The Hirshon Cantonese Nuomici -糯米糍

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Citizens, as deep an aficionado as TFD may be for the complex diversity and flavors of the many types of Chinese cuisine, I am not a huge fan of Chinese desserts.

This, however, is a major exception! 😀

The sticky rice flour and coconut ball or Nuomici (糯米糍) is properly referred to as a Chinese glutinous rice dumpling. It is a famous Chinese pastry that is quite popular in both Guangdong province as well as Hong Kong. It is also known as the “Scholar rice cake” throughout China.

Glutinous rice, also known as sticky rice is one of the most important ingredients in different types of Chinese pastries and desserts. There are many famous festival foods made from glutinous rice, including the famous rice dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival, the New Year Rice cake for Spring Festival and desserts made for Middle Autumn day.

Since the sticky rice flour is extremely sticky, here are some tips to make it easier to work with:

1. Wait until the powder syrup has totally cooled down. Keep the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before wrapping.

2. You can brush some water on your hands to reduce the stickiness of the powdered sugar syrup during the wrapping process.

The original nuomici recipe (like many Chinese desserts) is tooth-numbingly sweet, so TFD has chosen to use the more savory Hainanese Yi Ba (薏粑) dumpling filling instead, which has a spicier, nuttier mixture than the traditional sweet red bean paste stuffing found in nuomici.

Citizens, this is one of my favorite Chinese desserts – I hope you choose to make it and enjoy it as much as I do! ☺

Battle on – The Generalissimo

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Ingredients for Wrapper:

100 grams condensed coconut milk
100 grams whole milk
120 grams glutinous rice flour (Traditional water milled, you can find it in your local Asian store or Amazon)
50 grams powdered sugar
30 grams cornstarch
20 grams natural coconut oil

Ingredients for Filling:

60 grams Preserved Candied Ginger
2 large pieces of Preserved candied mandarins (kat pehng) or if unavailable use preserved candied ginger or try using something totally different, such as Italian Mostarda Fruit (fruit preserved in mustard syrup – TFD happens to love using this heretical ingredient in the recipe!)
300 grams Peanuts
65 grams Sesame seeds
½ cup dessicated Coconut
600 grams Palm or Coconut Sugar

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Melt the coconut oil in a pan over low heat, remove the pan from heat and cool the coconut oil down to room temperature.

Put all the ingredients for the dough and the melted coconut oil into a large bowl and whisk them into a smooth homogenous mixture without any lumps.

Pour the mixture into a pan and steam over high heat in a steamer for 15 minutes. Check it with a fork – the cooked mixture should have turned into a firm, sticky dough.

Prepare the filling:

Dry-fry the peanuts and sesame seeds till fragrant, then pound the fried peanuts into much smaller pieces, nearly a powder but with some small pieces for texture.

Mince the preserved candied mandarins and ginger finely.

Melt the palm or coconut sugar in a pot with some water (enough water just to cover the sugar).

In a wide pot over medium fire, add the minced candied ginger to the melted sugar. Wait for the mixture to boil, then add the minced preserved candied mandarins.

Wait for the mixture to boil again, then add dessicated coconut. Cook for 3 minutes to prolong the shelf life of the filling. Mix in the crushed peanuts and cook the filling for 2 minutes longer. Set aside and let the filling cool down.

Take out the pan container, cover it with a lid and cool the dough to room temperature. Wear a pair of disposable kitchen gloves; take a piece of half-egg-size dough in your hands. Palm the small dough into a round pad; put a tablespoon of the filling in the middle of the pad and shape it into a rice ball. Roll the rice ball with desiccated coconut put it in a cupcake cup. Repeat to finish all the dough. Serve them cold, preferably after at least 2 hours in the fridge.