Yummy pan-fried sticky rice cake with traditional black sesame filling. Two weeks ago, I finished the preparation work for making the TangYuan filling for the coming Chinese New Year. Black sesame filling is still my top choice because it is the most classic version. The result is quite satisfying.
During the process of making traditional water boiled Tangyuan with the running filling, the idea of pan frying crispy version comes into my mind. After the pan-frying process, there will be a crisp shell. Please imagine the different textures of various parts of the rice cake. We get crisp shell, soft and sticky middle part and amazing running filling. This is even more interesting than other common sweet paste.
Cook’s note
- I share the same ingredients with traditional tangyuan but slightly different process. It is quite important to reduce your amount of filling and try to make the ball as even as possible. When flatting the filled balls, there might be very thin part of the wrapper. After heating, the filling expands slightly and goes out from the thin parts of the rice shell. I would recommend around 1/2 teaspoon for each cake.
- In order to get the prefect crisp shell, I recommend using casting iron pan. It can help to harden the shell in a very short time, which is quite important to prevent the running filling going out. So we can have perfect shaped cakes.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup black sesame filling, you can refer to this post to make your homemade version.
- 1 cup sticky rice flour
- 1/4 cup hot boiling water
- 1/4 cup cold water
Instructions
Place the sticky rice flour into a large bowl, add hot boiling water in the center, only cover 1/3 to 1/2 of the flour and wait for 10 to 15 minutes until the hot part is cooled . Then pour the cold water. Grasp to form a dough and keep kneading for couple of minutes until smooth; shape the dough into a long log so you can divide them into similar pieces in the following step. Since we add boiled water firstly, the dough should be quite soft but not sticky.
Divide the dough into 8 similar portions.Take one piece and shape it to a bowl carefully (tips at Note 1). Then scoop around ½ teaspoon of black sesame filling into the center. Seal the rice dumpling completely. Then flat the round balls.
Grease the pan and the place the cakes in. Fry for 3-4 minutes over medium fire until one side is golden brown. Turn over and fry for another 2-3 minutes. Furthermore, you can stand the cakes up and fry for another 1 minute to maximize the crisp shell.
If you love to cook with sticky rice or sticky rice flour, please check the following recipes too.
- Sticky Rice Cake with Red Bean Paste
- Small Sticky Rice Balls over Mango Smoothie
- Sticky Rice Cake with Coconut–Nuomici
- Glutinous Rice Ball with Crushed Peanuts
- Peanut Dumplings (Tang Yuan)
- Zongzi
- Savory Tang Yuan
- Sesame Balls-Jian Dui
- Black Sesame Paste/Soup
- 1/4 cup black sesame filling
- 1 cup sticky rice flour
- 1/4 cup hot boiling water
- 1/4 cup cold water
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Place the sticky rice flour into a large bowl, add hot boiling water in the center, only cover 1/3 to 1/2 of the flour and wait for 10 to 15 minutes until the hot part is cooled . Then pour the cold water. Grasp to form a dough and keep kneading for couple of minutes until smooth; shape the dough into a long log so you can divide them into similar pieces in the following step. Since we add boiled water firstly, the dough should be quite soft but not sticky.
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Divide the dough into 8 similar portions. Take one piece and shape it to a bowl carefully (tips at Note 1). Then scoop around ½ teaspoon of black sesame filling into the center. Seal the rice dumpling completely. Then gently flat the round balls.
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Grease the pan and the place the cakes in. Fry for 3-4 minutes over medium fire until one side is golden brown. Turn over and fry for another 2-3 minutes. Furthermore, you can stand the cakes up and fry for another 1 minute to maximize the crisp shell.
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Serve hot directly!
The Nutrition Facts is based on each single cake.
This looks absolutely delectable! I love the simplicity of this recipe, but it sounds like nothing else I have ever tasted.
It is quite interesting. You should try it at once.
Gorgeous.
I couldn’t find how many servings there are. Pls, could you tell me? It does sound really nice
I just made these tonight, after making your stir-fried bok choy and home style tofu (both delicious!). They are excellent, I love the chewy quality of the rice dough and the black sesame filling is my favourite. Thank you so much for the wonderful recipes Elaine, there is no other website like yours!
Thanks Samantha,
That’s really a great comment!! I always want to share authentic Chinese style of cooking. Because I am based in China, I have no idea about the customized Chinese food. It is really happy to read such a comment. I am devoted to making my site different from other ones. Thank you!
Is it possible to pre-make these and store them in the fridge?
Yes, freeze and pan-fried directly.
I had this with custard filling at my local dim sum place, and they are so yummy! Do you have custard filling for this?
Thanks for the suggestion. I will plan a custard filling. By far, you can refer to the custard filling snow skin mooncake recipe.
would you need to stream/cook the TangYuan first before pan-frying? Or does the flour “cook” during the pan fried process? Or should I microwave the dough to “cook” first?
This sounds like an interesting idea. I would love to try. I love the traditional tangyuan in the ginger soup. 🙂 This sounds like an easy alternative as a snack without also having to make the soup to go with it.
No. No need to cook they previously. Sticky rice can be cooked with pan-frying directly. This will be amazing. Try it.
Hello!
Your recipe looks really tasty and easy to make
Is it possible to use Mochi rice instead of sticky rice flour ? if so could you tell me how the recipe would go with Mochi rice ?
Thank you very much !
Yes, Mochi flour should work fine for this too.
The recipe in the top description part says 150 ml fir butter or lard!!! I folllowed that and it was much too much, but the recipe later says 80ml which I should have followed. That is an important distinction if anyone is reading thsi comment!