Deep Fried Sesame Balls / "Jin Dui" 煎堆

I believe most of you all love this Deep Fried Sesame Balls (or Jin Dui).  But wasn't keen to make it at home because of the deep frying and later have to clean up the kitchen stove etc.  And while we can easily buy this delicious yummy Sesame balls at the night market with just less than a dollar for a standard size.

I have tried making Deep Fried Sesame Balls   two years back.  Though everything seem to be perfect while frying the Sesame Balls but some burst out the filling and make a mess in the hot oil.

Last week I accidentally stumbled upon this site while searching for some other recipes and after watching her video, I just got to try it out myself.

DEEP FRIED SESAME BALLS ~ JIN DUI

Recipe sourced from China Sichuan Food 

Ingredients

1 ½ cups glutinous rice flour (I weight it this 1 ½ cups is equivalent to 190 grams ) **

80 grams caster sugar or granulated sugar

100ml water + 10ml (please adjust accordingly)

½ tsp baking powder (you can add this or opt out)

1 cup lightly toasted white sesame seeds

80g or more red bean paste

Method

Preparing the cooked dough

In a small medium bowl, scoop two tablespoon glutinous rice flour out and mix it with 10ml water.  (you can add a little more water if there’s a need).  Knead till all come together and smooth. 

In a small saucepan, bring some water to a rapid boil.  Add in the small dough and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes.  Scoop out the cooked dough and transfer it to a small bowl with some cold water to cool down the cooked small dough.  Set aside.

Preparing the Main dough

In a medium large size bowl, put the balance glutinous rice flour, sugar and baking powder and mix it together.  Then add in the cool cooked dough in.  Using your hand, break out the cooked dough to mix in to the flour sugar mixture.   Slowly add in the water bit by bit the water and mix till all come together. (adjust the water accordingly if there is a need). Continue to knead till the dough is smooth.

Shape the dough into a long log and divide in to 20 equal balls. (I weight each into 20 grams).

Assembling the Sesame Balls

Shape the small balls into like a shape of small bowls or just flatten the dough.   Scoop 1 teaspoon of red bean paste in (more if you like) and seal it up completely and roll in your palms to shape it round again.  Repeat the rest.

Prepare 1 bowl with some water and another bowl  with the toasted sesame.

With one hand,  a quick dip one of sesame ball into the bowl of water and immediately transfer to the bowl of sesame seeds.  Using your other hand, roll the ball to coat with the sesame seeds; lightly press it in order all surface are coated with the sesame seeds.

The frying process

Using a medium size saucepan or your frying pan/wok, heat up some enough oil and once the oil has reached to a 120 Celcius, carefully drop in the few sesame balls to deep fry (in batches) , turn down the heat to slowly deep fry the sesame balls till golden brown.   Remove and drain on a paper towel to remove assess oil.  Repeat the rest until all are done.  

Let it cool down few minutes, and enjoy!

 ** I tried to google searched for that 1 cup of glutinuous rice flour in grams and its indicated 200 grams.  But when I weighed my 1 cup flour in a digital scale it was just 130g.  

I am indeed so pleased this time that none of my sesame balls exploded in the frying process.  In fact, they looked so gorgeous in golden brown.

As I have read some tips that Elaine of China Sicuan Food has mentioned about "How to avoid explosion during deep frying process?"  And this is the main thing that has caught my eye and wanted to try out her recipe.

She mentioned that " The key skill here is to boil around 1/10 of your flour first and then mix with the balance flour. When glutinous rice flour meet heat or hot water, it will becomes sticky and prevent explosion in deep-frying process as long as the oil temperature is controlled well." 

Well, hopped over to her site to read more of the tips she has shared out.

The sesame balls taste absolutely so yummy when it is still warm... but after few hours it will turn soft.    Have you bought and eaten any Sesame Balls still stays crispy after few hours?  You know what I mean?  What secret ingredient have added  in to deep fry?



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不 流 的 流 沙 包 ("Liu Sar Bao")

I made "Liu Sar Bao" today but unfortunately my Liu Sar Bao doesn't live up to its name as it doesn't "liu" (流) at all!  But..... it taste real good.  Love the egg custard filling inside.

"Liu Sar Bao" (Salted Egg Custard Steamed Buns)

Ingredients for the Skin

500 gm Pau flour or Hong Kong flour

2 ½ tsp dried yeast

100 ml lukewarm water

125 gm caster sugar

5 tsp Crisco shortening  (I used vegetable cooking oil)

2 1/8  tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

110 - 115 ml water

Preparation for the Skin
 

(A)

Mix the dried yeast with lukewarm water, stir well.

Add in 130 gm sifted pau flour, mix well with the yeast mixture.  Roughly form into a ball of dough and set aside for 15 mins.

(B)

Mix the balance 370 gm sifted pau flour with the baking powder, sugar and salt, stir well.

