Sweet Coconut Balls (Chinese Dessert)
Coconut balls are a Chinese dessert that use a sticky form of rice flour and red bean paste. Red bean paste is a nice, moldable filling for this dessert. Here are the ingredients you'll want to get:
- rice flour (glutinous/sweet, 1.5 cups)
- sweetened condensed milk (quarter cup)
- boiling water (approx half cup)
- brown sugar (3 tablespoons)
- sweet red bean paste (5 tablespoons)
- coconut flakes (half cup)
Take a baking sheet and spread the 1/2 cup of coconut flakes out on top of it. Set the baking sheet to the side. Roll about 1.5 tablespoons of the sweet red bean paste into a ball and roll it in your brown sugar. Repeat until you've used up your sweet red bean paste. Cover these balls and set aside for the moment.
In a large mixing bowl, add the sweet rice flour. Add your condensed milk slowly to the rice flour. Stir it in with a fork or other stirring implement. Carefully add in the boiled water, stirring it in. When everything is mixed together, knead the flour mixture for around a minute. Add additional boiling water, a little bit at a time, kneading until you get a playdough-like consistency. If things are too sticky, add a bit more rice flour. If they get too dry, add a bit more boiled water.
Now take the dough and roll it into a log. It should end up being about ten inches long. Now it's time to fill up the coconut balls. You're going to cut a slice of the dough off (about an inch of it). You may need to cover the rest while you are working with the slice so that it doesn't dry out. Roll the slice into a ball and then flatten it out. You want it to form a circle that's about 2 inches. Now put one of the balls of red bean paste in the middle and form the dough around it. You can actually flatten out the red bean paste on top of the dough (without going to the edges) to make this easier. Shape into a ball and repeat with the rest of the dough and red bean paste.
Now you're going to put the balls into boiling water. Use a big spoon, or another implement that works, to move the balls around a bit so they don't stick to the bottom. Keep the water heated on medium-high heat and cook the balls for about 7 minutes (just until they float to the top).
Use cooking chopsticks or another cooking implement to take the balls out and roll them in the coconut flakes you set aside earlier. Now you're ready to serve and enjoy!
As far as overall cook time, you're looking at around 45 minutes of prep, 15 minutes of actual cooking for a total of one hour to make this coconut ball dessert. This particular recipe makes about 10 servings, although you can easily scale it up.
If you follow this recipe, each ball should be around 140 calories, with 2.5 grams of fat, 3 grams of protein, and 27 grams of carbs.
- rice flour (glutinous/sweet, 1.5 cups)
- sweetened condensed milk (quarter cup)
- boiling water (approx half cup)
- brown sugar (3 tablespoons)
- sweet red bean paste (5 tablespoons)
- coconut flakes (half cup)
Take a baking sheet and spread the 1/2 cup of coconut flakes out on top of it. Set the baking sheet to the side. Roll about 1.5 tablespoons of the sweet red bean paste into a ball and roll it in your brown sugar. Repeat until you've used up your sweet red bean paste. Cover these balls and set aside for the moment.
In a large mixing bowl, add the sweet rice flour. Add your condensed milk slowly to the rice flour. Stir it in with a fork or other stirring implement. Carefully add in the boiled water, stirring it in. When everything is mixed together, knead the flour mixture for around a minute. Add additional boiling water, a little bit at a time, kneading until you get a playdough-like consistency. If things are too sticky, add a bit more rice flour. If they get too dry, add a bit more boiled water.
Now take the dough and roll it into a log. It should end up being about ten inches long. Now it's time to fill up the coconut balls. You're going to cut a slice of the dough off (about an inch of it). You may need to cover the rest while you are working with the slice so that it doesn't dry out. Roll the slice into a ball and then flatten it out. You want it to form a circle that's about 2 inches. Now put one of the balls of red bean paste in the middle and form the dough around it. You can actually flatten out the red bean paste on top of the dough (without going to the edges) to make this easier. Shape into a ball and repeat with the rest of the dough and red bean paste.
Now you're going to put the balls into boiling water. Use a big spoon, or another implement that works, to move the balls around a bit so they don't stick to the bottom. Keep the water heated on medium-high heat and cook the balls for about 7 minutes (just until they float to the top).
Use cooking chopsticks or another cooking implement to take the balls out and roll them in the coconut flakes you set aside earlier. Now you're ready to serve and enjoy!
As far as overall cook time, you're looking at around 45 minutes of prep, 15 minutes of actual cooking for a total of one hour to make this coconut ball dessert. This particular recipe makes about 10 servings, although you can easily scale it up.
If you follow this recipe, each ball should be around 140 calories, with 2.5 grams of fat, 3 grams of protein, and 27 grams of carbs.