Glutinous Sweet Rice Ball W/ Coconut Ginger Sauce (Banh Ja'neuk)
Popular Cambodian dessert which is typically filled with a mung bean paste. Usually this is made for special occasions but I would make it any time of the year!
Ingredients
Glutinous Sticky Rice Ball (Tang Yuan)
- ½ cup Glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour + more if needed
- ½ cup boiling hot water + more if needed
Coconut Ginger Sauce
- ¼ cup palm sugar
- ⅛-1/4 cup white sugar
- 3 cups coconut milk
- 1 inch piece of ginger
Garnishes
- Toasted Sesame Seeds
- Crushed Roasted Peanuts
Instructions
Glutinous Sticky Rice Ball (Tang Yuan)
- In a large bowl, combine ½ cup of glutinous rice flour with ½ cup of boiling hot water. Mix to combine until the flour is fully dissolved,
- If the dough is too wet, add 1 tablespoon of glutinous rice flour at a time until the dough forms. If the dough is too dry, add 1 tablespoon of hot water at a time. You will know the dough is ready when it becomes less wet and less sticky.
- Once the dough forms, knead the dough with your hand in the bowl or on a clean flat surface for about 3 minutes until the dough is nice and smooth.
- Once the dough is nice and smooth, roll it into a thin log about 1 cm thick. Then cut the log into 1 cm pieces , similar to the size of mini marshmallows
- In a bowl, add 2 tablespoon of glutinous rice flour, so you can place the rice balls in and prevent them from sticking to each other.
- Using the palm of your hands, roll the cut dough pieces into small spheres between both palms. (Similar to when you roll cookie dough.) Place the rice balls into the bowl with the glutinous rice flour.
- Once you rolled all the rice balls and placed them in the bowl, sprinkle more glutinous rice flour on top and swirl the rice balls around in the bowl to coat with flour. If some stick together gently unstick them and coat with flour.
- Boil a pot of water large enough to fit all the rice balls. Once the water comes to a rolling boiling, drop in the rice balls and stir to make sure they don't stick together. Cook for about 3-5 Minutes; usually when they float to the top they are done.
- Once they are cooked, strain the rice balls and place them into a bowl with cold water. Set aside until ready to eat.
Coconut Ginger Sauce
- In a pot, combine salt, palm sugar, coconut milk, and white sugar.
- Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar into the coconut milk.
- While the sauce simmers, peel and slice the ginger into quarter sized pieces and toss them into the sauce. If you are not fond of ginger, you may omit it or if you want to infuse less ginger flavors, add it in for 3-4 minutes.
- Continue to simmer the sauce for 5-10 minutes ensuring the sugar is fully dissolved. Taste and adjust for sweetness if needed,
- Serve immediately with glutinous rice balls. Garnish with toasted sesame seed and crushed roasted peanuts.
Notes
*Ginger is optional, feel free to exclude if you don't like the taste of ginger.
*Start with ⅛ cups of sugar for the coconut sauce and add more if you'd like it to be sweeter.
*If the coconut sauce is not sweet enough, add more sugar ½ tablespoon at a time. If the sauce is too sweet, dilute with ¼th cup of coconut milk.
*Glutinous rice balls may be made ahead of time. Be sure to store in an airtight container and freeze up to 1 month.
*The dough is easily salvageable if it is too wet or too dry, so do not panic.
*It is important to use boiling hot water when mixing the dough.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!