Hedgehog Red Bean Paste Glutinous Rice Balls
"To make the little hedgehogs, four colors of dough are needed: white, black, red, and gray. The black dough is colored with edible bamboo charcoal powder for the eyes. The red dough uses red yeast rice powder for the rosy cheeks. The gray dough uses cocoa powder—although the cocoa-colored dough looks pale after kneading, it deepens significantly once steamed, so don't be tempted to add more cocoa powder just because it appears light. Too much cocoa powder will make it slightly bitter and affect the taste. Add a tiny bit of water to help the powders knead in more easily."
Ingredients
Xinliang water-ground glutinous rice flour
100g
Xinliang rice flour
80g
Xinliang wheat starch
50g
fine granulated sugar
10g
hot water
130g
lard
13g
cocoa powder
to taste
edible bamboo charcoal powder
to taste
red yeast rice powder
to taste
red bean paste filling
126g
Instructions
1
Step 1
Mix the three flours together and add the sugar
2
Step 2
Pour in the hot water and quickly stir with chopsticks. Different flours absorb water differently, so the amount is for reference only (best to knead with disposable gloves)
3
Step 3
Once the dough comes together, add the lard
4
Step 4
Knead the lard into the dough. Once done, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes. Prepare the filling, divide into 18g portions, roll into balls and set aside
5
Step 5
Divide the dough into seven 40g pieces, one 10g piece, one 7g piece, one 105g piece, and set the rest aside. Cover all with plastic wrap to prevent drying out
6
Step 6
Add edible bamboo charcoal powder to the 10g piece and knead into a black dough, add red yeast rice powder to the 7g piece and knead into a small red dough, add cocoa powder to the 105g piece and knead into a gray dough (even though the gray looks light, it will darken to match the finished product after steaming)
7
Step 7
Press a well into each 40g dough ball with your thumb and place the filling inside
8
Step 8
Pinch closed and roll into a ball
9
Step 9
Take 15g of the gray dough and roll it into an oval shape
10
Step 10
Place it over the small ball
11
Step 11
Use scissors to snip out small spikes
12
Step 12
Pinch off small pieces from the reserved white dough to make four legs and a nose
13
Step 13
Attach eyes and blush
14
Step 14
Place in a steamer (lining with parchment paper works better) and steam over boiling water for 15 minutes
