International Cuisine

This dish is served throughout China on 15th day of the Chinese New Year. This is a Teochew recipe where one serving includes 5 rice balls, each filled with a different flavour – sesame, mung bean, peanut, yam and red bean. Preparation Time : 15 mins (from scratch) / 1 min (ready-made dumplings) Cooking Time : 10 mins Amount for 4 people

Ingredients :

2 packets sesame paste rice balls (each packet has about 10 balls)

¼ cup granulated white or brown sugar or white rock sugar

2 blades pandan leaves (frozen section in Asian supermarket) (you can also use rose essense)

6 cups plus 1½ cups water

Instructions:

1. Tear off 2 blades of pandan leaves and wash. Store rest of pandan leaves in freezer. Tie the 2 blades into a knot.
2. Boil 6 cups of water at mid-high heat. Make sure that water level is enough to cover rice balls. Add pandan leaves and sugar.
3. When water is boiling, add rice balls. Stir to make sure rice balls do not stick to each other or to the bottom of the pot. When the water comes to a boil, add ½ cup of water. Wait for the water to boil and then add ½ cup of water. Repeat one last time. The rice balls are done when they are all floating and slightly bloated. Turn off heat and throw away pandan leaves. Serve rice balls warm with soup.

Variations:

• Soy Bean Milk

Boil rice balls in water only. Follow step 3. When rice balls are cooked, drain water and serve in bowls of warmed soy bean milk. If you want pandan flavor, boil it together with the soy milk. Do not cook the rice balls in soy bean milk because the soy bean milk may turn sour and curdle.

• Fermented Glutinous Rice – Shanghai style. Fermented glutinous rice contains alcohol. Small plain white and pink rice balls without fillings are usually used.

Boil water together with 4 tablespoons of fermented glutinous rice, 4 teaspoons of sugar and ½ teaspoon of osmanthus flower essence. Add rice balls when water is boiling and repeat step 3. When rice balls are done, beat 2 eggs together with 1 tablespoon of corn starch and stir into boiling water and serve.

Instructions for Sesame Paste Rice Balls:

2 cups glutinous rice flour

1 cup water

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup black sesame powder (see beverages section of Asian supermarket)

Add water slowly to rice flour and stir until dough pulls away from the wall of the bowl. Mix brown sugar with sesame powder. Roll dough into small balls about 1½ cm in diameter. Roll out the dough into a flat circle and put ½ teaspoon of sesame mixture in the middle. Roll dough into ball again and make sure there is no leak. Cook rice balls. For plain rice balls, don’t use brown sugar and sesame powder.