Asian Rice Cakes

I'm addicted to Asian rice cakes—soft cylinders, disks, or rectangles of pounded rice. I add coin-shaped rounds of the Chinese version, called nian gao, to stir-fries, where they're draped in soy sauce and infused with the flavors of ginger and garlic, their pleasantly chewy texture enhanced by crunchy Napa cabbage and snappy bamboo shoots. It's a combination I'll always crave.