Sesame Balls

Step 1

First, make a space in the center of the sticky rice flour and add the sugar to the spot. Pour in about half of the water and dissolve the sugar.

Step 2

Mix in the flour from the center to the outside while gradually pouring in the rest of the water. If the dough is too soft or too firm, it’ll be difficult to wrap the filling so add the water a little at a time. Mix until all the flour is moistened.

Step 3

Rub your hands with a small amount of sesame oil and remove the dough. Roll it into a cylindrical shape. And cut the dough into 5 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball.

Step 4

Press the center of each dough ball, making an indention. Enlarge the hole until the anko ball fits.

Step 5

Add the anko, sweet bean paste and spread the dough around it.

Step 6

Make sure that the dough has an even thickness and shape it into a ball. Repeat the process for the rest of the anko balls.

Step 7

Slightly dampen each dango. And coat it with sesame seeds.

Step 8

Gently press the dango and the sesame seeds together. If the dough is relatively soft, wetting might not be necessary. Repeat the process and you’ll have 5 goma dango.

Step 9

Let’s deep-fry the dango. Heat the oil to 140~150 °C (284~302°F) and place the dango into a pot. With kitchen chopsticks, rotate the balls while cooking. This will help the dango to rise evenly, giving them a round shape and even color.

Step 10

Treat the goma dango gently like your first date so the sesame coating does not fall off. Cook the dango for a total of 4 to 5 minutes and then turn the heat to hight.

Step 11

A tip to making crispy goma dango is to deep-fry at relatively low temperature and then bring up the heat at the end. If the oil temperature is too high, the sesame seeds will burn before the dough cooks.

Step 12

When the surface is deliciously browned, they are ready. Remove and drain the excess oil.