Sticky Rice Cake with Red Bean Paste

The sticky rice cake with red bean paste is one of my favorite desserts in local Chinese restaurants. Actually, it is not a very standard Chinese dessert and not many restaurants serve it. But since both red bean paste and sticky rice are commonly used in Chinese desserts and pastries, to combine them into one treat makes perfect sense.

I tried my best to recreate this delicious pastry, but I chose to grill the cake in a skillet instead of deep frying. The original version of the cake isn’t coated with sesame seeds and has a golden surface. However, I really don’t like to fry things at home as I always prefer cooking with less oil. So, I invented this method to coat the cake with sesame seeds so the dough won’t stick to the bottom of the skillet, even with little oil in the pan. Plus, it gives the cake a great nutty flavor.

A few more words about Chinese desserts

Compared to the cakes, cookies, and desserts from Europe or the US, Chinese desserts are not nearly as sweet. Instead of butter and flour, they often use lard and glutinous rice flour. Instead of butter cream frosting, they use red bean paste, date paste, or sesame paste to add sweetness. Instead of baking, they invariably require steaming or frying.

If you are not familiar with Chinese desserts, you might find all these elements very strange. However, if you’ve ever tried dessert from Japan or Southeast Asian countries, you might find some similarities among them. If you keep an open mind and would like to try out new things, I hope you will give Chinese desserts, such as this rice cake, a chance as well.

Sometimes, I tend to eat this dish as a snack instead of as a dessert. It is not as indulgent as a piece of cheese cake. Instead, it is quite filling and healthy. Unlike with a snickers bar, I won’t feel guilty at all if I gulp down two slices of rice cake after a workout.

To make sticky rice cake with red bean paste

It is super easy to make this dish and you only need four ingredients. You can find both glutinous rice flour and red bean paste at a Chinese or Asian market. You could also make your own red bean paste at home. It is healthier and even tastier than the kind you’ll find in the supermarket.

When you shop for glutinous rice flour (also called sweet rice flour), make sure you choose the kind that is milled from long grain sweet rice, which is for grilling and baking. The texture is stiff and will form a very crispy surface when heated. The one made from short grain rice is also called mochiko, often used to make cold desserts such as Japanese mochi. Even with the same label, “glutinous rice flour”, it could be made from long grain or short grain rice. Pay attention to this when picking your flour.

Also notice, the so-called glutinous flour (because of the sticky texture) is actually gluten free. However, if you are gluten intolerant, you should look for the variety specifically labelled as gluten free.

I have created a short video to help you through the cooking process, with an emphasis on how to wrap the red bean paste.

Want more rice cake recipes? Check out my savory Chinese BBQ Sticky Rice Cake and learn how to use kale to create a beautiful green colored rice cake!

Sticky Rice Cake with Red Bean Paste

By Maggie Zhu

4.93 from 14 votes

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 rice cakes

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My sticky rice cake with red bean paste recipe is a Chinese pan-fried dessert with a soft chewy glutinous rice dough wrapped around a sweet red bean paste filling and pressed into sesame seeds, ready to eat with tea in 40 minutes. This is one of the easiest Chinese pastries a home cook can make because the dough is similar to soft clay and does not need any resting time.

Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

• 420 g (1 1/2 cups) red bean paste
• 250 g (2 1/4 cups) glutinous rice flour , and extra flour to dust working surface
• 225 ml (1 cup minus 1 tablespoon) water
• 1/4 cup white roasted sesame seeds
• Vegetable oil for cooking (*Footnote 1)

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Instructions

Prepare the filling

• Use a medium cookie scoop to portion out 12 scoops of red bean paste, 30 grams (2 tablespoons) per scoop. Use your hands to round them into balls.

Make the dough

• Add the glutinous rice flour to a large bowl. Gradually add the water in 4 to 5 additions, stirring with a fork after each addition until the water is fully absorbed. Once all the water has been added, there should be no dry flour remaining and the mixture should come together into a soft, pliable dough that is not sticky or runny.
• If the dough feels too soft to handle, mix in more glutinous rice flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Knead the dough in the bowl for 1 to 2 minutes, until smooth and evenly hydrated. The finished dough should be soft and easy to shape like soft caly. It may lightly stick to the bottom of the bowl when lifted, but it should not stick to your hands.

Assemble

• Lightly dust a work surface with glutinous rice flour and transfer the dough onto it. Divide the dough in half. Roll each half into an even log, then cut each log into 6 equal pieces (about 42 g each). Roll each piece into a smooth ball and cover with a wet towel while you shape the cakes.
• Spread the sesame seeds in a medium sized bowl.
• To make the cake, Place one dough ball in your palm and gently flatten it into a round disk about 2 1/2” (6 cm) wide and 1/4” (5 mm) thick. The dough is very pliable, so you can easily shape it with your hands without using a rolling pin.
• Place one portion of the red bean paste in the center. Gather and pinch the edges of the dough together to completely enclose the filling (*Footnote 3), then gently roll it into a smooth ball.
• Flatten the ball with your palm into a disk about 3” (8 cm) wide and 1/2” (1 cm) thick. Press one side gently into the sesame seeds to coat, shaking off any excess. Transfer to a baking sheet or large plate and repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

Cook

• Pour enough oil into a medium nonstick skillet to lightly coat the bottom. Heat over medium heat until shimmering.
• Working in batches, add the rice cakes sesame seed-side up. Cook until the bottom is lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Flip and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the sesame seeds are lightly golden, about 1 minute. Flip once more and cook until the first side is evenly golden and crisp, 1 to 2 minutes more.
• Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels and repeat with the remaining rice cakes. Serve warm.

Store and reheat

• Store the rice cake in the refrigerator for 3 days or in the freezer for 1 month. Thaw before reheating. Warm the rice cakes in a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat until heated through. This restores their soft, chewy interior while crisping the surface again.

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Notes

1. Traditionally, these rice cakes are deep-fried until crisp. At home, I prefer shallow-frying them with just enough oil to coat the pan. The cakes are slightly softer than the traditional version, but they're lighter and just as delicious.
2. Sesame seeds brown much faster than the dough, so it's important to cook the uncoated side first. This allows the cakes to puff slightly and cook through before the sesame seeds begin to toast. I like to cook the sesame-coated side until it's just lightly golden, which gives the seeds a delicate nutty flavor. For a deeper roasted flavor, continue cooking until the sesame seeds are golden brown.
3. If the dough doesn't completely cover the filling, gently stretch and nudge the edges with your fingertips until they meet. It's perfectly fine if some areas of the dough are thinner than others or if the red bean paste is faintly visible through the dough. Once flattened into a cake, it will cook up just fine.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cake, Calories: 230kcal, Carbohydrates: 39g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.03g, Sodium: 1mg, Potassium: 31mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 17g, Vitamin A: 0.3IU, Calcium: 40mg, Iron: 1mg

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The nutrition facts are calculated based on 1 of the 12 cakes generated from this recipe.