How To Make Buchi/Sesame Seed Balls

Buchi/Sesame Seed Balls

I enjoyed making these Sesame Seed Balls or better known in the Philippines as Buchi at home because it was fun, I had all the ingredients available in my kitchen, filling and shaping them into perfect balls made it more fun. 

I enjoyed the frying part also because I had to turn each ball around with wooden chopsticks to make them in perfect round shapes when they are done. I really enjoyed it. 

These delicious snacks are found in many Chinese restaurants like the popular Chowking who usually serve them as dessert during parties or even in the popular packaged menus like their Lauriat plate. Of course there are other choices of after meal sweets such as Almond Jelly, Halo-halo and Fresh Fruits in Season but the Sesame Seed Balls are the most popular choices.  

Try them as I have done following a tested recipe here and enjoy it too, as I did. 

Sweet Red Bean Paste Inside A Buchi/Sesame Seed Ball

Ingredients:

2 cups glutinous rice powder, 200 grams

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup sweet potato flour + 1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup white sugar + 1/2 cup boiling water

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup white sesame seeds

Cooking oil for frying

Procedure:

• Dissolve sugar in boiling water. 
• Mix sweet potato flour in boiling water until pasty. 
• Put the glutinous rice powder in a mixing bowl. 
• Add the baking powder and whisk to mix. 
• To the bowl add the dissolved sugar syrup and mix to form a dough. 
• Add to the dough the sweet potato flour mixture and mix to form a soft dough. 
• Start to knead the dough until it becomes smooth and pliable. 
• Divide the dough into equal 12 portions and form into balls. 
• Fill each ball with the sweet red bean paste and form it into a smooth ball. 
• Roll each ball into a bowl of white sesame seeds until it is covered evenly.
• Maintain the round shapes of every ball you make for presentation.
• Heat enough oil in a frying pan and start frying the sesame balls. Lower the flame when the oil starts boiling. 
• Using a wooden chopstick try turning each sesame seed ball while frying it to golden brown for 10 to 15 minutes. 
• When golden remove the balls from the hot oil and transfer them to a paper towel lined plates to absorb excess oil. 
• Finish frying the second batch and do the same as the first batch.  
• Serve. 

Share and Enjoy!

Jumbo Buchi/Sesame Seed Balls

Red Bean Paste

1 cup red beans, soaked in water overnight

1/2 cup white sugar

1 Tbsp butter

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Procedure:

• Boil the soaked red beans in enough water to cover for a minute then throw the water and replace with a new amount and bring to boil until soft for 45 minutes  up to 1 hour. Drain. 
• Mash the soft beans and pass through a sieve to remove the skins. Discard the skins.
• Mix the beans puree with sugar, add the butter and vanilla. 
• Cook the mixture in a non stick pan mixing all the time until the mixture is thick and pasty and leaving the sides of the pan. 
• Cool and divide into 12 portions and form into 1 inch balls. 
• Use these sweet red bean paste to fill the sesame seed balls. 

A Plate Of Jumbo Buchi/Sesame Seed Balls

How To Make Homemade Kalamay Hati

Homemade Kalamay Hati

Today I made Kalamay Antipolo or Kalamay Hati or Kalamay Perya. Remember those thin kakanin in banana leaves we see on the streets during Town Fiestas? They say those are from Antipolo, others say they are from Bohol or some from Iloilo accordingly. 

Wherever they are from, I like them very much. In Baguio, they sell them inside small ball containers wherein just a pea size of the sticky snack can be found inside. Later on I found some of these kalamay inside coconut shells wherein you get more delicious concoction. 

Whatever it is called, I like it specially when it has more latik. The texture is almost similar to soft tikoy, a sticky Chinese sweet rice cake. 

Here is a recipe I followed when I cooked this Kalamay Hati which is super better than those bought in the streets sold by ambulant vendors during town fiestas. We need only a few ingredients like sweet rice powder also known as glutinous rice powder, muscovado sugar, coconut cream and milk plus a lot of patience.

Ingredients:

2 cups malagkit rice powder

2 cups muscovado sugar (packed), use all 1/2 kilo in the bag

4 cups gata from 2-3 coconuts,  (2 cups cream, 1st extraction) + 2 cups diluted with water from the 2nd extraction

Procedure:

Combine all malagkit rice powder in a big kawa with 4 cups combined coconut milk and stir to dissolve. 

Cook this in low heat, mixing and scraping the bottom of the kawa until the mixture turns pasty and makunat.

Add all the muscovado sugar to the pasty mixture, stir to dissolve the sugar and continue to cook on low heat, stirring and scraping the bottoms and sides non-stop. 

Continue cooking and scraping the bottom on low heat, the color will turn dark and becoming more makunat. 

