Steamed Pearl Balls

A few weeks ago, the two packages that I sent out this summer from Taiwan finally arrived, yippeeee! It's been so long since I've sent them that I almost forgot about all the goodies I've packed up inside-- from snacks, condiments to noodles and rice! Yes, that's right, rice! Glutinous rice to be exact. I can't believe they don't sell glutinous rice here... these polaks are seriously missing out. So before i splurge all the rice on JLo's famous 油飯 (glutinous oil rice) that he keeps bragging about, i decided to make my favorite dim sum that I totally forgot to eat this time in TW, 珍珠丸 (Pearl Balls)! I never knew these things were so easy to make until I found a short and simple cooking video for it on ytower. If you exclude the rice-soaking step, the entire process only took 15 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to steam... it doesn't get any easier than that ;) !

Steamed Pearl Balls
from ytower.com
INGREDIENTS:

• 250g ground pork
• 200g shrimp (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or more, depending on your taste)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon potato starch
• 2 tablespoons spring onions, minced
• 3/4 cup glutinous rice (a.k.a sweet rice, sticky rice)
• white pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Soak the glutinous rice in water for at least 2 hours or over night.
2. In a big bowl, combine the ground pork and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, toss it around.
3. Add in the shrimp pieces (optional) and continue tossing.
4. Mix in the sugar, potato starch, white pepper, spring onions, and sesame oil.
5. Continue kneading and tossing until it's well mixed and elastic. Set aside.
6. Drain the glutinous rice and add a pinch of salt and a dash of sesame oil, mix well.
7. Shape the pork into little balls and roll them and cover them with glutinous rice.
8. Place the meat balls 1/2-inch apart on a greased plate. Steam for 15-20 minutes.

Steamed Pearl Balls