Yuanxiao Dumplings
No Lantern Festival (元宵节 Yuánxiāo Jié) is complete without some sweet, stuffed dumplings made with "sticky" rice flour (汤圆 tāng yuán). Here is an easy recipe using very few ingredients. You can find all these items in any Asian market, OR you can just buy Yuanxiao there. If you enjoy cooking though - give this a try! 
There are so many versions of this treat - and can be filled with countless fillings. Sweet fillings = black sesame paste, tangerine peel, walnuts, black jasmine, white jasmine, peanuts+sugar, & fruity fillings. Savory fillings = meat, vegetables, fish, & red beans.,
4.5 cups (500 g) sticky rice flour
Water, as needed (4 cups on average?)
7 oz (200 g) butter
7 oz (200 g) black sesame powder*
8 oz (250 g) sugar
1 tsp wine
Put 4 (?) cups water into the sticky rice flour and mix by hand to make the sticky-rice-dough. Shape the dough of the sticky rice into half balls, with a depression for the filling.
Make the filling by heating butter with sesame powder, sugar, and wine. When cooled - make small dime-sized balls and drop into the sticky-rice depressions!! Close the half-ball to form a full round ball. Smooth it out by rolling between your hands. Place in boiling water and cook until they begin to float on the surface. Cook (med heat) for about 30-40 minutes in boiling water. You can serve as a soup (in the water you boiled) or alone. I have also seen them rolled in powdered sugar afterwards.
*If you can't find the black sesame powder, just grind black sesame seeds in a food processor. If you buy fresh black sesame seeds - you can put them on a cookie sheet in the oven on 375 F. Stir a few times while cooking - about 20 min. Then grind until smooth in a blender or food processor.
I have yet to find a Chinese person with a cookbook! Recipes are not really written down, but passed along from mother to daughter, from sister to brother and from friend to friend. They teach each other recipes by cooking the meal together.
