Bunny Mochi Dumplings in Sweet Ginger Syrup (Chè trôi nước) (2023 Variation)
Makes: ~About 18-20 large dumplings and 20-25 small ones
Ingredients:
Sweet Ginger Syrup:
2-inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled, roughly crushed and sliced
350g palm sugar or brown sugar
5-6 cups water
(Optional) 1 cup lighter pandan-infused water (see pandan juice concentrate instructions)
Filling:
3/4 cup peeled split mung bean, soaked overnight (about half a 16 oz bag, 225g)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoons white granulated sugar
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 green onion, chopped
Extra water as needed
Mochis (this recipe will use one whole bag of 400g glutinous rice flour)
Mochi skin (white):
250g glutinous rice flour
1 to 1 1/4 cup room-temp or cool water
Mochi skin (green):
125g glutinous rice flour
1/2 cup + 1-2 tbsp pandan juice concentrate
Mochi skin (pink and red):
25g glutinous rice flour
30 ml room temp hibiscus tea
Red gel coloring
Pandan juice concentrate:
10-12 pandan leaves, fresh or frozen
250 ml water
Accompaniments:
(Optional) Toasted sesame seeds
(Optional) Coconut cream
Preparation (this recipe requires overnight prep!):
Pandan juice concentrate:
1. Peel off the tough parts from the base, and get rid of the old and dried out leaves.
2. Rinse well.
3. Snip the washed leaves into 2 cm pieces and put in blender. Add the water.
4. Pulse the pandan mixture for 3-5 minutes until it forms a pulpy mash.
5. In a large bowl, pour the pandan mash over a sieve, and squeeze to extract as much juice as you can.
6. Let rest overnight in the refrigerator. You want the pandan sediments to settle to the bottom so that you can separate the pandan juice concentrate from the lighter pandan-infused water.
Filling:
1. In a pot, drizzle a bit of oil and caramelize the shallots. When they're a nice golden brown, take them out and drop in the green onions. Sautée them only briefly. Set aside.
2. Rinse and drain the split mung beans that you have soaked overnight.
3. Then, put mung beans in a microwave-safe bowl, add the sugar and salt, 4 tablespoons of water and process with microwave for 2 minutes. Take the beans out and try to mash with a spoon after every 2 minutes. Repeat this step until beans can easily be crushed with your fingertips. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at the time, in between microwave cycles if mung beans start drying out.
4. With a potato masher, work the beans into a smooth paste. It should have the texture of mashed potatoes, although it might not be as light.
5. Then, transfer the mashed mung beans into a large bowl and add the stir-fried shallots and green onions. Mix well.
6. Divide mung bean mixture into scoops of 1 tablespoon and roll the filling into balls. Cover loosely with a plastic wrap and set aside.
Mochi skin (white):
1. In a large bowl, add glutinous rice flour and water. Mix well until it forms a dough with Play-Doh consistency.
2. Cover with plastic wrap, ensuring that it sticks to the dough to prevent it from drying up.
3. Let the dough rest at least 30 minutes, it will make it more supple to manipulate and shape.
Mochi skin (green):
1. Take out the pandan juice. It should have separated into two layers: a lighter one and a darker green one at the bottom. Pour our the lighter layer and set aside: it can be used in the ginger syrup. You should have about 1/2 cup pandan juice concentrate.
2. In another bowl, add glutinous rice flour and pandan juice concentrate. Mix well. If the dough is too dry, add 1-2 tbsp of the lighter pandan juice that was set aside.
2. Cover with plastic wrap, ensuring that it sticks to the dough to prevent it from drying up.
3. Let the dough rest at least 30 minutes.
Mochi skin (pink and red):
1. Steep some hibiscus tea in a mug. Set aside until it cools down to room temperature. Alternatively, you can use pastel pink food coloring.
2. In a small bowl, add glutinous rice flour and 2 tablespoon (30 ml) of hibiscus tea. Mix until it forms a dough.
3. Pinch about 1 tablespoon of the pink dough out and set in a separate small bowl. Add some red food gel coloring. Mix until the color is well incorporated.
4. Cover with plastic wrap, ensuring that it sticks to the dough to prevent it from drying up.
5. Let the doughs rest at least 30 minutes.
Sweet Ginger Syrup:
1. In a pot, place the ginger, sugar, water and, if using, the lighter pandan juice that was set aside. The total amount of water + pandan juice should be 6 cups. Bring to a boil for about 5 minutes or until the sugar has completely dissolved.
2. Lower the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes to get all the flavors to steep out. Turn off the heat and set aside, covered until needed (no need to refrigerate)
Assembling the large bunny mochis:
1. Use 1 slightly rounded tablespoon of white mochi dough for each large dumpling.
2. Roll into a ball and flatten on the palm of your hands so that you get a nice disk.
3. Place a mung bean ball in the center of the dough and wrap mochi skin around it. Pinch the ends together and gently roll the dumpling in your palms to smooth out the edges and ensure that they are cohesive.
4. Take about 1/4 teaspoon of green mochi dough and divide it in two. Shape into two small triangular cones. Stick them on top of the large white dumpling to set the ears. Use a toothpick to slightly press down in the middle of each ear.
5. Take a small amount of red dough and roll into small beads to make the eyes.
6. Take a small amount of pink dough (just slightly more than what you took for the red eyes), roll into small beads and press down to make the blushed cheeks.
7. Use a toothpick to draw on the "X" mouth.
8. Repeat process for all of the mung bean balls.
Assembling the small mochis:
5. Use 1 mounded 1/2 tsp or 1 level teaspoon of leftover green mochi dough for each small mochi (my mom prefers the size of 1 tsp and I prefer the smaller ones; keep in mind that they expand when cooked, and settle down a bit once they cool down). The ones in the picture below are 1 teaspoon-sized!
6. Roll those into small balls - they're soft and chewy once boiled, and are a nice addition to the finished dessert even if they do not contain any filling!
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.
2. Add the mochi and tapioca dumplings into the boiling pot, but make sure not to overcrowd it. There should still be space between the dumplings. Stir occasionally to make sure that they don't stick to the bottom or to each other.
3. Let the large mochi balls cook for about 5-6 minutes, and the smaller mochi balls for 8-10 minutes. Both will rise and bob to the surface once cooked.
4. Remove the dumplings to a colander and rinse with cold water.
5. Drain and add to the warm sweet ginger syrup. They should be cool to the touch before you add them to the ginger syrup.
5. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and drizzle a bit of coconut cream if you want. Enjoy!
