the pan (that’s used to steam the veggies), and add the rice cakes after the vegetables are done steaming in the broth.

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