豆腐芝士元宵 Tofu Cheese Glutinous Rice Balls

Today is the 15th day and the last day of Chinese Lunar New Year also known as 元宵节. Have you prepare some sweet glutinous rice balls for  your family? ^0^ This is a last minute decision to make some simple glutinous rice balls. Anyway my kids don't like this sweet dessert so I only prepared a small batch just for today :)

Tofu Cheese Glutinous Rice Balls....sound very interesting right? You must be thinking the tofu and cheese are embedded in the rice balls. The tofu is actually kneaded into the glutinous rice flour to form the dough! Such a smart way (not mine though hahaha) to incorporate this healthy ingredient into this dessert. After creating a marbled dough, each dough is then wrapped with a small chunk of cheddar cheese....

lovely marbling

Ingredient (12 glutinous rice balls)

• 100gm silken tofu, mashed
• 100gm glutinous rice flour
• 1/2 tsp pandan paste
• 3 slices cheddar cheese
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 blades pandan leaves, knotted

Method

1. Place mashed tofu into microwave and heat up for 30 seconds. 
2. Pour the warmed tofu into glutinous rice flour and mix till a soft and pliable dough is formed.
3. Separate into 2 equal portions. Add in pandan paste into one of the portion and knead evenly till colour is well incorporated. 
4. Lastly, divide the plain and pandan dough into another 2 equal portions. In all you should get 2 portion of plain dough and 2 portion of pandan dough.
5. Roll out each dough slightly into a flat rectangle and stack up alternatively. Press down slightly and cut into 12 equal portions. Cover the cut dough with a damp cloth to prevent drying out.
6. Stack up the cheese and cut into 12 equal portions.
7. Take a dough, press out slightly and wrap with a portion of the cheese. Seal the edge tightly and roll round. Repeat process till dough is completed.
8. Meanwhile, boil water with pandan leaves for 5 mins. Add in sugar and boil till sugar is well dissolved. Set aside.
9. In another pot, bring some water to rolling boil. Add in wrapped rice ball one by one and stir lightly to prevent it from sticking together. Cook over medium low heat till the rice ball float to the surface. Drain and serve the glutinous rice ball with pandan sugar syrup.