KC Wan kindly shared this 3rd generation recipe which is about 100 years old on the 19th Jan 2015
Back in the day, KC Wan’s nan used to heat up the rice until it popped, nowadays we have rice krispies 🙂
In a wok (nice large and round shape for mixing)
3 tablespoon of golden syrup
3 blocks (or strips) of Chinese brown sugar
3 rice bowls of water
melt for at least an hour on low heat. (The blocks take some melting)
To test if the syrup is ready, let a drop fall into a bowl of water. If it disperses, syrup is not the right consistency yet, and needs further reducing. If the drop forms a ball shape it’s ready. If the syrup is cooked beyond this stage to a more caramelised state the syrup isn’t suitable – and although it can stick the crispies together it is crunchy like a peanut brittle/snap
When syrup is the right consistency, keep on low heat to keep syrup fluid, add in provisionally half a ‘standard’ pack of (preferably) Asda rice crispies (Actual Rice Crispy TM are not as crispy/light – and taste saltier as well as being more expensive)
Also stir in with preferred proportion of peanuts (ideally non-salted if using a large proportion of peanuts)
Once the initial batch of crispies and peanuts have been added, continually add more at a gradual pace so you know the balance of crispies and peanuts match the syrup amount. (Don’t dump the whole lot in as you might find you don’t have enough syrup!)
When your mix is ready, about the point the syrup can hold no more crispies and peanuts, poor into a warmed metal rectangular tray.
Push down gently with spatula or large spoon so the mix is evened out and flat. (Applying too much pressure will make them too dense – supposed to be light and crispy)
If you find you have to apply lots of pressure to make it stick then your syrup isn’t sticky enough.
Cut straight away into blocks, if you find it difficult to cut, the syrup may have hardened, just stick it in a warm oven to make the syrup soft and sticky again.
chinese sugar which KC Wan used
Only wish there was less guessing when the syrup was at the right consistency. Thank you for sharing just the same. Much appreciated.
Thank you- do you have a video for this recipe? I would love to learn how to make this as my grandma used to make this but forgot how to because of Alzheimer’s.