Peanut Yuan Xiao 花生元宵

🧂 Ingredients

• 50 g Lard

  (see notes section below)
• 65 g Peanuts
• 40 g Sugar
• 200 g Glutinous rice flour
• 1 L Water

  for dipping only
• 10 g Sliced ginger
• 2 c Water
• 15 g Pitted red dates
• 25 g Brown sugar slab

  aka pian tang (brown sugar will be fine too)
• 10 Sugared lotus seeds

  糖蓮子 (optional)
• 2 Sugared lotus root

  糖蓮藕 (optional)

Instructions

• 1 On low heat, toast 65g peanuts until aromatic
• 2 Grind peanuts with 40g sugar until you reach your desired coarseness
• 3 Add 50g lard to a pot or pan, using low heat, melt lard and add peanut mixture.
  Mix well
• 4 Pour into a wide container to cool.
• 5 Wrap with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to solidify
  further
• 6 Remove from container
• 7 Form into any size balls Making some big and some small is traditional to
  symbolize the young and old in a family
• 8 Place balls onto a freezer-safe container, cover with plastic wrap and freeze
  for at least 60 minutes or until solid. Keep them in the freezer until ready to
  wrap. Do not thaw.
• 9 Prepare soup for rice balls by adding 2c water, 10g of sliced ginger, 15g pitted
  red dates (approx. 6) , 25g brown sugar slab (approx. ¼ of a slab), sugared
  lotus seeds (optional) and sugared lotus root (optional) in a pot. Bring to a
  boil and simmer until ready to use
• 10 Prepare a plate for completed yuan xiao
• 11 Use a mixing bowl that is large enough to submerse a sieve or strainer. The
  larger the sieve, the more yuan xiao you can make each time. You can also make
  them one by one
• 12 Fill 2/3 of the mixing bowl with water
• 13 Add approx. 200g of glutinous rice flour to a bowl or a plate with a high lip.
  You will use it to roll the yuan xiao around
• 14 Take the formed peanut filling balls out of the freezer
• 15 Take one or more filling balls, put into the sieve and dip into the water for 1
  second. You just want to quickly wet it
• 16 Then place them into the glutinous rice flour bowl. Use your fingers to help
  coat each ball, then roll it around the bowl until each ball is completely
  covered with flour
• 17 Place the balls back into the sieve and dip into the water again for 1 second
  Some of the flour may come off
• 18 Place the balls back into the flour bowl, roll it around until the flour covers
  each ball evenly. Repeat this process for 8 additional times. There should be
  approx. 10 coats of glutinous rice flour for each filling ball.
• 19 When done, place on prepared plate and continue until all the filling has been
  used
• 20 Boil a pot of water (approx. 1 - 1 ½ L) to cook the rice balls I don’t cook the
  balls in the soup because you end up making too much soup and is wasted
• 21 When water boils, use a spoon to place the balls into the water. Keep stirring
  for around 1 minute to prevent balls from sticking to the bottom of the pot. You
  can put the lid on when the balls are no longer sinking to the bottom
• 22 When the water boils again, add 1 ½ c of water into the pot and cover with a lid
• 23 When the water boils again, turn heat down to medium, cover with lid and let it
  cook for 2-3 minutes until the balls have evidently increased in size.
• 24 Remove the balls and serve with the red date soup

Nutrition Info