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Homemade sweet rice mini-balls (xiao yuan zi 小圆子) made of water-milled sweet rice flour are so soft, chewy, and such a melt-in-your yumminess. They make perfect Red Bean Mochi Soup (hong dou xiao yuan zi 红豆小圆子).
Keep reading to learn all the tips & tricks to make this perfectly every time at home!
What do you need for homemade sweet-rice mini-balls?
Two simple ingredients: water-milled sweet rice flour and room temperature water.
Speaking of sweet rice flour, this is not the normal sweet rice flour regularly milled from the sweet rice or frequently referred to as sticky rice or glutinous rice.
They are water milled sweet rice flour, i.e. specially milled underneath the water. The water removes the frictions and adds additional super smooth & soft texture into the flour. It is the key to the melt-in-your-mouth kind of softness.
Homemade sweet-rice mini-balls Step-by-Step Tutorial
1. Make a wet & soft water-milled sweet rice dough
In a mixing bowl, mix the water-milled sweet rice with room temperature water while kneading. The ratio between the flour and water should be about 1.1:1 in terms of weight. You should use about 10% more flour than water in terms of weight. For example, for 110 grams of water-milled sweet rice, you will need 110 grams of room temperature water.
Noting it is winter time here in Chicago, and the weather is much drier during winter. I noticed during summer I use a little less water. Precisely the reason when you make the dough, always add the last 20% water required by the recipe slowly, sometimes one drop at a time. You shall take the environmental factor into consideration.
I usually use the US measuring units such as cups, tablespoons, teaspoons on this website. However, for a delicate recipe like this one, it is better to use metric systems for precision. The good news is that a good kitchen scale can swiftly read different units.
2. Divide the dough and roll each portion into a finger-shaped long cylinder
3. Nip small snippets out of the finger-shaped dough cylinder
4. Form sweet rice mini balls
To do that, first, place 4 of these snippets into the left-hand palm. Use the opposite hand if you are left-handed.
Your right hand hovers and slightly touches the snippets. Two hands maintain a parallel position and rotate in the opposite direction.
The four sweet rice flour snippets get rolled into round mini-balls during the process.
Hooray! You just made the sweet rice mini balls. Now read here for how to cook them and make a Red Bean Mochi Soup.
If you are not ready yet, you can store them in the freezer.
How to store freshly made sweet-rice mini-balls in a freezer?
Lay them flat in a large container, close the lid and leave them in the freezer overnight. Sweet rice mini-balls shall get firmed up overnight. On the following day, remove them from the container and place them into a freezer ziplock bag, and store them in the freezer.
Homemade Sweet-Rice Mini-Balls (xiao yuan zi 小圆子) Recipe
Homemade sweet rice mini-balls made of water-milled sweet rice flour are so soft, chewy, and melt-in-your yumminess. They make perfect red bean mochi soup.
Ingredients
- 110 grams water-milled sweet rice flour
- 100 grams of room-temperature water
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, mix the water-milled sweet rice with room temperature water while kneading until form a very soft and wet dough
- Divide the dough into 4 portions. For each portion, roll it into a finger-shaped long cylinder dough
- Nip small snippets out of the finger-shaped dough cylinder
- Form sweet-rice mini-balls:
- Place 4 of these snippets into the left hand palm. Use the opposite hand if you are left-handed.
- Your right hand hovers over your left hand and slightly touches the sweet rice dough snippets. Two hands maintain a parallel position and rotate in the opposite direction.
- The four sweet rice flour snippets get rolled into round mini-balls during the process.
Notes
- Use room temperature water
- The ratio between sweet rice flour and water is important. The dough needs to be very soft and wet. For precision, I choose to use metric systems weight to measure out the ratio between sweet rice flour and water, which should be 1.1:1. This means you should use 10% more sweet rice flour than water in terms of weight.
- However, this is measured during the Chicago wintertime, which is drier compared to summertime. Please factor in the environmental factor, and add the last 20% water called in the recipe slowly until you get the right texture.
Nutrition Information
Yield 4 servings Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 145Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 2mgCarbohydrates 32gFiber 1gSugar 0gProtein 2g
Nutrition calculation is provided by Nutritionix to the best knowledge per ingredients description and isn't always accurate.