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Sweet rice balls make a delicious and gluten-free treat. Originating from China, they make a sweet treat for the Lunar New Year. It can make a wonderful addition to your Chinese New Year desserts due to its great meaning! Eating sweet rice balls on the first of the year is supposed to give you warmth, nourishment, strength, endurance, and good health. In addition, it helps you get through the winter chill and through the year ahead safely.
Moreover, sweet rice balls also have a symbolic meaning. Two rice cakes together are thought to represent the past year and the new year. Two overlapping rice balls symbolize the yin (moon) and the yang (sun). This signifies happiness and fortune coming together, bringing good luck. With all the strong associations with rice balls, let’s learn about how you can make this recipe at home.
Ingredients
Sweet rice balls are easy to make and only require a few ingredients. First, you’ll need to gather your baking supplies. Make sure you have a microwave-safe bowl, a spatula, baking paper, plastic wrap, a whisk, a rolling pin, and a round cutter. Next, you’ll need your ingredients. Traditionally, rice balls are made with red bean paste, so that is what we will be using for this recipe. Freezing the paste is optional, but it does make the process easier. For this recipe, you will need 200 grams of glutinous rice flour (despite the name, this flour is actually gluten-free!), 300 grams of red bean paste, 200 grams of water, 80 grams of sugar, and red food coloring. Let’s go ahead and get started with how to make these sweet rice balls!
Steps for Making Sweet Rice Balls:
- Begin by combining the flour, sugar, and water in your bowl and mix well.
- Add the food coloring and combine until the batter is smooth and there are no lumps.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave for four minutes. The dough should be sticky and chewy. It shouldn’t be too much, or else the dough will be difficult to work with.
- Next, lay out a sheet of baking paper and dust it with flour.
- Use the spatula to help remove the dough from the bowl and spread the dough on the baking paper. If necessary, stir the dough to help combine it before pouring it.
- Spread out the dough using the rolling pin and your hands. Be careful, since the dough is warm. You can let it cool for a little bit if necessary before spreading it out. Once you start rolling and spreading, you’ll want the dough to be about a ¼ inch (0.5 cm) thickness.
- Use the round cutter to cut circles in the dough.
- Spoon out a generous teaspoon of the red bean paste and place it in the center of the rice ball dough circles.
- Finish by closing the rice balls with your hands. Do this by pinching the dough on the back and rolling the ball between your palms. If the rice balls get sticky, keep rolling them in flour.
- Continue creating rice balls until you have used up all the dough.
Now you know how to make one of our favorite Chinese New Year desserts! Once you’ve mastered this recipe, you can make all kinds of variations of sweet rice balls! Try making the basic white or green ones with matcha powder! You can also fill your sweet rice balls with strawberry, mango, or ice cream. To store your finished rice balls, we recommend wrapping them individually in plastic wrap and placing it in an airtight container. It can last in the freezer for two weeks. Otherwise, fresh rice balls will get hard very quickly if left out at room temperature.
Add More to Your Chinese New Year Table!
Along with having sweet rice balls for Chinese New Year, try including some other desserts and appetizers at your table! Homemade Chinese dumplings would pair nicely with your rice balls! Brush up on some Chinese New Year traditions so you can ring in the new year in full swing. And if you’re feeling crafty, check out our tutorial on how to create your own Chinese New Year red envelopes. Have a great Chinese New Year!
