Sesame Balls

Transliterated from Chinese as jiandui (and known by other names in different regions of China), these sesame balls are a sweet confection made of glutinous rice, stuffed with a sweet paste filling, coated in sesame seeds, and fried.

Languages

Japanese

ゴマ団子

Korean

참깨 공

Chinese

芝麻球

Technically, there’s no limit to what you can fill a jiandui sesame ball with — some recipes even suggest crushed nut paste or peanut butter. However, they are usually filled with lotus paste, sweet red bean paste, or black bean paste.

Between the sesame seed coating, the fried glutinous rice batter, and the sweet and soft interior, jiandui offers a delightful mix of tastes and textures. You get the slight nutty sweetness and “poppy”-ness of the sesame seeds, the satisfying chew of the fried exterior, and a lightly sweet bean paste that’s complexly sweet.

Although sesame balls have been enjoyed in China for well over 1,000 years, they are now found throughout East Asia and worldwide, both within the Chinese diaspora and through other cultures’ adaptations.

They’re available at all Uwajimaya stores by our other confections — or you can see how to make them from scratch through some expert cooks online!