Sesame Ball Jian Dui 煎堆 / 煎䭔

This little ball of golden goodness took a few tries to get right.  I wanted to make these light as air sweet treats for the Chinese New Year as they are a lucky symbol, being golden and perfectly round (golden coins, anyone?) and fortuitously expanding to several times their original size (yeah, your little venture is going to go through the roof!)  

I mentioned to my 媽媽, who is in town at the moment visiting, that I was going to make the wonderfully crispy yet chewy Sesame Balls also known as Jian Dui (煎䭔 or煎堆) or Matuan 麻糰.  She said to me, 'Oh, those are easy, just like how you make tong yuan except you fry it!'   

Well, sorry to say, dearest 媽媽, you were a wee bit wrong.  It wasn't really that easy at first to make these; however, once you get the trick of it, it's easy enough and you can make gorgeous, hollow, perfectly round and yummilicious Sesame Balls!

How to Wrap Jau Gok Peanut Puff Dumplings 炸油角包法

We just finished posting on how to make those delightful Chinese New Year's sweet treats, the Jau Gok Peanut Puff Dumpling, or 炸油角.  This little dumpling is really easy to make and easy to wrap as well if you use a dumpling press of some sort.  But...if you want to go all traditional and hard core and wrap by hand, the wrapping is a bit more tricky, so we decided to do a quick post on How to Wrap Jau Gok Peanut Puff Dumplings 炸油角 by hand.

Jau Gok Peanut Puff Dumpling 炸油角 / 炸角仔

This post is inspired by the stories that have come in from our dear readers that spoke of their fond memories of the making and eating of the traditional Chinese New Year Treat, Jau Gok Peanut Puff Dumpling, 油角 or 角仔, also known as Tim Gok or Gok Jai.  This sweet treat is especially made by grandmas and grandpas, mothers and fathers for the Chinese New Year festivities as snacks to munch on and to share with the many Chinese New Year guests expected.  

Another good reason to make and serve these crunchy munchies is that the distinctive shape of the Jau Gok is evocative of the gold ingots that the Chinese used for centuries as money.  So you could make and eat piles of golden ingots, what better way to start off the Year of the Monkey!?