Fast Sticky Rice Balls in Red Bean Soup

Nothing is better than a bowl of sweet hot red bean soup in a winter night  - wait, red bean soup with sticky rice balls is better!

I used to think it takes a long time to make these sticky rice balls - you have to make the dough, be careful about the measurements, knead it, cut to equal size portions, then carefully form them to perfect little balls. But really, sticky rice balls are not that complicated. Just mix your sticky rice flour with warm water (60~80 degree celsius, doesn't have to be exact), form it into a dough ball you can manipulate by hand, then start to pinch off pieces into boiling water. The trick is after the dough piece are cooked (float to the top means they are done), fish them out and  mix in a spoon full of (brown) sugar. The sugar will suck out the excess water in the dough pieces and gives them a chewy/gummy texture.

See, doesn't that look good? With a pressure cooker cooking the sweet red bean soup is easy too. Soak the beans for an hour or so (activate/germinate the bean so it is more nutritious - so they say), then put one part beans and two parts water in the pressure cooker. After you bring the pressure up, cook for additional 15 minutes (20 minutes if you prefer extra soft). Open the lid you will find the beans just cooked enough the skin is broken. There is not much liquid right now so add additional water for the soup and bring just to boiling point, add sugar and a small pinch of salt, then turn off the heat (if you cook longer the beans will bump and damage each other).  This method will ensure each bean stays round so give you the nice texture. Compare to the traditional way - soak the beans overnight and carefully watch the bean when cook on the stove for hours - pressure cookers sure saves you a lot of time.