Black Sesame Glutinous Rice Balls ( 黑芝麻湯圓 )

Ingredients:

270g glutinous rice flour
200ml water (approx.)
100g black sesame seeds
50g walnuts
70g raw sugar
3 tbsp melted butter

To make black sesame paste:

• Lightly toast black sesame seeds and walnuts. Set aside to cool.
• In a food processor, grind the toasted sesame seeds and walnuts until fine.  Transfer into a mixing bowl and combine with sugar and melted butter to form a paste.  
• Divide the paste into 50 pieces and roll into balls.  Refrigerate.   

 To make dumpling (tang yuan) dough:

• Sift glutinous rice flour into a mixing bowl.  Add water and knead into a dough.
• Break a small piece of the dough and flatten into a round disc.  Cook it in boiling water and simmer until it floats to the surface.  Remove the dough and knead it back into the main dough when it is cool enough to handle.  This helps the tang yuan to be chewy and sticky.
• Divide dough into 50 pieces and roll into balls.  Cover with a damp kitchen towel to prevent from drying out.
• Fill each dough with sesame paste and seal properly.  Lightly roll into a ball using both palms.  Set aside on a tray.  *

To cook dumpling (tang yuan):

• Boil a big pot of water.
• Put dumplings into the boiling water.  Cook until they float to the surface. Cook for a further 1 minute.
• Scoop up the dumplings and transfer into hot ginger syrup.

To prepare ginger syrup:

•  Boil water with rock sugar and a couple of slices of ginger, some pandan leaves and 1 tsp osmanthus (optional).  Stir until sugar dissolves.

Note:   *  Tang yuan can be frozen and stored in a ziploc bag.