These Pistachio Glutinous Rice Balls (開心果糯米糍) are in high demand in Hong Kong right now. They’re made with glutinous rice flour. The dough is chewy and soft like mochi. The filling is ground roasted pistachio and sugar. Sweet and nutty!
Happy Lunar New Year! Wish you a year filled with happiness, good luck and good health. This Pistachio Glutinous Rice Balls (開心果糯米糍) are perfect for the new year, because glutinous rice balls symbolizes wealth and pistachio represents happiness.
Although I haven’t been back to Hong Kong for a few years, I have been keeping up to date some of the most popular food in Hong Kong through Youtube. For a few months, there is a shop in Tsuen Wan, that my family shopped often, becomes super popular because of their pistachio glutinous rice balls. There is a long line everyday. Since I’m not visiting soon, I wanted to try making this myself.
The ingredient list is pretty short, but there are a few things to pay attention to.
Pistachios
Pistachio is the star of this dessert. The filling is just ground pistachios and sugar. But the pistachios will require special treatment. To keep them green (or greenish-yellow) looking, the brown skins on the pistachios will need to be removed. Pistachios from different regions will have slightly different colors. Some are more green and some are more yellow. Taste can also be a little different. It doesn’t matter which one to use in this recipe.
To remove the skin, blanch them in boiling water. Just for 30 seconds. Then add to ice bath to chill for another 30 seconds. Drain and put them on a kitchen towel. Cover and roll by using friction to remove the skins. It may work better on some pistachios than others. For any that still have skin on, rub the pistachios with your fingers. The skins should fall off easily.
If you don’t want to remove the skin, that’s totally ok too. But the ground pistachios will have some brown specks. It’s just the color and won’t affect the flavors.
Either you keep the skin or not, roast the pistachios in the oven to remove any moisture and also toast them for more flavors. Remove from oven and cool completely.
Once cooled, grind the pistachios in a food processor or nut grinder until turn into fine powder. It’s ok to have some slightly bigger pieces. When grinding the nuts, only do it in pulses. You don’t want to overdo it as the nuts may turn into butter if they get warm. There is no turning back if that happens.
That’s the ground pistachios. Combine with sugar. The filling is ready.
Coating Flour
This coating flour is used to coat the dough after it’s done cooking. But since the dough is already cooked, raw flour shouldn’t be used. So, we’ll cook the flour. In a nonstick skillet, toast the flour until it’s slightly golden. Make sure to stir constantly for even cooking. Set aside to cool before using.
Glutinous Rice Dough
The dough is actually fairly easy to make. Combine glutinous rice flour and cornstarch. Glutinous rice flour creates a chewy dough. Cornstarch will prevent the dough to become too soft and too sticky. Add vegetable oil and water. Whisk until smooth and no lumps. Transfer to steam until cooked through, about 12 minutes.
Once the dough is cooked and still hot, stir with a stiff spatula to knead the dough for a few minutes. That will make the dough more chewy and stretchy. Then let cool a little until it’s warm and just cool enough to work with.
When the dough is ready, put on food safe plastic gloves. The gloves will prevent the dough sticking to fingers and hands. It’s a must. Divide the dough into 9 portions (34 grams each) and roll them into balls. Coat them in the coating flour.
To Assemble
Now, the rice balls are formed. Press and stretch one ball into a pancake with your hands. Put some filling in the center. Start pinching the egdes of the dough from one side together. At one point, half of the edges are sealed. Using one of your thumbs, press down the filling from the unseal side. Add more filling and press down again. Fill until it’s full. Pinch and seal all the edges. Transfer the finished ball onto the coating flour and roll all around once more. Place the ball on a cupcake liner. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
To Serve
These rice balls are best to serve on the same day. Keep an airtight container until ready to serve. The dough will start to dry up and harden as time goes by.
These pistachio glutinous rice balls are really incredible. It’s chewy and soft on the outside. The inside is sweet and nutty. The pistachio flavor really shines. They maybe labor intensive, but so worth it! Bryan and I both love these a lot! No wonder people line up for these in Hong Kong. I definitely have to try some when visiting next time. Hope you guys will like these rice balls too!
恭喜發財! Gong Hei Fat Choy!🏮🧧🐍
Pistachio Glutinous Rice Balls 開心果糯米糍
Ingredients
Pistachio Filling:
- 100 grams raw pistachios (shelled & unsalted)
- 45 grams sugar
Coating Flour:
- 50 grams glutinous rice flour
Glutinous Rice Dough:
- 120 grams glutinous rice flour
- 18 grams cornstarch
- 15 grams vegetable oil (plus more for coating)
- 170 grams water
Instructions
- For the pistachios, if you prefer a more green pistachio filling, it’s better to remove the skin. If you don’t mind the brown specks, skip step 2 & 3.
