Pan-Fried Chinese Pumpkin Sesame Glutinous Rice Cake
Course: Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine: Chinese
Prep Time: 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 30 minutesminutes
Resting the dough:: 15 minutesminutes
Total Time: 1 hourhour
Servings: 12pieces (2 inches in diameter)
Calories: 144kcal
Author: Marvellina
Soft and chewy Chinesey-style pumpkin mochi filled with sweet red bean paste and crusted with sesame seeds are pan-fried to perfection. They are crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.
Get about 250 grams of pumpkin that has been peeled and seeded. Cut into cubes and then steam over medium-high heat for 15 minutes until soft. Discard any excess water that has pooled inside the steaming plate if any. This can affect the final texture of the dough. Measure out 200 grams of steamed pumpkin and mash with a fork until you get a fine texture
Add sugar to the mashed pumpkin that is still warm and combine until sugar dissolves. Add the glutinous rice flour. Mix it with a fork into a crumbly dough. When it's cool enough for your hand to handle, knead it into a smooth dough. Depending on the water content of the pumpkin you use, if you feel that the dough is too dry, add a bit of water, teaspoon by teaspoon until you can get a smooth non-sticky dough. If the dough is too wet and sticky, add a bit more glutinous rice flour
Cover and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
Back to the dough:
After 15 minutes. Roll the dough into a log and then cut into 12 portions of roughly equal size. Roll them up into balls. Work with one dough at a time and keep the rest covered to prevent them from drying out.
Shaping without filling:
Flatten the pancake with your palm to about 4 inch disc. Press both sides of the cake onto a plate filled with white sesame seeds
Shaping with filling:
Flatten the pancake with your palm to about 4 inch disc. Put about 2 teaspoon worth of red bean paste filling and then gather the edge of the dough to enclose the filling and round it up into a ball. Gently flatten with your palm again. Press both sides of the cake onto a plate filled with white sesame seeds
Cooking:
Add about 3 Tbsp of oil to a frying pan. Heat the oil over medium heat. Place some of the pumpkin cake on the pan. I recommend cooking in batches. Cook until one side is golden brown, about 3-4 minutes (depending on the size you made). Then flip over and cook the other side until golden brown too, about 3-4 minutes
Remove and place on absorbent paper towel and continue cooking the rest of the batch. Remove any sesame seeds that have fallen out from the cake into the oil. Preheat more oil if necessary before you start cooking the next batch
Notes
If you use store-bought canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix), heat it up until warm and then mix it with sugar and proceed with the recipe instruction.