Recipe

Eight Treasure Rice Pudding Lunar New Year Dessert

February 26, 2021

PrepTime: 1 Hrs 15 Mins
CookTime: 30 Mins
TotalTime: 1 Hrs 55 Mins

Ingredient

For the Rice:
2 cups glutinous rice (sticky rice)
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Fruit:
Neutral oil for coating bowl
Handful of sugar-glazed cherries
Handful of black raisins
Handful of yellow raisins
1 dried apricot
For the Filling:
100 grams red bean paste
Handful of sugar lotus seeds
For the Potato Starch Water:
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon potato starch
Optional: 2 drops rose essence
For the Sugar Syrup:
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup water

Instruction

Gather the ingredients.
Place the glutinous rice in a non-reactive bowl and cover it with cold water. Let it soak for at least 1 hour. Drain the soaking water and place the rice in a steamer basket set over simmering water. Cover and steam for 30 to 45 minutes. While still hot, gently combine it with the sunflower oil and salt.
Coat the inside of a heat-proof medium-sized bowl with oil. (Make sure this bowl will fit in the steamer basket.) Cut the sugar-glazed cherries in half and put some aside for later. Place the remaining sugar-glazed cherries along with the dried fruits in a decorative pattern in the bowl. Liv Wan
Once the fruit is arranged, place half of the cooked rice in the bowl and press down gently. Liv Wan
Spoon the red bean paste into the middle and smooth out the top. Liv Wan
Use a little bit of glutinous rice to cover the red bean paste and place the sugar lotus seeds and remaining sugar-glazed cherries around the edge of the bowl.
Evenly place the rest of the glutinous rice on top and press down.
Place the bowl with the fruit and rice in the steamer basket set over simmering water and steam for 30 minutes, keeping an eye on the amount of water underneath the basket.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the starch water ingredients, whisking vigorously until well combined.
Place all the syrup ingredients in a small pot. Bring to a boil, and then add the starch water. Stir until thick.
Remove the bowl from the steamer basket and let it rest for 10 minutes. Invert the bowl onto a plate and release the rice pudding. Brush the sugar syrup over the surface.
Enjoy!

Note

The ratio for glutinous rice is 1:1 (1 cup of rice per 1 cup of water). To steam, drain the soaking water and put the rice in a steaming basket set over simmering water (without it touching the water) for 30 to 45 minutes. Let it rest 10 minutes before serving.
To use a rice cooker, add 1 1/4 cups of water per cup of rice. For this technique, the rice should soak for at least 4 hours.
The longer the rice soaks, the better the texture it will have. Some traditions let it soak covered for up to 24 hours, but most cooks give it between 3 and 6 hours.