Ingredients
Yields: 13
- 50 g black sesame - just remove this if you want it plain
- 400 ml water
- 50 ml coconut milk - optional, can be substituted with water.
- 30 g brown sugar
- 5 g salt
- 150 g rice flour
- 1 large banana leaf
Condiments
- 150 g freshly shaved coconut
- 100 g dark brown sugar
- a sprinkle of sesame seeds - optional
Method
- Toast the black sesame in an oven at 170°C for 20 minutes, until fragrant. You can also toast it in a pan, but put in some white sesame too so you’ll know when it’s browned enough.
- Put the toasted black sesame and water into a blender, and blend until fine, with barely any bits of sesame remaining. Pass this sesame liquid through a sieve into a saucepan or small pot, and discard the solids. To this, add the coconut milk, sugar and salt, and bring to a boil.
- Pour the boiling liquid onto the rice flour very gradually, stirring the flour as you pour to incorporate the liquid into it. You should end up with a dough-like paste the consistency of peanut butter.
- Cut the banana leaf into 4-inch wide squares, then brush each piece with a layer of oil on the top-side, to ensure that the string hoppers don’t stick. Transfer some of the dough into the extruder, and press it out onto the banana leaf, going in circles as you push the dough out so that it looks like a nest. I like my string hoppers thin, so I go around 5 rounds and then move on to the next banana leaf. Repeat this for the rest of the dough.
- Place the string hoppers in a steamer basket set over a rolling boil, and steam for 5 minutes. (Depending on the size of your steamer, you might need to do this in several batches; don’t overcrowd the steamer.) The string hoppers should be soft and yielding when they’re done. Remove them from the steamer and let it cool, then serve with lotsa shaved coconut and dark brown sugar!
Notes
You’ll need a string hopper extruder/maker for this recipe (use the disc-mould with the smallest holes)
