Here is something unique you can try at home with the glutinous rice flour–the famous Buchi. It is a great partner and dessert for savory dishes during special occasions and large gatherings or if you simply want to have an intimate but kind of festive dinner at home with your family.
It can also be a great afternoon merienda or as a gift for loved ones. Continue to read on below to learn some tips and tricks, as well as some trivia about the buchi.
What is Buchi?
Buchi is a famous treat all around the Southeast Asian region, and is also well-known here in the Philippines. It is made of glutinous rice flour which is then made into a dough and is combined with sugar and coated with sesame balls.
It is a hollow ball and is usually partnered with a filling inside to add more flavor to it, the most common one being the sweet mung bean paste. It is made from the influence of China here in the Philippines, and is resemblant to the pastry that is called Jian dui–or sesame balls.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Filling
This recipe uses the red bean paste as the filling, since it is the most commonly used filling in traditional buchi. But if you want to make some different flavorings for the buchi, you can do so. Some suggestions for other fillings include purple yam (ube), peanut butter, chocolate, cheese or yema.
We also used fresh mung beans as an ingredient for this recipe and made it into a paste, but there are other options to get paste, such as buying ones in local stores or supermarkets and groceries, if you want.
Aside from the above-mentioned ingredients, you will also need glutinous rice flour, sugar, sesame seeds, and cooking oil for frying. If you are filling up your pantry, here’s a handy shopping guide:
Equipment You’ll Need
- Cooking Pot/ Deep Fryer- Buchi are traditionally deep-fried and you will be needing a deep fryer or deep frying pan to accommodate enough cooking oil. The size doesn’t have to be large since you will be cooking in batches.
In need of kitchen tools and equipment? Read this before you buy:
How to Make Buchi
Making buchi is not that hard. Even as a beginner, you can make a delicious appetizer or dessert like this one. Once you get to prepare all of your ingredients, it will almost be a breeze to make these.
To start, all you have to think about is to mix the ingredients to form a nice dough, prepare the mung bean and make it into a paste to make a filling, form the buchi ball, and then deep fry it.
Cooking Tips
- Remember that you have to use low to medium heat when deep frying the buchi! When you fry them over high heat, there’s a chance that the dough might break down and disintegrate. Cooking in low heat will keep that from happening and will result in a much better consistency.
- The consistency of the dough might differ depending on what type of glutinous rice you get. The trick there is to just adjust the amount of water you mix to form the dough. If the dough is too dry, just add and adjust the amount of water until you get the desired consistency. If it is too wet on the other hand, just add more flour until you get the right amount of consistency.
- You can let the buchi sit in the fryer for a little while longer once it is done cooking. This will prevent the buchi from deflating when left for a longer period of time.
How to Serve and Store Buchi
Buchi is usually served as dessert especially in Chinese cuisine or Chinese meals. It is usually served warm or at room temperature. You can also consume this as a sweet snack. To store buchi, transfer into a clean food container with lid and refrigerate up to 3 days. You can use a conventional oven or oven toaster to reheat and restore its texture.
Other Dessert Recipes
- 3-Ingredient Kamote Buchi (Kamoteng Butsi) Recipe
- Easy Pilipit (Pinoy Twisted Doughnut) Recipe
- Filipino Cheese Donut Recipe
For a quick reference about this recipe, see the recipe table below:
Easy Buchi Recipe
Equipment
- Cooking Pot
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 3 cups glutinous rice flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup sesame seeds
- 1 cup water
- 3 cups cooking oil, or as needed, for frying
Filling Ingredients
- 1 cup mung bean, rinsed, peeled and split
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 cups water, or as needed
Instructions
Dough Instructions
- Bring the water to a boil. Add-in the sugar and simmer until dissolved.
- In a mixing bowl, add-in the glutinous rice flour and the water. Mix until a smooth dough is and a nice consistency is achieved.
- Cut a portion of the dough and form small spherical pieces about 1 to 2 inches in size. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
- Press the center of the dough ball using your thumb to form an indent enough to fit the filling.
- Add-in the mung bean paste (1 tbsp) at the center and gather the edges of the dough around the filling and seal back to its spherical shape.
- Moist the dough balls with just enough water and then fully coat it with sesame seeds.
- In a cooking pot, pour-in and heat cooking oil over low to medium heat.
- Add-in the dough balls. Deep-fry for 6 to 8 minutes or until the balls are golden brown and are starting to float on top.
- Drain excess oil and transfer to a serving plate or serving tray. Serve and enjoy!
Filling Instructions
- In a cooking pot, pour-in water and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add-in the mung beans. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until tender.
- Using a blender or a mortar and pestle, mash the beans until a smooth texture is formed. Add-in sugar and mix until well-incorporated.
- In a non-stick cooking pan, apply medium heat. Add-in the mung bean mixture and cook until liquid is absorbed and a paste-like texture is formed.
- Remove from heat and let it cool until firm.
Notes
Nutrition
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