Pearl Balls

A pearl is worthless as long as it is in its shell.
~ Native American Proverb

Here is the other dish that Winnie showed us how to make in our cooking class this week. She called it the Pearl Ball, which is basically meat ball wrapped in glutinous rice. The dish derives it’s name from the translucent appearance of the glutinous rice in a ball shape.

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Ingredients
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1/2 lb fish paste
  • 2 tablespoons dry shrimp, soaked and chopped
  • 2 tablespoons finely diced carrot
  • 2 tablespoons chopped shiitake mushroom
  • 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
  • 1 tablespoon chopped scallion
  • 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup glutinous rice, soaked in cold water for at least an hour

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Glutinous Rice Ball (Tangyuan) with Sesame Peanuts

Words that come from the heart stay warm three winters long.
~ Chinese Proverb

Today’s blog is about Winnie’s recipe which she shared on our Cooking Club. There are many steps to making this but are pretty simple. We took 1 hour to make this including cooking time.

Tangyuan can be unfilled or filled, fillings can include red bean paste, chopped peanuts and sugar, sesame paste (ground black sesame seeds mixed with lard), rock sugar (which would create a hot, melting caramel-like filling), etc. We used peanut butter and instant sesame powder which gives a strong peanut butter taste.

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To the Chinese, Glutinous rice ball (tangyuan) is eaten all year round, although it is commonly associated with the Chinese New Year, and the Lantern Festival. Glutinous rice ball is made by mixing glutinous rice flour with a small amount of water and form into balls and is then cooked in boiling water and served in syrup water.

Ingredients

These ingredients is sufficient to make about 20 rice balls — good enough serving for 4-5 people.

For the glutinous rice balls:

  • Peanut Butter: 3 tablespoon
  • Instant Sesame Powder: 2 tablespoon (buy them from Asian stores)
  • Icing Sugar: 2 tablespoon
  • Roasted Sesame Seeds: 3 tablespoon
  • Glutinous Rice Flour: 400g

For the syrup:

  • Ginger: 1 piece
  • Brown Sugar: 150g
  • Mandarin Orange Peel: 1 piece

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Korean Style BBQ Beef on Dried Shrimp Pancake

When the big fish fight the shrimps must lie low.
~ Creole Proverb

The Richmond Community Kitchen, coincidentally, showed Korean BBQ beef for the session this week. The lesson today was led by Tanni Lee. I like Tanni because she is soooo cheerful and have a smile all the time for everyone.

Tanni made two separate dishes that complements each other. The Korean Style BBQ Beef goes very well with the dried shrimp pancake. For garnishing, she used kiwi fruit. She also used the kiwi fruit juice to marinate and tenderize the beef.

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Korean Style BBQ Beef

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 lb Beef
  • 1.5 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 2 tablespoon kiwi juice
  • 1.5 tablespoon green onions
  • 2.5 tablespoon korean soya sauce
  • 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
  • 1/2 tablespoon chopped ginger
  • 2 teaspoon dark soy
  • 1.5 tablespoon sesame oil

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