Tangyuan Tang Yuan Sesame Balls
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 45 minutes plus freezing time
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: makes around 35-40 small balls
For Filling
- 40g/1.4ozs black sesame seeds, toasted and ground
- 40g/1.4ozs caster or superfine sugar
- 45g/1.4ozs butter, soft (or butter substitute if vegan)
For Dough
- 130g/4.6ozs. glutinous rice flour (divided in two if you want to make two different colours)
- 25ml/0.8flozs. boiling water
- 30-40ml/1-1.4flozs. room temp water (you can add a few drops of food colouring)
For Syrup
- 2 cups/500ml/1 pint water
- 1/2 cup/110g/3.8ozs white sugar
- 6 slices fresh ginger
Step 1 - Grind the black sesame seeds and sugar together until very fine. Add butter and blend until you get a black sesame paste. You should get around 110g/3.9ozs. sesame filling. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up. Then grease or line a plate with parchment and roll out very small balls around 3grams/0.11ounces and place on the plate. Stick these in the freezer to firm up completely-they'll be hard in around 20 minutes or so.
Step 2 - While the balls are in the freezer start the syrup by placing the water, sugar and ginger in a small saucepan and bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes to dissolve the sugar. Place lid on and keep aside on the stovetop.
Step 3 - Then make the dough. In a bowl add the glutinous rice flour and the boiling water. It will still be lumpy so add half of the room temperature water adding more one spoonful at a time until it starts to come together. Knead for a minute or two by hand - it shouldn't take long. It shouldn't have any cracks in it but it shouldn't be super wet either. Cover with cling film.
Step 4 - Lay a sheet of cling film on a surface and roll out into a log and have a greased tray ready and put on a large pot of water to boil with around 2 litres/4.2pints of water. Cut off pieces - you want them to weigh around 8-9 grams/0.28-0.32ounces each. Roll into a ball then roll out into a circle between two sheets of cling film. Mine were around 5.5cms/2.2inches in diameter. Place the now frozen sesame balls in the center and press down the dough-don't try and stretch the dough as it will break, just press down gently and roll into a ball, the hard frozen centre will help to keep the spherical shape. Repeat with the remaining dough and sesame filling.
Step 5 - Have a bowl of water ready to place the balls once boiled. Once the water is boiling place the balls in the water to boil - some may want to stick to the bottom, just gently nudge them with a slotted spoon. When they reach the top in about 2 minutes or so let them boil at the top of the water for 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in the dish of water. Scoop the balls into serving bowls and pour the syrup over and serve.