Sticky Rice Dumplings

Sticky Rice Dumplings

　　Sticky Rice Dumplings are one of the popular snacks loved by families in Jilin. They are made by wrapping red bean paste in glutinous yellow rice or sticky rice and steaming. They feature a golden color, sweet taste, soft and chewy texture, and are very filling.

　　Ingredients: 500% glutinous yellow rice, 100% sticky rice, red bean paste

　　Method: Wash the glutinous yellow rice and sticky rice, soak for 12 hours, grind into a slurry, place in a cloth bag to press out water, then knead the flour into a slightly firm dough. Divide into 30g pieces, wrap each with 10g of red bean paste, shape into squares, and steam 12 pieces at a time for 12 minutes until cooked.

　　Before the Lunar New Year in the Guandong region, every household would wash rice, mill flour, stew bean paste, and steam bean buns. This is a type of sticky, bean-filled main food made from yellow rice dough, called Sticky Rice Dumplings, commonly known as Bean Buns, and is a traditional delicacy in the Guandong area. Around the New Year or during busy farming seasons, every family would steam Sticky Rice Dumplings. They are one of the northeastern Chinese snacks. Made by wrapping red bean paste in glutinous yellow rice or sticky rice and steaming, they have a golden color, sweet and soft texture, and are very filling.

　　Nutritional Value

　　Sticky Rice Dumplings are a common traditional fermented food in northern China, and glutinous corn is an excellent ingredient for fermenting them. Quality analysis shows that glutinous corn flour contains an average of 8.3% amino acids, with lysine content 16%–74% higher than that of ordinary corn, and an average of 10.6% protein, which is 3%–6% higher than ordinary corn. The proportion of water-soluble and salt-soluble proteins in the kernels is relatively high, while the proportion of nutritionally less valuable prolamin is lower. Sticky Rice Dumplings made by fermenting glutinous corn are highly nutritious. Corn is rich in carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and also contains large amounts of vitamins, inositol, choline, and minerals. It can not only help reduce cholesterol but also has therapeutic effects on circulatory system conditions such as hypertension and arteriosclerosis.

　　Preparation Method

　　Ingredients

　　Yellow rice flour, wheat flour, red beans, yeast, sugar, osmanthus jam, oil

　　Preparation Method

　　Place the yellow rice flour in a basin, add 60°C warm water, and knead into a soft dough. Once the dough cools, dissolve the yeast in water, add wheat flour, pour into the yellow rice dough, and mix well. Let it rest for several hours;

　　Wash the red beans, place them in a pressure cooker, and cook for 15 minutes. Then add sugar and a little oil. Mash the red beans thoroughly and stir in an appropriate amount of osmanthus jam to form the red bean paste;

　　Take the dough, divide into portions, wrap with the red bean paste to form a cone shape, steam in a pot for 12–15 minutes, and it’s done.

　　Characteristics

　　Golden color, sweet and soft chewy taste, very filling

　　Origin

　　In the past, farmers ate two meals a day—breakfast at dawn before work, and dinner after dark. For farmers doing heavy physical labor, the long gap between meals was unbearable. Therefore, every year in early winter, rural households would make filling and hunger-resistant Sticky Rice Dumplings, freeze them solid outdoors, and steam them when heading out to the fields in spring.