glutinous rice dessert dumplings
2 min readServed in a sweet broth, these dumplings are made from a pillow-soft casing of glutinous rice flour that has a daan gnaa mouthfeel: springy bite that lets you sink your teeth satis-fyingly into the dumpling without it being so chewy that it sticks to your front teeth. They are traditionally filled with sweet red bean paste but the options are limitless, so feel free to experiment.
Serves 4 for the dough 125g glutinous rice flour tbsp black sesame seeds for the filling 3-4 tbsp sweet red bean paste or same quantity or chocolate hazelnut spread (such as Nutella) or strawberry jam or peanut butter mixed with 1 tbsp granulated sugar for the ginger broth slices ginger granulated sugar, to taste 1 Make the dough. Put the rice flour and sesame seeds into a large bowl, pour in 100ml water and stir vigorously until it comes together Use your hands to squeeze the dough until it feels firm and smooth. In a separate bowl, have ready the filling ingredients 2 To form the dumplings, take ping-pong ball-sized piece of dough and flatten it in your palm to form patty, then using your thumbs apply pressure in the centre to create a bowl. Aim for the edges of the bowl to be a slightly thinner than the base.
3 Place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the base of the pre-formed bowl and bring the edges of the bowl in towards the centre, closing up the bowl as you do so. Squeeze the edges together to seal. Gently roll the dough between the palms of your hands until it is a smooth, dimple-free sphere. Repeat with the remaining dough.
4 For the ginger broth, combine the ginger and sugar with 750ml hot water in a small saucepan.Cover and simmer over a low heat for at least 10 minutes.
5 To cook the dumplings, fill large saucepan two-thirds with hot water and bring to a rolling boil.
Gently slide the dumplings into the water then use a ladle to loosen them so they don’t stick to the base of the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes on a rolling boil until the dumplings rise to the top, then re-move with a slotted spoon and serve in bowls along with a ladleful of ginger broth.
