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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Sesame Seed Balls

These may not look like much, but these are heaven's balls. (Which are only 600 times better then male testicles, I swear. These aren't salty or sweaty; only sweet and delicious.)
You haven't heard of them before? Well, that's 'cause you probably have never had one of the best brunches ever: dim sum. Don't get me wrong, our Western breakfasts are awesome, and I am planning a crepe blog post soon (have patience, mon petit chou), but you never really get anything umami out of our Western brunches.

Sesame Seed Balls are served at dim sum, but, fortunately, can also be found at Chinese bakeries even until the afternoon (although, they were probably made in the morning, so they're less fresh later on in the day). But, what's great about them aside having the delightful sesame flavor plus the sweetness of lotus nut paste? Well, there's many things, but the next most important one is that they're vegan. Yes, that's right: tasty, delicious, and animal-product free.

So, even though I have yet to make this recipe at home myself, here it is for you. (If you don't want to make a batch at home, either, hit up Chinatown and just enjoy. In Boston, they're only $.60 a piece. The best sixty cents you'll have ever spent.)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups glutinous rice flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
lotus nut paste
1/2 cup sesame seeds
a bowl of cold water
oil for frying

The bulk of the ball is just the glutinous rice flour, brown sugar and boiling water. Those three ingredients are combined and kneaded until they form a dough. A teaspoon of the lotus nut paste is put inside a well created in each pinched off piece of dough, and then the balls are cinched shut. Next, they're dunked in cold water and rolled in sesame seeds. Finally, they're fried in oil to give them their golden color. For details and more on the recipe see Hell Yeah It's Vegan!

4 comments:

  1. yumm, these look great! i can't wait to try them out for myself.:)

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  2. They're super delicious when fresh, warm, and crisp on the outside. Be forewarned, though, quite oily.

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  3. Amanda, let me know how they turn out for you. :) I've heard that getting them to come out nice and circular can be tricky.

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  4. Two variants that I make are one filled with adzuki paste and one filled with both adzuki and lotus paste.

    If you want to go completely insane, boil some garlic and galangal in honey, let it cool until just warm, mix with a little rose water, and drizzle it over the sesame balls.

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