Jin Deui

I just tried my hand at making jin deui for the first time!  And I have to say, it's a lot of work!  This'll be a short post.  Here are the highlights:

Recipe: http://cant-live-without.com/2012/01/31/sesame-balls-with-red-bean-paste/


Dough wrapped around some red bean paste and formed into balls.  You can see some aren't as well wrapped as others!

Rolled in black sesame, because I was out of white.

Fry.  Since the recipe above didn't give a temperature, I tried frying at temperatures from 200F to 350F; about 275F was the best, I found.  Nothing burned and the balls took what felt like a comfortable amount of time to cook.

Some balls would explode, pushing out their tasty guts.  One actually exploded while in the oil, still.  That was a huge mess to clean up.

My rig:  a candy thermometer (the clip is crappy) set on our smallest metal saucepan, which sits atop a cast iron frying pan, to keep heat better.  To drain any debris, I would pour through a sieve into another pot, then back (again through the sieve) into the original pot.  

 

Finished products!  I like the one on the left *snicker*

 

The acts like a balloon, it seems!  It got stretched so thin, I'm impressed.  But there's still a reserve of dough in the right half on the right side.  I wonder how I can reduce that next time...

Final thoughts:

• I will probably try this again.  Just, with more forethought next time!  
• The dough could be sweeter.  I will follow the recommended sugar proportions next time.  
• The balls had a slightly burnt taste.  I wonder if it's from the burnt debris, or if it's because black sesame cooks faster than white.  

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