恭喜發財 with Almond Dessert Dumplings (杏仁湯圓)

Ooey gooey sweet deliciousness!

新年快樂! 恭喜發財! 恭祝大家順順利利的龍年! Happy Chinese New Year! It is the year of the Dragon. The zodiac sign thing doesn't really mean much to me. Basically, it's another year. It's time for families to gather. It is also time for holiday. Well, maybe not here but in Hong Kong, where my mom is currently, and China.

Before we get to the main course of the week, well I guess dessert in this case, let me update up on my week.

Victoria snowed! Quite a bit too! I was driving through the snow and had the biggest, idiotic smile on my face. Meanwhile, my family is freezing their butts off in Calgary. And like a not-so-responsible student, I abandoned my readings and went sledding. It was the best time ever! Especially when you have your snow pants on and your butt is not freezing. 

On the school note, biochem is still killing me. I don't understand it at all and I have a test on Tuesday. And I have managed to get nothing, I mean nothing, accomplished. Oops. Instead of studying, I opted for cooking. But at least that shows dedication, maybe not in the best place but I am happy that I made these dumplings!

Almond dessert dumplings. Or 杏仁湯園. These are traditionally made with ground sesame, but let's be real here, where in the world am I going to find ground sesame. I also don't have a food processor or sorts to grind it. So I chose to use ground almond instead. It worked really well! Just quite a few adjustments to the original recipe. Mainly proportions of different things. We (Kelsey and me) ended with up pretty much double of what was intended because we made too much filling. Oh well!

I'm kind of in a hurry, currently waiting for my friend to pick me up so we can go to the gym. I gotta burn these calories off man!

ALMOND DESSERT DUMPLINGS aka 杏仁湯圓

(adapted from http://rasamalaysia.com/black-sesame-dumplings-tang-yuan/)


Total time: 30 min

Filling

1/4 cup ground almond

a little less than 1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp butter

1. In a skillet, toast ground almond at medium heat until you smell the almond aroma.

2. Add sugar and butter to the ground almond. Stir until paste forms.

3. Put in fridge to cool.

Dumpling Dough

1 2/3 cup glutinous rice flour

1 cup water

1. Mix the two together. Add either ingredient as necessary until it's just no longer sticky.




Putting it together!


1. Divide the dumpling dough into 16-20 balls (or about the size of ping pong balls, maybe a bit smaller)
2. Grease your hands with oil. Do it, otherwise you get this---->

3. Flatten the ball with your hand, spoon some filling in the middle. Don't do too much, otherwise it'll overflow and break on you!

4. Fold the edges up and seal it.
5. VERY GENTLY roll into a ball.
6. Set aside on a floured plate.

If you are making these for a later time, I suggest freezing them right away. That way, they maintain their ball shapes much better. I put mine in the fridge and they came out more disc like. 




Cooking


1. Put 3" of water in a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Place the dumplings in there carefully.
3. Let them boil away until they float to the top.


Serve on their own, or in the water that you used to boil (just don't drink it). Be careful, it's hot inside!

Serve it!

Kelsey: OH MA GOD, ITSH SHO GOOOD!