Ingredients
- 1 small small sweet potato (peeled and cubed) (7 oz/200g)
- 1½ cup water (360ml)
- 2 cups glutinous rice flour (250g)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups red bean paste (400g)
- ½ cup sesame seeds (70g)
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Boil sweet potatoes in a medium sized saucepan with 1 cup (240ml) of water for about 10 minutes or until very soft. Remove from heat and mash sweet potatoes with a potato masher. Set aside to allow it to cool.
- When sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, add glutinous rice flour, baking powder, and approximately ½ cup (120ml) water to the sweet potatoes. Mix with a spatula until dough comes together.
- Knead for 2 to 3 minutes. Add a little more glutinous rice flour or water if needed to form a smooth non-sticky dough.
- Divide dough into 12 equal portions. Divide red bean paste into 12 equal portions**. Roll into balls.
- Flatten a portion of dough on the palm of your hand. Place a ball of red bean paste in the middle. Wrap dough around red bean paste.
- Roll dough with filling between your two palms to form a smooth round ball. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Place sesame seeds in a shallow bowl. Roll glutinous rice balls in sesame seeds. Compact the sesame seeds into the glutinous rice balls by rolling them between your two palms.
- Heat about 1½ inches (4cm) deep vegetable oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat.
- Gently lower 4 glutinous rice balls into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. This will take about 3 minutes***.
- Remove with a strainer onto a paper lined plate. Repeat with the rest of the glutinous rice balls.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
**You can divide the dough and red bean paste into 16 or 20 portions if you prefer smaller balls. ***Always be extra careful when deep frying. Some have experienced the sesame seed balls exploding while deep frying. Make sure the heat level is at medium to medium low and fry the balls for no longer than 3 minutes per batch. They should be cooked as the crust is pretty thin. Remove any balls from the hot oil immediately if you see them expanding. Out of the 12 that I fried, only the first one expanded a little more but did not explode.