Black Sesame Sticky Rice Balls

Oh, all that glorious sunshine, isn't it wonderful? It's no longer dark and grey at noon. Isn't it alluring? Isn't it misleading? It looks like spring is already here. But, oh wait, it's still really cold out.

I may be biased, but on a cold winter night, a bowl of Chinese black sesame sticky rice balls are the best kind of dessert. Like many Chinese/Asian desserts, it's sweet, but not tooth-achingly so. The dough is soft and chewy. When you bite in, it bursts with hot (be very careful =) sesame filling that warms you up inside and out. I often drink the broth too, even though hubby and the kids rarely do.

Chinese New Year is coming up fast. (It's February 3rd this year, in case you didn't know.) Most of Chinese holidays revolve around food, like Zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Jie), mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhongqiu Jie), etc. And the sticky rice balls are for the Lantern Festival (Yuanxiao Jie). There are tiny solid ones, and bigger ones filled with a variety of fillings such as red bean paste, peanut powder mix, etc. Our favorite is black sesame.

Black Sesame Sticky Rice Balls
Makes 20

1 cup gluten rice flour (about 125g)
½ cup hot water
120g Black Sesame Filling (recipe below)

Add the flour in a medium size bowl. Add ¼ cup of water to the flour, mix with chopsticks or a spatula. When not hot to touch, knead with one hand for a minute. Add a little bit of water at a time, continue to mix and knead until all the flour is incorporated into one smooth ball. (Be careful not to add too much water, or the dough will be too sticky. It won’t affect the taste, but it’s frustrating to work with.) Separate the dough into 20 equal-size small balls.

Work with one ball at a time. Put the unused balls back in the bowl, cover with a damp towel.

Put the dough in the cup of one palm, and push up the edges with the thumb of the other hand to create half a ¾ inch diameter sphere on the bottom with ½ inch tall cylindrical walls on the sides. (Alternatively, you can roll the dough out to a 2 inch round circle. But I found the sphere-and-cylinder-shaped dough much easier for adding filling.)

Add about one tiny spoonful of filling at a time, total 6 g. Pack down the filling each time. Close the dough on top, roll it gently to a smooth ball. Repeat with the rest of the balls.

In a medium pot, bring 2 inches of water to a boil. Add the sticky rice balls. Stir once to prevent them from sticking to the bottom. After all the rice balls float, boil for another 2 minutes until the dough gets a little translucent.

Serve while hot, in a bowl with the hot water.

Black Sesame Filling
50 g sesame powder
50 g sugar
25 g fat (such as unsalted butter, or lard, or shortening)

Mix all the ingredients together.

You can use this filling for the buns too. Fill each bun with about 16 g of loosely-packed filling.