Continue cooking for a total of 45 minutes doing the same stirring and scraping until you cannot stir it anymore. 

Transfer the cooked kalamay in an oiled platter ( you can line it w/ oiled banana leaf ) and spread it thin just like those we buy in the peryas (fiesta fairs).

Plain Kalamay Hati 

Top with latik. I'm sure you know how to make latik. If not, just cook a cup of coconut cream until reduced to solids and continue to cook it until it browns but not burnt in its own oil. You have to do it stirring from start to end. Do this before you cook the kalamay so you have oil to use.

"Latik"

 Try it, it's yummy. 

Hope you like it.

Kalamay Hati With "Latik"

SWEETENED KUNDOL OR WINTERMELON

Kundol is winter melon, it  is very much available locally specially in the countryside of the Philippines. Many old folks desire the sweetened version of eating this vegetable rather than the delicious soup version of some Chinese home cooks which is also a healthy preparation of this gourd-like farm produce.

I found these kundol in Orani Town Public Market during one of my vacation sprees in Bataan, my home province. These kundol are hard to find in Manila so when I saw them I bought plenty and made them into a delicacy like in the photos below. Of course I shared them with my old friends who delighted in them. You too, can make this at home. It's very easy.

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RECIPE FOR SWEETENED KUNDOL:


Ingredients:

kundol or winter melon
white sugar
alum or tawas
limestone paste or apog
pandan leaves

 
Procedure:

Peel the kundol, remove the seeds and cut into matchstick slices, about 3/4 inch long.
For every 1 liter of water mix in 1/2 teaspoon limestone paste or apog. Soak the kundol slices
into the the limestone solution for 3 hours or overnight if you do it late in the day. Remove the 
soaked kundol and wash very well, until no more trace of lime.

For every 1 liter of water mix in 3/4 teaspoon of alum, bring this solution into a boil and remove from stove. Add kundol and remove them when they appear transparent. Wash them thoroughly.

Weigh the kundol to determine the amount of sugar you need. Sugar should be 3/4 the weight of the kundol. Mix together the kundol, sugar and some pandan leaves if you like pandan flavor. Leave them until the next morning and syrup would have formed. To finish the whole process, put the whole
thing into boil and stir like stirfrying the kundol in the syrup that formed until all the water has evaporated and  it is dry and coated with a white thin layer of sugar just like in the photos above.

Note:

* tawas makes the kundol transparent and white
* apog makes the kundol crispy and plump in texture but too much will result in a yellowish product

LECHE FLAN

This custard sweet is popular among Filipinos who always look forward to a sweet ending for every meal or as a snack or as an ingredient to a more favorite halo-halo ( a Filipino concoction of assorted sweets serve with shaved ice and milk).  If we cannot make this on ordinary days, we make sure we have it during occassions like Christmas, the season of feasting.  So this time I made leche flan as I like it.


Recipe:

          10 large eggyolks
          1 tin big Milkmaid sweetened condensed milk
          1 tin tall Alpine evaporated
          1 teaspoon SuperCook pure vanilla extract
          1/2 cup white sugar for the caramel
  
Procedure:

          Mix eggyolks, condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla extract and strain.  Set aside.
          Caramelize all the white sugar. Be very careful, watch that the caramel won't burn. I do it
          without adding water and it is easier if you do it carefully.
          Line leche flan mold with caramelized sugar. I used only one mold so I get a thick flan with
          lots of caramel. Cool.
          Pour the egg mixture. Cover with cling wrap, steam for 40 minutes to one hour. Always
          check near the end of cooking time for firmness. Don't let it overcook, it will rise and
          bubble.
          Cool it then refrigerate before serving.

            

BIKO

                                                             

I made this Biko when I was in Ireland with my niece because it is one of her favorite Filipino snacks. She also wanted to share it with some of her friends who like her were also missing this sweet rice delicacy.

Ingredients:                                                          :

     1/2 kilo malagkit rice or glutinuous rice                       
      500ml  thick coconut milk
            2T liquid glucose
      300grams white sugar

Procedure:

     Steam the glutinuous rice as you would cook ordinary rice but lessen the water.
     Combine sugar, glucose and coconut milk in a sauce pan,  put on low fire, stir until sugar is dissolved.
     Strain the mixture and put back on low fire, add the steamed glutinuous rice, stir until very
     sticky and  leaving the sides of the pan.  Pour into lightly greased rectangle pyrex dish.                        
      Flatten  with  back of the spoon with some coconut oil.



Topping:

      1 cup coconut cream
      1 cup muscovado sugar

     Boil sugar and coconut cream together while stirring until sugar is dissolved. Continue
     cooking until very thick.  Pour over the rice mixture and spread evenly on top. Bake in a

     hot oven until the top is bubbly. Remove from the oven and cool before slicing.
                             
   
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