Wanna Green Bean

24 February 2008

Sesame Seed Balls

Sesame seed balls, I love them.

I’m just going to get to the point, they’re dim sum, they’re finger food, they’re oriental, and they’re sesame seed covered goodness.

The ingredients for these tasty balls are simple, but might be hard to find if you don’t have an Asian market near by. Then again, there’s always the internet. If you can’t find what you need in the Asian market, ask! Many times items are only labeled with their native language, the people working in the store will be more than happy to find you what you need.

I got my recipe from the book Classic Deem Sum by Henry Chan, Yukio Haydock, and Bob Haydock. The recipes are from Yank Sing Restaurant in San Francisco. The book was published in 1985 so it might be a little hard to find. I found mine at the library but there are a few on Amazon.

I modified their recipe a little bit. Red bean paste is easily found already prepared in Asian markets, so I used prepared red bean paste instead of making my own.

The recipe calls for wheat starch. Wheat starch is NOT wheat flour. Wheat starch is finer and resembles corn starch more than flour. I found mine at my local Asian market.

Make one batch of sweet rice dough at least two hours in advance.

Sweet Rice Dough:

Ingredients
2 cups sweet rice flour
3/4 c water
1/4 c lard, softened (I used crisco)
2/3 c wheat starch
1/4 c dark brown sugar, packed
2/3 c boiling water

Start with the rice flour

Mix in the water.

Mix by hand until the mixture forms a dough, set aside.

Add the lard (or crisco) to the wheat starch.

Mix together. I used a fork to do this, much like you would for a pie crust.

Add the brown sugar to 2/3 cup water and stir until dissolved.

Bring to a boil.

This next part is a little tricky and involves hot boiling sugar water, so there aren’t any pictures.

To the wheat starch and lard mixture, quickly pour the boiling sugar water mixture while stirring vigorously until combined. (See told you this was tricky.)

It should look like this when combined.

Add the wheat starch mixture to the rice flour and mix well by hand.

The instructions then say to turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead until thoroughly mixed, about 10 minutes. I realized my handy kitchenaid would work much better, and tossed it in there for a while until the dough formed a nice ball.

Flatten the dough to 1/2 and inch and wrap in plastic wrap.

Refridgerate for 1 and 1/2 hours.

Now you get to make the balls.

You will need:
Red bean paste (canned or follow directions below)
1/2 c White sesame seeds

Preheat 4/6 cups of oil (or heat your deep fryer) to 360 degrees F.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide in half. Rewrap one half and set aside. Knead the other portion a few times and roll into a 1 inch dough worm.

Cut dough into 20 sections and roll each into a ball. Cover and repeat with the other half of the dough.

The bean paste I had was a little watery so I drained it a bit. I took a spoonful at a time and set it in a couple paper towels (a tea towel would work well also). Fold over the towel and squeeze to remove some of the water. When you unfold the towel the paste should be noticeably drier.

Take one of the balls and form into a shallow cup.

Add a dab of the bean paste 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon to the center of the cup.

Bring the sides up to close the opening and roll in the palm to make an even ball.

Roll this ball into white sesame seeds to coat.

Fry the sesame seed balls in 360 degree F oil about 4-6 at a time. Remove each ball when it begins to float. Drain on a rack or paper towels, serve hot.

Red Bean Paste:

8 oz dried red beans
1/4 c black sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 c lard (or crisco)
1 1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1. Wash beans in cold water. Discard any that float.
2. Put beans into a 2-quart pan. Add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil, uncovered, over high heat.
3. When water boils, add 1/2 c more water and reduce heat to medium. Cook, covered, until beans are tender enough to be easily mashed between thumb and finger, about 2 hours. Replace water as necessary to keep beans covered. Cool in liquid to room temperature.
4. Place beans and liquid in bowl of food processor with metal blade. Puree.
5. Place towel in mixing bowl. Pour in beans. Gather four corners together and twist to squeeze out excess liquid. Discard liquid.
6. Toast black sesame seeds and pulverize in a food processor or blender. Set aside.
7. Heat lard in wok over medium heat until liquified. Add bean paste, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat while stirring constantly until beans are the consistency of slightly dry mashed potatoes, about 25 minutes. Make sure the mixture doesn’t burn.
8. Stir in pulverized black sesame seeds at this point. The mixture should be very thick.
9. Place in a shallow bowl and cool to room temperature.

Tags: appetizers, cookbooks, favorite, lunch, side dishes, vegan, vegetarian

February 24, 2008, 12:39:06 PM | Permalink | Subscribe | Stumble It! |