Pastries · FFET10275
Jian dui (Cantonese fried sesame balls)
Jian dui is a Cantonese New Year fried glutinous rice ball, coated in sesame and often filled with lotus or red bean paste.
A plain white porcelain plate holds golden fried glutinous rice balls coated with pale sesame seeds, with some sliced open to show dark red and pale fillings, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
Cakes and pastries of every kind, baked, steamed or fried.
Jian dui is a ball of glutinous rice dough, fried and coated in sesame; it can be hollow and is often filled with lotus or red bean paste. It is the Guangdong name for what other places call ma qiu, ma tuan or ma yuan, and a New Year gift and offering with the saying jian dui lu lu, jin yin man wu. A 2026 account describes related customs: the third day of the New Year is grain day and send-away-poverty day, when people in Guangzhou and Foshan eat jian dui.
What
Jian dui is a ball of glutinous rice dough wrapped around a filling, rolled in sesame and deep-fried until it swells, often hollow inside; the filling is usually lotus or red bean paste. Jian dui is the name used in Guangdong.1,3,4,5
When
A 2026 article mentions earlier records, but their connection to jian dui is thinly supported and the original texts have not been checked here, so no origin date is given.1,2
Where
Guangdong, especially the Pearl River Delta. Jian dui is the Guangdong name for the sesame ball, which other places call ma qiu, ma tuan or ma yuan. The Jiujiang kind is flat, and the Longjiang kind is round.1,2
How
Glutinous rice flour is made into a dough with boiling and cool water, portioned around lotus or red bean paste, rolled round, coated in moistened sesame and fried slowly in cooler oil until the balls float and swell, then in hotter oil until light golden. One home recipe holds the oil at about 150 degrees Celsius and then raises it to about 175, for about 17 to 18 minutes a batch; another begins at about 130 degrees Celsius and then at about 180, 6 to 8 minutes each.4,5
Why
Jian dui is a New Year gift and offering, with a saying, jian dui lu lu, jin yin man wu, that plays on the sounds of lu. The third day is grain day and send-away-poverty day, when people skip rice and eat jian dui; sweet jian dui is also said to ease quarrels. These customs and explanations come from secondhand accounts.1,2
Impact and influence
Jian dui is a New Year gift and offering, with a custom of eating it on the third day in Guangzhou and Foshan.1,2
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is how I make jian dui at home, 8 at a time. The amounts and the frying method follow a recipe by a named author, with ready-made lotus or red bean paste for the filling; I did the conversions from cups to grams and milliliters. A second recipe by another named author uses different oil temperatures, and I put that in the tips. Frying uses very hot oil, so stay at the stove and do not walk away.
Ingredients
- Glutinous rice flour 180 g, divided into 60 g and 120 g
- Sugar about 65 g
- Boiling water 60 ml
- Room-temperature water 70 ml
- Lotus paste or red bean paste about 190 g, in 8 pieces of 24 g each
- Sesame seeds about 1/4 cup (60 ml)
- Vegetable oil, for frying about 950 ml
Steps
- Put 60 g of the glutinous rice flour and the sugar in a bowl, pour in the 60 ml boiling water and stir with a spatula until smooth. Rest it for 5 minutes.
- Add the 70 ml room-temperature water and the remaining 120 g flour and mix until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- Rinse the sesame seeds in a fine strainer until soaked, drain and spread them on a plate. They should be moist but not dripping; blot with a paper towel if too wet.
- Divide the paste into 8 pieces of 24 g and roll them into balls. Divide the dough into 8 pieces of about 47 g, roll them round and keep them covered.
- Flatten a piece of dough to a round about 7.5 cm across, a little thicker in the middle, set a filling ball in the center, wrap and pinch the seam shut, and roll it between your palms until smooth and seamless. Roll it in the moist sesame until fully coated, press the seeds on and set it on parchment.
- Heat the oil in a deep pot, filled about halfway, to about 160 degrees Celsius, measured with a thermometer. Add 4 balls and stir them gently in a circle with a slotted spoon so they do not stick. The oil temperature will drop; hold it at about 150 degrees Celsius and do not let it go higher.
- After about 10 minutes the balls float; keep them rolling and press them under the oil for 2 to 3 minutes, then raise the oil slowly to about 175 degrees Celsius and fry until light golden, about 17 to 18 minutes in all.
- Lift them out to drain on a rack or a paper-lined plate and fry the second batch. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting or tearing them open, since the filling will be very hot.
Tips
- This recipe warns not to let the oil exceed about 150 degrees Celsius in the early stage and not to add baking powder, because the balls may swell too fast and burst; if you see a bulge, keep your distance.
- The other recipe uses different oil temperatures: about 130 degrees Celsius for 6 to 8 minutes, then about 180 degrees Celsius for 6 to 8 minutes, with red bean paste. The two recipes differ, so I follow the earlier one and watch a thermometer.
Allergens: sesame