- Fill a medium bowl with ice and water. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan filled 2-inch water, bring the water to a boil over high heat. Add the pistachio and blanch for 30 seconds. Transfer to the ice bath and soak for 30 seconds. Drain. Transfer the pistachios to a clean kitchen towel. Fold the towel to cover the pistachios. Rub and roll to remove the skin. Some skins will fall off from the pistachios. But for the rest, rub the pistachios with fingers to remove the skins.
- Preheat oven to 250˚F (130˚C). Place the pistachios on a baking sheet. Spread them out in a single layer and roast in the oven, stirring every 5 minutes. For blanched pistachios, roast for about 30 minutes. For skin on pistachios, roast for about 20 minutes. When you start smelling the pistachios, they are likely done. Remove from oven. Set aside to cool completely, about 1 hour.
- For the coating flour, in a medium nonstick pan over medium heat, without adding any oil, add 50 grams glutinous rice flour. Stir with a spatula and toast until lightly golden brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large plate to cool completely.
- In a large pot or wok (with lid), put in the steaming rack and add water that reaches 1-inch below the top of the rack. Bring the water to a boil over medium heat.
- For the dough, in a medium mixing bowl, whisk together glutinous rice flour and cornstarch. Add vegetable oil and water. Whisk until smooth.
- Pick a medium bowl or deep plate that can be steamed and fit in the wok. Lightly wipe the inside of the bowl with vegetable oil. Transfer the batter into the bowl.
- Transfer the bowl on top of the steaming rack. Cover the wok with a lid and steam for 12 minutes. To see if the dough is cooked though, poke into the center with a chopstick. If you don’t see any flour in the dough, it’s ready. Carefully remove the bowl and place on a mat.
- Coat a stiff spatula with a thin layer of vegetable oil. While the dough is still hot, stir and fold the dough for about 4 minutes. That will stretch the dough and give the dough a more elastic texture. Cover with a plastic wrap and set aside to cool until still warm, but just cool enough to handle.
- Meanwhile, in a food processor or nut grinder, work in batches, add the cooled pistachios, do a few brief pulses and turn into fine powder. Make sure not to over do it. If the pistachios are getting warm, they may start to release oil. That cannot be fixed.
- Transfer the pistachio powder to medium bowl. Add sugar and stir well. That is the filling.
- Prepare 9 cupcake liners and set aside.
- Put on food safe plastic gloves. Divide the dough into 9 portions. Each portion should weight about 34 grams. Roll them into a ball. Place them on the coating flour and coat on all sides.
- Place one ball on one hand. Press and stretch into a thin pancake. Fill the pancake with pistachio filling. Start on one side, pinch the edges together with your fingers to seal one side. The dough now looks like a shoe, with one part seal and one part open. With your thumb, press the filling down in the hole and add some more filling. Repeat this a couple more times until you can’t add any more. Seal the rice ball completely by pinching together a few times. Roll the ball on the coating flour and place on a cupcake liner. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Enjoy these right away or on the same day. If not serving them right away, keep them in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
- Removing the skins of pistachios is time consuming. It took me 1 hour 15 minutes to do. If you don’t want to spend that much time, keep the skins.
- Pistachios can be roast in the oven or on the stove. If doing on the stove, use a nonstick pan and cook over medium heat. It will take about 5 – 7 minutes, stirring frequently.
- If you don’t have a food processor or nut grinder, put the pistachios in a ziploc bag and seal. Crush with a rolling pin or pan until desired size. The pistachios will not be as fine, but still useable.
- Glutinous rice flour is not the same as rice flour. Glutinous rice flour creates a chewy dough, but rice flour dough doesn’t do that.
- When making the glutinous rice balls, you will need to use gloves. That will prevent the dough from sticking to your hands. Make sure the gloves are food safe, so they can be used to in cooking.
- These glutinous rice balls are best to enjoy the same day. As time goes by, the dough will loose it softness and start to dry out and get harder.
- Leftover pistacho filling can be stored in an airtight container for a few days. Use them in other desserts, like ice cream or panna cotta.
- There’re many glutinous rice ball varieties, like peanut, sesame seed or even fruit. The dough is the same, but just with different fillings.
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