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Crispy Vietnamese Sesame Balls with Mung Bean Filling (Bánh cam)

These Vietnamese fried sesame balls are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, and filled with a sweet mung bean paste filling. It's perfect for celebrating the Lunar New Year or anytime you're craving a crispy and chewy sweet snack!
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Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Appetizer, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 10 Pieces

Equipment

  • 1 Sauce pan
  • 1 Non-stick frying pan
  • 1 Pot For frying

Ingredients
  

Dough

  • 125 g Glutinous rice flour
  • 15 g Rice flour
  • 85 g Potatoes
  • 100 ml Water
  • 65 g White sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons Cooking oil Vegetable, canola, corn, peanut

Mung Bean Filling

  • 70 g Split mung beans
  • 240 ml Water 1 cup
  • 40 g White sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon Table salt
  • 1/2 Tablespoon Cooking oil Vegetable, canola, corn, peanut
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Glutinous Rice Flour Slurry

  • 1 teaspoon Glutinous rice flour
  • 2 teaspoons Water

Sesame seeds for coating the dough

  • 2-3 Cups White sesame seeds For coating the dough

Instructions
 

Making the filling

  • Soak the mung beans in cold water for at least 4 hours prior to use.
  • Wash and rinse the mung beans, and then add them to a pot.
  • Add in water and table salt and give it a quick mix.
  • Next, cook the mung beans on medium heat until there is about 15-20% water left or the water is just slightly above the mung beans.
  • Then reduce the heat to low or medium-low heat, cover the pot with a slight opening, and cook for another 10-15 minutes until the mung beans are soft, while occasionally stirring the pot to prevent the mung beans from sticking to the bottom of the pot. The total cooking time should take around 15-20 minutes.
  • You can check whether or not the mung beans are soft enough by scooping up some and gently pressing down onto the mung beans. They should easily mash apart.
  • Once done, transfer the mung beans to a wok and cook them on medium heat.
  • Add in your cooking oil, sugar, and vanilla extract to the mung beans and mix everything well together.
  • While the mung beans are cooking in the wok, prepare your glutinous rice flour slurry by combining 1 teaspoon of glutinous rice flour with 2 teaspoons of water. Make sure to mix everything well together and then set it aside.
  • Once all of the sugar has melted, add in the glutinous rice flour slurry to the mung beans and mix well together.
  • When the mung beans start to thicken up, reduce the heat to medium-low and continue cooking until the mung bean has solidified and no longer sticks to your spatula.
  • Transfer it to a bowl, let it cool down for a few minutes while keeping it covered to prevent it from drying out, and then divide it into 10 pieces.
  • Cover the 10 pieces with some plastic wrap or a towel and put them in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Then transfer to the fridge for later use.

Making the dough

  • Start off by removing all of the skin from the potato. Then chop the potato into smaller pieces to make it steam faster.
  • Now steam the potato until fork-tender.
  • Once done, mash the potatoes and set aside.
  • Next, heat up a pot of water with sugar until all of the sugar has melted and it’s almost boiling.
  • Add the sugar water to the potato and mix well.
  • Now, in a large bowl, add in your sieved glutinous rice flour, rice flour, baking powder, vanilla extract, and cooking oil.
  • Give it a light mix, then add the potato and sugar liquid into the bowl.
  • Mix everything well together using some chopsticks or a spatula.
  • Knead the dough until smooth using your hands now (roughly around 2-3 mins).
  • Now cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.
  • Then divide the dough into 10 pieces. You can use a kitchen scale to weigh out the dough to get even measurements.
  • Roll the 10 pieces of dough into a round ball and cover the pieces with a cloth or plastic wrap.

Making the sesame balls

  • Now grab one piece and make a hole in the middle. Then place 1 piece of the filling inside.
  • Using your thumb and index finger, hold the filling in the middle and then flip the dough and filling over so that the dough is on top.
  • Next, using your opposite hand, slowly grab the dough and pull it towards the center while rotating the dough and filling with your opposite hand.
  • Finally, flip the dough over again and then seal the top of the dough by pinching the sides together.
  • Roll out the dough until it turns into a round ball, making sure that all of the filling has been sealed inside the dough.
  • Repeat for the rest of the pieces and cover them with a cloth or plastic wrap.
  • Next, grab one piece of the dough and either dip it into water or lightly rub some water onto it.
  • Then dip the ball into some sesame seeds and roll the ball around in the sesame seeds, making sure to fully cover the ball in sesame seeds.
  • Now, pick up the ball and lightly pack the sesame seeds into the ball. This step will help prevent the sesame seeds from falling out when frying. Repeat for the rest of the balls.
  • Next, heat up a pot with oil until it reaches between 130-135°C on medium-low heat. If you don’t own a thermometer, then you can use a pair of chopsticks. Just dip them into the oil and look for a slight sizzle coming out from the chopsticks. This will give you an idea of when the oil temperature is ready. Also, make sure there is enough oil to fully submerge the sesame balls.
  • Add the sesame balls in, but don’t crowd the pot! I suggest only frying half of the balls at once.
  • After adding in the sesame balls, lightly move the balls around in the pot to prevent the balls from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
  • In a few minutes, the sesame balls will start to float to the top. Gently press the balls back down into the oil using a spider strainer or some chopsticks.
  • Continue doing this while slowly increasing the frying temperature in steps. So, for example, from 135-140°C, then 140-150°C. Don’t go past 155°C!
  • Make sure to use a strainer to roll around the sesame balls in a circular motion constantly. This will help them fry more evenly and round up the shape.
  • As you continue to fry the balls and submerge them into the hot oil, they will start to expand.
  • Let the sesame balls fry at around 150-155°C for around 7-8 minutes
  • Once the sesame balls have expanded in the hot oil, it’s time to brown them and harden the outer crust.
  • Increase the temperature to medium heat and bring the temperature to between 160-170°C.
  • Fry the sesame balls for around 1-2 minutes or until they turn golden brown and there are no soft spots on the outer skin.
  • Finally, remove the fried sesame balls from the hot oil. Let them rest for a few minutes and then serve while still hot.

Notes

Note: Total time does not include soaking time for split mung beans.