Yan's Sweet Rice Dumplings

Glutinous or "sweet rice" has a texture unlike other rices. When ground into a flour and mixed with water, it makes an elastic dough that can be used to wrap other foods for frying, poaching, or steaming. Here it surrounds a nugget of sweetened peanut butter and the dumplings are served in a peanut based sauce. Recipe is from a Martin Yan cookbook. Sounds delicious, doesn't it?

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Yields: 24 dumplings

Ingredients

• Filling

• 1⁄4 cup chunky peanut butter
• 2  tablespoons unsalted peanuts, chopped
• 2  tablespoons  packed brown sugar

• Dough

• 1 1⁄2 cups glutinous-rice flour
• 1⁄3 cup boiling water
• 5  tablespoons cold water

• Sauce

• 2⁄3 cup water
• 1⁄2 cup chunky peanut butter
• 2  tablespoons  packed brown sugar

Directions

1. Combine filling in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.
2. Measure rice flour into a bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour boiling water into it. Mix well with a fork until evenly moistened.
3. Add cold water and stir, adding a few more drops if necessary, until dough forms a ball.
4. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for 5 minutes until smooth and shiny. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest 10 minutes.
5. Roll dough into an 18 inch long cylinder. Cut cylinder crosswise into 3/4 inch pieces. Dust palms with rice flour and roll each piece into a ball.
6. To shape each dumpling -- flatten a ball dough with a rolling pin to make a 2 1/2 inch circle; keep remaining dough covered to keep from drying.
7. Place 1/2 tsp filling in center of circle. Gather and pinches edges at the top to seal securely. Roll carefully between your palms to form a round ball. Cover filled dumpling with a damp cloth and repeat to fill remaining dumplings.
8. Cooking:
9. In a large pot of boiling water, cook dumplings, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until dumplings float to the surface. Lift out dumpling with a slotted spoon and place in a colander to drain.
10. Combine sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring until smooth.
11. Pour sauce onto a platter and place dumplings on top of sauce. Serve hot.