中文：紫薯黑芝麻醪糟汤圆

Purple sweet potato is one of my favorite. Unfortunately we don’t usually see them in American grocery stores. I will stock up on them whenever I drive to Detroit area where there is a big Asian grocery store that sells all kinds of Asian goodies.

You can steam, roast, bake or even grill them. Whatever you can do with pumpkins and sweet potatoes, you can do it with purple sweet potatoes. Purple sweet potatoes have a denser texture than regular sweet potatoes. They are starchier, sweeter and I guess healthier.

I make some sweet rice cake balls and put some purple sweet potatoes. Ta-dah! I have a bowl of gorgeous sweet rice cake balls!

Ingredients for sweet rice cake balls：

1 cup of sweet rice flour
1 teaspoon oil
1 tablespoon sugar
water
1 medium size purple sweet potato, steamed
1/2 cup fermented sweet rice (homemade or available in Asian grocery store too)

Black sesame filling：

1/4 cup toasted black sesame seeds
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons honey
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoon butter

Directions：

Add black sesame seeds and brown sugar to a coffee grinder. Grind for 20 to 30 seconds.

Microwave the butter on high for 20 to 30 seconds to melt it. Add honey and ground sesame; mix well and refrigerate until it hardens. Equally divide them into 20 or 30 pieces. And roll each into a ball shape.

Peel the purple sweet potato. Use a fork or food processor to puree it.

Combine sweet rice flour, oil and sugar in a medium bowl. Gradually add water while whisking with chopsticks or a wooden spoon. Stop when there is no dry flour left.

Equally divide the sweet rice dough into 20 to 30 pieces and roll each piece into a ball shape too.

Press down sweet rice cake ball with a thumb, add sesame filling, wrap it up and roll into a sweet rice ball again. Repeat it until all sweet rice cake balls are finished.

Bring a large pot of water to boil on high heat. Add sweet rice cake balls. Cook until they float to the top. Stir gently occasionally.

Reserve about 2 to 3 cups cooking water. Add purple sweet potatoes puree and sweet fermented rice. Cook on medium high heat until it boils. Serve it immediately with cooked sweet rice cake balls.

Both purple sweet potatoes and fermented rice are quite sweet. I don’t need extra sugar here. If you have a sweet tooth, add more sugar to the sweet potato puree.