During Chinese New Year, there are many snacks and treats shared amongst everyone – friends, family and the little puppy too (if only I had one!). One popular treat is known as gok jai. These are little deep fried treats that look like dumplings:
A plate of eight gok jai
Do you recall what I said about the significance of the number eight? Notice how I snuck in eight on the plate? 🙂
Gok jai has a lovely coconut, peanut and sugar filling
As you can see, it’s a light and flaky treat with a bit of filling. They are traditionally stuffed with sugar, coconut and peanuts. Even though the recipe seems simple, it’s very time consuming to prepare. You have to make the filling, roll the dough, cut out circles, add some filling and then fold it closed with the traditional fold-over pattern (not shown in these ones).
I remember when I had some relatives that made these annually for everyone. It’s too bad they don’t make them anymore. Nothing beats homemade goods. Perhaps I’ll ask them to teach me next year. Until then, Happy Chinese New Year!
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