Happy Lunar New Year! Several cultures celebrate it, not just Chinese so shoutout to everyone!
In this video, My grandma "Popo" shows us how to make Chinese Fried Sesame Balls (Jian dui 煎堆) & Prosperity Cakes (Fa Gao 发糕) commonly eaten during Lunar New Year. She said she has not made these in over 10 years, so I'm happy to share it with you.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Rough Recipe (my grandma does not measure)
Sesame Balls
Ingredients
1 medium size sweet potato (western or asian varietal)
1/2 cup of sesame seeds
1-1.5 cup glutinous rice flour (+ 1/4 cup to bind the dough if it feels too wet)
5-6 tbsp light brown sugar
Store bought red bean paste (Shirakiku Sweetened Red Bean Paste Koshi An Fine) I like this one
You can also use lotus seed paste or (peanuts, coconut, sugar)
Vegetable Oil or your oil of preference to deep fry.
Procedure:
Cook the sweet potato in water for 15-20 min until soft. For best results, peel the skin, cut 1 sweet potato into large pieces and cook. Then on the table or pan add 1 cup of glutinous rice flour, followed by brown sugar and sweet potato. Add some liquid from the cooked sweet potatoes. Knead the dough until it comes together. After kneading for 1-2 min, if the dough is still really wet, add some more flour. If it's dry, then don't add anymore flour, maybe add another drop of water. It should come together and be slightly damp. Then let the dough sit for at least 30 mins.
After 30 mins, use some more glutinous rice flour to roll out the dough into thin logs. Cut them into sections about 2 inches, then put your desired filling inside. Then close up and roll in sesame seeds. Next, in a large pot get some oil ready for the deep frying. Depending on the size of your pot, you want the oil to cover the sesame balls. Make sure you start your oil on low-medium heat. Drop the balls in and constantly move them around the pan. They should cook for 10-15 min. They will start to puff up and rise to the top. When that happens, still cook them for at least another 5-8min. If the temperature of the oil is too high, they will burn, rise to the top and be raw in the center.
Prosperity Cakes
1.5 cup rice flour
1.5 cup brown sugar syrup
Take either 2 pieces of sugar cane or a 1 cup or light brown sugar and put in a pot of water (about 2 cups) cook until sugar dissolves and set on the side to cool.
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder (make sure it's not expired)
1 tsp vegetable oil
Cupcake tins
Procedure:
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until there are no lumps, it should resemble pancake batter. Then let it rest for 15 min. While that's happening get your steamer and cupcake tins ready. We used little muffin tins and lined them with cupcake paper. Then we poured the batter into each one and steamed them for 15 min. We finished them with toasted sesame seeds.
You can see that they did not rise and were dense because we used old baking powder. Make sure you use fresh baking powder so they rise.
You can leave a message in the comments if you have a question, I will be sure to reply.
Much love from my grandma, my family and I!
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6 окт 2024