Sesame balls

Ingredientsserves 4

Equipment

• A wok, a thermometer (or a wooden chopstick) and a rack to drain on

Method

1. Boil the sugar with half a cup (125 ml) of water, pour the boiling syrup into the two flours and stir with chopsticks into flakes, then knead when cool enough to handle into a smooth, soft dough; the syrup must be boiling hot, 星星師傅's first key to a skin that does not burst.
2. Rest the dough covered for ten minutes. Divide into twelve, flatten each piece, wrap a ball of paste and pinch closed with no air inside; trapped air bursts in the oil.
3. Wet the surface lightly and roll in the sesame seeds, pressing so they stick; on a dry surface they fall off.
4. Heat the oil to 130 to 140°C, low: a wooden chopstick dipped in shows only small, slow bubbles. Lower the balls in one at a time.
5. Fry gently for eight to ten minutes, and for the second half keep pressing each ball against the side of the wok with the back of a ladle and rolling it (潑油、按壓、轉動, the Yahoo HK method); the pressing is what makes it swell round and hollow, and an unpressed ball stays flat and dense.
6. When they float, are golden and have doubled, raise the heat for the last minute to crisp the shell, then lift onto a rack to drain.
7. A burst skin means the oil was too hot, air was trapped in the ball or the dough was too dry; fried too fast, the inside stays raw. The three keys: boiling syrup, low oil, no air.

Take care

• Contains sesame; check the label on bought lotus or red bean paste, some of which contains wheat or peanut oil. Deep-frying at home: fill the wok no more than a third, keep a lid within reach and never leave the hob; above 140°C the balls burst and spit oil, and an oil fire is smothered with the lid, never with water. A glutinous rice ball is sticky and hard to chew apart, a choking risk for small children and the elderly, so cut theirs small.

The story

煎堆 are the New Year ball, golden and round for 團圓, the family whole, fried in quantity in the last days of the year and stacked on the 全盒 with 油角 and 笑口棗 (晴報, HK01). 煎堆轆轆，金銀滿屋, the sesame balls roll and the house fills with gold and silver, is the saying; the hollow 大煎堆 the size of a football is the show-off version the old men made, and 李司棋 tried it on HK01 and said hers came out like a strawberry.

Same wall

Turnip cake

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.