Friday 18 February 2011

Rice balls

February 17th is Chinese Lantern Festival. People eat yuánxiāo dumplings (元宵) to celebrate it, and probably do stuff with lanterns. I would have liked to go out and see some lantern and fireworks action, but wasn't feeling up to it, so someone dropped around with some dumplings to my place.

2011-02-17 - Rice balls - 01 - Packet

These have sesame filling, which you can see further below. You can buy a variety of these in the supermarket, perhaps all year round for all I know.

2011-02-17 - Rice balls - 02 - Packet contents

My guest boiled them in a pot, added cold water to cool it, then boiled it again. I presume that's a timing thing to ensure they are cooked, and that it's a pretty standard approach. Interestingly she used tap water, which I would never cook with due to it not being safe.

2011-02-17 - Rice balls - 03 - Cooked ball

She overcooked them and the outer rice coating had the texture of chewing gum :-)

2011-02-17 - Rice balls - 04 - Ball innards

They were pretty tasty, but were so rich I could only eat four. The chewy rice coating was not so bad forcing me to eat slowly.

Would consider buying again, but I'm more of a savoury flavouring kind of guy.

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