Rice with red bean paste (donkey rolling on the ground)

Ingredients

• 250 g (1 cup) glutinous rice (see Note) 
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 150 g (1 cup) salted roasted peanuts
• 270 g (1 cup) sweetened red bean paste (see Note)

Standing time 10 minutes

Drink Matilda Bay Beez Neez Honey Wheat Beer ($18 for a sixpack).

Instructions

Place rice and 375 ml water in a pan over high heat. Bring to the boil, cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 8 minutes or until water is absorbed. Stand for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, add sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. When cool enough to handle, place in a large snap-lock bag and roughly mash with your fingers or a rolling pin.

Process nuts in a food processor until finely chopped. Using damp hands, spread rice over a large tray lined with baking paper until a 4 mm-thick, 22 cm x 35 cm rectangle. Scatter over half the nuts, then top with a sheet of baking paper. Carefully flip over, remove top sheet of paper and spread with bean paste.

Using the baking paper as an aid, roll up dough from long edge like a Swiss roll. Coat in remaining nuts and cut into 12 slices.

Note

•  Glutinous rice and dried lotus leaves are from Asian food shops. Lotus leaves are used to impart a subtle earthy flavour to fillings.

• Available from Asian food shops.

Photography by Brett Stevens.         

As seen in Feast magazine, Jan 2012, Issue 5.