Pour this mixture into (A) above.  Add in the shortening and water sparingly, knead till dough doesn't stick to the hands.

Cover dough with a damp cloth and let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hr. to 1.1/2 hrs or till double in size.

Knock down dough to expel some air, transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for a while.

Weigh out 50 gm of dough and roughly shape into a ball.  Makes 18 pieces.

Flatten and roll out the dough into a circle.  Cup it in the palm of your hand, spoon in the custard filling onto the centre of the dough and pleat up the sides and seal; lightly roll with your both hands to shape it round. Place the pleated side down onto a piece of greaseproof paper, on the rack for steaming.  Cover with a piece of damp cloth and let rise for another 15 mins.

Steam the pau under rapidly boiling water on high heat for about 10 to 12 mins.

Remove from steamer and serve, hot.

* This Pau Dough is adapted from Cheah of No Frills Recipes

This pau dough recipe is indeed good and the texture is soft after steamed.  Will use this for all my future steamed buns.

Salted Egg Custard Filling

Adapted from Food Manna

Ingredients

80g salted egg yolk (6 yolks)

110g caster sugar

55g custard powder

55g full cream milk powder

60g coconut milk

20g corn starch (1 tablespoon)

110g butter, room temperature

Method

Start by steaming the egg yolk for 8-10 minutes or until cooked. let cool and mash. Next, In a mixing bowl, cream the butter slightly and mix in the ingredients. Refrigerate the mixture until firm. Portion into balls and freeze till solid. 

* Both the bao dough and the filling, I half the recipe.

Other food bloggers have made  "Liu Sar Bao" too; check them out.

Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids 

Jeannie of Baking Diary

Jian Dui 煎堆 (Deep fried glutinous rice balls / Sesame seed balls)

There was a time my sister and I went to a Taiwanese Restaurant here in JB and after we finished our meal, came the dessert.  I never knew there was a dessert included in our meal.  And it was "Jian Dui" (fried glutinuous rice balls coated with sesame seeds).  It has been ages and I can't remember when was the last time I had this snack.  It was so yummy and delicious.

During my young time, it just never occur to me why this snack is called Jian Dui. To translate it from Cantonese, "Jian 煎" means fry, "Dui 堆" is pile or could be lots or batch ~ so it is "frying in a pile".

It was not too long ago, well more than one year ago, Sonia (NasiLemakLover) made this Jian Dui and had bookmarked it since then.  So, today I made my Jian Dui.  

Jian Dui煎堆(Deep fried glutinous rice balls / Sesame seed balls)
(recipe source & full adapted from Sonia of NasiLemakLover

A) Dough
30g Tang Mien flour (Wheat starch)
75ml water

Method
1. Warm Tang Mien flour over a pot of simmering water.
2. Boil the water and pour and mix with flour, combine well.
3. Cover and set aside.


B) Syrup
120ml water
40g sugar
A pinch of salt

Method
1. Add sugar and salt with water in a pot.
2. Boil water till sugar melted, set aside.


To make dough
150g glutinous rice flour 糯米粉, sifted
3tsp baking powder, sifted ( or replace with 1tsp double action baking powder)
1tbsp cooking oil

Method
1. Add glutinous rice flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
2. Slowly add in the warm syrup (B), mix it.
3. Add cooking oil and Tang meng dough (A), and knead till smooth (count 75 times or about 90 seconds), cover and to rest for 10mins.

Filling & Coating
200g red bean paste or Lotus paste
Sesame seeds

Method
1. Divide red bean paste into small round ball (10g each).
2. Divide dough into small round ball (15g each), cover with cloth from time to time.
3. Flatten the dough and wrap red bean ball into round ball. Repeat the rest until finished.

    (wet your palm from time to time as the dough will dry up quickly)
4. Spray water on the ball, roll it on the sesame seeds.
5. Deep fry over low heat till puff up and golden brown.

There is this Video to demonstrate how to make this Jian Dui. 

                             I have made half portion with red bean paste and half in lotus paste.

 

I don't know why few of the Jian Dui, the filling burst out while frying.  I think I did not press hard to release some air out.

                                           Come "Yum Cha" at my home......

Steamed Custard Bun ("Nai Huang Bao" 奶黄包)

I have never even heard or eaten of this buns before until I saw Tze of AwayofMind Bakery House posted her Steamed Custard Bun sometime back. She mentioned that her custard buns was being made after watching a video on Youtube by Irene Chan.  But her video does not indicate the proper measurement of the ingredients; only showing how to mix the ingredients and steaming the custard.

Subsequently I tried searching in the web to search whether she has a blog and at last I found hers, but the site was in Chinese.  So, those ingredients that I am not familiar what it was, I have to ask my elder sister to translate it for me.

