Yam Balls with Sesame Paste Filling
Golden Brown Yam Balls with Smooth Sesame Filling
To make gelatinized flour, fry flour in clean pan until aromatic, or steam it, and then sift away any large chunks. Chunks will form in gelatinized flour when it becomes cold, so it must be sifted into a fine consistency before it can be mixed with other ingredients. Additionally, yams with red flesh inside must be used in order to achieve the desired color for this dim sum dish. If yams with purple or whitish flesh are used, the dish will taste basically the same, but it will lose its appealing look.
Ingredients
- 1.32 pounds (600 grams) white sesame (for covering yam balls)
Dough
- 1.32 pounds (600 grams) yams, red flesh variety
- 2/3 cup (115 grams) brown sugar
- 2 ¾ cups (300 grams) glutinous rice flour
- 2.64 ounces (75 grams) lard, added at the end
- 6.63 ounces (188 grams) wheat starch
Filling
- 1.32 pounds (600 grams) pure black sesame powder
- 2.64 ounces (75 grams) liquid sugar
- 2.64 ounces (75 grams) sesame paste
- 15.8 ounces (450 grams) sugar powder
- 5.29 ounces (150 grams) peanut butter
- 4.05 ounces (115 grams) lard
- 2.64 ounces (75 grams) condensed milk
- 6.63 ounces (188 grams) wheat flour
Cooking Directions
How to make the dough
- Peel and slice yams. Steam over heat for approximately 20 minutes to cook well.
- Mix other ingredients evenly. When yams are still hot from steaming, stir them in evenly. Add lard and knead into a dough. This is the yam dough.
How to make the filling
- Mix all ingredients (except for the wheat flour) evenly. Then add what flour and knead together. Refrigerate until it hardens.
Assemble and fry yam balls
- Divide yam dough into pieces 0.81 ounce (23 grams) each. Add 0.81 oun (23 grams) filling to dough pieces and wrap into a ball. Dampen ball with water and roll in white sesame seeds. Knead it into the shape of a date.
- Heat oil to 338°F (170°C). Turn off heat. Add yam balls from step 1. When they begin to float, turn heat to high and fry until golden brown. Remove from pan and strain away excess oil.
How Ways of Serving Dim Sum Evolved
Carrying on the culture of traditional Cantonese dim sum, Hong Kong restaurants once promoted Cantonese cuisine from Guangzhou. At that time, merchants would walk around, cradling bamboo baskets full of dim sum with both hands. Due to this posture, a saying developed that they were offering birthday wishes. Afterwards, they began carrying around stainless steel containers with dim sum in them that were tied together with strings.
After dim sum restaurants began appearing, they began using dim sum carts to go around to tables and sell dim sum. During the 1970's and 80's, a tradition developed where every week chefs would create a new dim sum dish that would be offered at restaurants. Later, dim sum carts went out of fashion. In order to meet customer demands, the upscale Tsui Hang Village restaurant at the Mira Hong Kong hotel was the first restaurant to hand out paper dim sum menus to customers so that they could select which dim sum they wanted on their own. This method of offering dim sum proved extremely popular, and other restaurants followed suit, continuing the tradition of introducing new dim sum creations each week.
Origin of Yam Balls with Sesame Paste Filling
Yam balls with sesame paste filling were a result of this innovative tradition. They were inspired by Teochew deep-fried rice cakes and thus were originally triangular and didn't include sesame seeds. Later, they were modified to be date-shaped and covered with white sesame seeds.