Patron Exclusive Recipe #11 Shanghai Breakfast Rice Ball (粢饭团)

Sup guys! Hope you're doing great~
It's been a long week for us, the recent filming and editing schedule has been intense. Apologies for not putting this one out earlier. But I guess it's in time to use up some of the "old deep-fried dough"~

In last week's videos, we did soy milk and youtiao, which are the two figures among the “Breakfast's Four Vajra” (yes, that's what's called in Chinese, "早餐四大金刚").
So here in the Patreon recipe, I want to do another one of the " four vajra", rice balls or "粢饭团" in Chinese. We'll be doing two classic filling, one is youtiao+white sugar, the other one is zhacai (crunchy pickled mustard)+pig floss.
Let's get started.

**Ingredients**  

1. Sticky rice/glutinous rice, 150g. 

2. Jasmine rice, 75g.

3. Water, 270g.

3. Youtiao (deep-fried bread stick), old or fresh, 1 big stick or 2 small sticks.

4. Zhacai (Sichuan pickled mustard), about 2 tbsp, diced. Or use other crunchy and chunky Chinese pickles you have on hand.

5. Pig floss, about 5 tbsp.

6. Toasted black sesame seeds, 2 tsp.

7. Salt, 1/2 tsp.

8. Sugar, 2 tsp.

  **Process**  

1. Cook the rice. Mix the two types of rice together, rinse and drain for few times till the water runs clear. Drain well, add in 270g of water (rice:water=1:1.2), cook it in a rice cooker.
If you don't have a rice cooker, do the same rinsing/draining process and adding in the same amount of water, let is soak for at least an hour. Then steam on high heat for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes.

(Cook the rice)

2. After the rice is done, take it out, add in 1/2 tsp of salt, gently fluff it up and mix well. Put it back to the rice cooker or the steaming pot to keep warm. 

(Mixing in the salt)

3. While your rice is about done, let's get to the youtiao. If your youtiao is old and chewy, pop it into the oven for 10 minutes at 175 centigrade. It'll become crispy again.

(Reheating the old deep-fried "doug", lol)

4. Now we're ready to wrap some rice balls! Get a piece of cling wrap, about 30*30cm in size, lay it flat on the counter.
Scoop about 1/2 cup of rice, grab a small piece of cling wrap on your hand to press firmly but also gently it into a flat square (you want the rice to form nice and tight but not stiff).

(rice in)

(press into square)

4. Let's make the pig floss one. Lay one layer of pig floss on top of the rice, I like to be generous~ Then sprinkle some crunchy pickled mustard dice on it.

(I love pig floss, you can certainly do less)

(I'm using the spicky crunchy pickled daikon we have in the fridge)

5. Now, rolling time. So it's basically like rolling sushi rolls/kimbap. Grab the end of the cling wrap that's close to you, lift it, then press about a third towards the center, then lift the cling wrap and roll the rice towards the remaing part. Then use the cling wrap to roll up the more or less cilindical roll.

(First roll towards the center and gently press)

(Then roll toward the end to form a roll, then use the cling wrap to roll the stick up)

6. Here's comes the part that's different than sushi rolls/ kimbap. Now grab the stick, twist both ends of the cling wrap tightly while pressing the stick, to form into the signature Shanghai rice roll share. 

(twist both ends of the cling wrap tightly to further form it into a rice ball)

(tuck both ends down with the side where the cling wrap ends, then we have a rice ball)

7. Now let's make the one with youtiao+granulated sugar.
First, same deal, a 30*30cm cling wrap. Then to differentiate the look and add some texture, sprinkle some toasted black sesame on the wrap.

8. Then scoop about 1/2 cup rice on it, and spread it out and shape it with the small cling wrap on your hand. Then sprinkle some more black sesame on evenly.

9. Now sprinkle about 2 tsp granulated sugar on top of the sesame. I know it sound weird, but trust me, the flavor contrast of sweet and savory as well as the crunchiness of granulated sugar is pretty awesome~

(evenly sprinkle some sugar in)

10. Now it's time for the youtiao. If it's a bit too long, cut it in half or even three parts, just make sure it's slightly shorter than the rice square.

(in hindsight, the one on the top is a bit too long)

11. Now roll it up, just like how it's described in Step 5-6.
One thing about the youtiao filling: don't be afraid of pressing your youtiao. Just press it onto the rice and get the air out.
Then repeat the fold, press, roll and twist steps, make it into a compact rice ball. You may need some practice when rolling youtiao, but no worries, it's fun to play with.

And now, you have the Shanghai breakfast rice balls!
Eat it along side with a cup of soy milk, that's a breakfast that can hold you up the whole morning.

Note on eating: you can unwrap and eat it straight up, it's sticky rice so it's quite "sticky".
Or, what I like is cutting open and show the cross section.
Here's how you do it: take a sharp knife, rinse it with water, then cut it open. Wetting the knife will prevent rice sticking to it and create a clean look.
See the one below with pig floss, the knife was not wet when I cut it, and you can see the structure of the rice is way less pretty than the one of youtiao.

(pig floss, rice structure is a bit messed up)

(youtiao version, see how clean the cut is?)

Note on making ahead:
You can make the pig floss one ahead, keep it in the cling wrap then put it in the fridge for overnight, and reheat in the morning, or make it for lunch box.
The youtiao one is best eaten fresh as the youtiao will still be crispy and the sugar is not melted.
But you can cook the rice and keep it in the fridge, then simply reheat the rice and youtiao then assemble whenever you want some.
I also always keep two small bottles of toasted white and black sesame seed around, they're handy to just sprinkle on stuff~

Note on rice ratio:
The rice ratio of the Shanghai deep fried sticky rice cake (粢饭糕) that's also a classic for breakfast is different. We'll do that one seperately in the future.

Hope you like this one and see you next week.