And here, Steamed Custard Buns or in Chinese "Nai Huang Bao"

Steamed Custard Buns

Ingredients for custard filling:
60g custard powder
40g milk powder

100g caster sugar (I used only 75g, but still can cut down to 60-50g)

130g coconut milk
80g evaporate milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten first
30g  melted butter

Method:
Place the custard powder, caster sugar and milk powder in a bowl and mix to combine.

Using a whisk, add in the coconut milk and evaporated milk and whisk till the sugar dissolved.  Add in the egg, stir until combine, and lastly add in the melted butter.

Sieve the liquid and pour it into a lightly grease pan and steam high for 8~10 mins.

Remove the custard out from steamer and mash the custard with a potato masher.

(Irene Chai’s video showing she knead the custard using hand till till the custard smooth; I didn’t do it this way.  I just continue using the masher to mash for 5 minutes).

Divide the custard into small balls; about 20g-30g to your preference.

Recipe source from Irene Chan

And thanks to Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House, that I came to known of this Custard Buns when she posted hers recently.

As for the buns I'm using back the same buns I made for the red bean buns previously.

Steamed Buns
(makes 12)

Ingredients:

300g Hong Kong pau flour
3g baking powder
3g instant yeast
30g caster sugar
160ml water
15g vegetable oil

Custard Filling 

Method 

Sieve Hong Kong pau flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add yeast, caster sugar and mix well.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, add in water and mix to form a dough. Transfer dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead dough until it becomes smooth (about 5 mins). Knead in the vegetable oil and continue to knead for another 10-15 mins or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.  Take a piece of dough  (about the size of a table tennis ball) and stretch it, you should be able to stretch it  to a fairly thin membrane without tearing off easily, if not continue to knead for another 5 to 10mins.

Roll dough into a smooth round, place in a lightly greased mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it proof for about 1 hr or until it doubles in bulk.

Punch down the dough and give a few light kneading to release the trapped air bubbles.

Divide the dough into 12 portions (about 40g each). Roll each portion into a smooth round. 

Flatten each dough into a small disc with your palm or a small rolling pin, make the edges thinner and the centre portion thicker. Wrap each dough with 20g of custard filling. Pinch and seal the seams. Place dough seam side down on a square piece of parchment paper. Cover loosely with cling wrap and leave buns to proof for 20-25 mins.  

Place buns in a steamer and space them apart so that they do not touch one another. Steam it medium to high heat for 12mins (make sure the water is already boiling before steaming). 

When ready, remove the lid carefully to prevent water from dripping over the buns. Remove immediately and serve warm. Keep any leftovers in fridge (covered with cling wrap or store in airtight containers) and re-steam till hot before serving.

 I didn't use hands to knead the custard (like what Irene Chan did in her video.  Instead I just continue to mash, mash, mash with the masher.  Lazy me lor.....)

HUM JIM PENG 咸煎饼 / CHINESE 5-SPICE DOUGHNUTS

We can easily get this Hum Jim Peng 咸煎饼 at the wet market or at the road side food stalls.  Once in a while I will buy this or the You Tiau but my mum will always nag and forbids us to buy it previously.  She will keep remind us that the big wok with full of 'black oil' frying the doughnuts; and too unhealthy!

So to stop my craving for his Hum Jim Peng, I have to make this at home.  I have a few cookbooks with this Hum Jim Peng recipes and after some comparison to which one should I use, I decided to use Agnes Chang's recipe!

HUM JIM PENG 咸煎饼 / CHINESE 5-SPICE DOUGHNUTS

Recipe from Agnes Chang Hawkers’ Delights

Ingredients A:

360g high protein flour (bread flour)

120g caster sugar

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

½ tsp alkaline water

250ml water

Ingredients B: (prepare this two days ahead)  ~ I did this just for 1 day only

90g flour

90ml water

2 tsp vinegar

Ingredients C:

½ tsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp flour

2 tbsp water

Fillings

½ tsp five-spice powder

½ tsp nam yee (fermented red beancurd)

½ tsp oil

Some white sesame seeds

Oil for deep frying

Method

1.  Mix ingredients B two days ahead.  

2.  Mix ingredients C and leave for 15 minutes.

3.  Mix ingredients A, B and C together.  Knead well.  Leave for 1-2 hours until double in bulk.

4.  Roll out the dough in rectangle shape. (You have to use your hand, dust with flour 
     to shape it as it is too sticky to use your rolling pin!). 

5.  Brush all over the five-spice mixture on the dough and roll up like swiss roll.
     (As you rolling it up, use the scrapper helping to fold and roll).

     Cut into slices, about 1/4" thick.  Shape each slice a little with your hands and flatten a little.  Brush some water on top and sprinkle white sesame seeds on the surface. 

6.  Heat oil and deep fry till golden brown.  (While frying, keep turning/flipping the doughnut to get the puffiness result).

Next I would want to make the one with the glutinous rice filling in it.