Sesame Balls (Jian Dui)
Crisp Sesame Balls with a Yummy Bean Paste Filling
Round on the outside with semi-hollow insides, sesame balls have a unique taste and golden-brown sheen. Sesame balls have a sweet crispy fritter dough skin, and they are soft and sticky. The filling in sesame balls is sweet, and the snack represents sweetness and happiness.
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups (250 grams) glutinous rice flour
- 4.4 ounces (125 grams) red bean paste (dou sha)
- (How to make red bean paste?
- See Bean Paste Buns Recipe.)
Seasonings
- 6 ½ tablespoons (80 grams) white granulated sugar
- appropriate amount of cooking oil
- appropriate amount of white sesame seeds
Cooking Directions
Preparations
- Wash sesame seeds and strain water from them. Place in pot, fry lightly over low heat until dried. Empty onto plate. Divide bean paste into equal parts. Coat palm with a bit of cooking oil and knead divided bean paste parts into small balls.
- Add 3/4 cup water to pot. Add sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat to create sugar water, then empty into another container and let cool.
How to make Jian Dui skins
- Add sugar water to glutinous rice flour. Use chopsticks to stir in one direction, forming a glutinous rice dough with a sticky texture and smooth surface. Divide the dough into equal parts. Use a roller to press them into circular dough skins of appropriate thickness.
How to assemble a Sesame Ball
- Place a bean paste ball into one of the dough skins. Use the area between your thumb and index finger to gradually close up the edges of the skin, forming it into a sealed ball. Roll this glutinous rice flour ball in the plate with sesame seeds in it, coating it evenly, thus making the uncooked sesame balls.
Put it all together
- Add enough cooking oil to the pot. Bring the oil to high heat using a medium heat setting, then add sesame balls. Reduce stove heat to low and the sesame balls until they swell and they take on a golden-brown color. Remove from pot, strain away excess oil, and serve.
- Tip: Use chopsticks to continuously roll the sesame balls while they're frying to ensure they are cooked evenly.
Tips from Cantonese Master chefs
If you want softer, looser sesame balls, add a bit of baking powder and baking soda when kneading the glutinous rice flour into dough.
The Origins of Cantonese Sesame Balls
Sesame balls, or jian dui, are a traditional New Year dish from the Lingnan region, which includes Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan. Its history can be traced back thousands of years to the Qin and Han dynasties. During the Tang dynasty, they were also called lu dui, and were popular in the royal court. Afterwards, as people of the Central Plain migrated south, they brought sesame balls with them.
Cantonese sesame balls are the size of a fist and covered in sesame seeds. They are known for their crispy dough skin and delicious filling. Just like how dumplings are consumed during New Year in northern China, in Guangdong, everybody eats sesame balls to pass the New Year. In Cantonese, there is an expression that sesame balls bring wealth, so eating them represents people's wishes for a prosperous life.