Angela Mou is the Founder of the contemporary smoke shop, Elevate Jane.
As the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, her small business aims to destigmatize with unique aesthetics and thoughtfully-designed art pieces that smokers can proudly display on their coffee tables.
For Lunar New Year, she shares a new dessert she’s integrating into her celebrations -- an infused black sesame rose dumpling!
Chef's Note: “For as long as I can remember, my grandmother and I have *loved* eating tang yuan - round glutinous rice dumplings filled with a black sesame paste, sometimes in a lightly sweetened ginger broth. The textures are incredible - you bite into the soft dumpling exterior and then get the lightly crunchy granulated sugar and sesame filling. They’re a Lunar New Year essential (their perfectly round shape that represents a full moon), but my grandmother and I ate them year round.
I grew up in the suburbs of LA, with amazing access to ingredients + food that my parents grew up eating in Taiwan, but Lunar New Year is a different holiday when you’re in Asia. IYKYK. My strongest memories of Lunar New Year are from my years spent living in Shanghai. I’ll never forget my first Chinese New Year there… the firecrackers! Nonstop all day, all night, everywhere, for days! There, I fell in love with the dessert black sesame xiaolongbao at Din Tai Fung. Xiaolongbao is a specific type of dumpling - dumplings are a staple of Lunar New Year. They symbolize purses, and we eat them so our purses will grow fat this year!
As an homage to my grandmother and our shared love for black sesame dumplings, I made naturally-dyed rose dumplings filled with black sesame. When you order dumplings at Din Tai Fung, you’ll receive a dish of black vinegar, julienned ginger, and fresh red chili rings as dipping condiments. As a playful nod, I made a fresh ginger and chili dipping syrup with coconut sugar. The coconut sugar is makes a dark syrup that mimics the color of black vinegar, but the flavor is sweet, similar to the soup that tang yuan often comes in.” - Angela Mou
Infused Coconut Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut oil
- 1-3 grams cannabis or hemp flower
White Dumpling Dough Ingredients
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 5 tbsp water (or replace with vegetable juice for color, see notes
Pink Dumpling Dough Ingredients
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 5 tbsp beetroot juice
Black Sesame Filling Ingredients
- ½ cup black sesame paste
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp infused coconut oil
Chili-Ginger Dipping Syrup Ingredients
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 5-10 thin slices fresh ginger (to taste)
- 1-4 fresh chilis, split lengthwise (to taste)
Cannabis-Infused Black Sesame Rose Dumplings Recipe
This recipe makes 6-8 dumplings.
Directions For Infused Coconut Oil
Decarb cannabis or hemp flower and infuse into oil using the Nova or FX.
Directions For Chili-Ginger Dipping Syrup
Combine the coconut sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Add the ginger and chiles, reduce the heat to medium, and boil for 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat. Pour into glass jar and allow to cool. Seal and refrigerate until ready to use
Directions For White Dumpling Dough
Put the flour in a small bowl, slowly pour in the water and knead until mixture forms a soft dough. If the dough seems too dry, add 1 tsp water at a time. Knead for 2 minutes and wrap the ball in plastic wrap.
Directions For Pink Dumpling Dough
Repeat as above, using beetroot juice instead of water. Let both doughs rest for 25-30 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the filling.
Directions For Black Sesame Paste Filling
Thoroughly mix together black sesame paste, coconut sugar, salt, and infused coconut oil. Place into small bowl and freeze for 20 minutes so it’s more scoopable.
Directions For Combining Doughs
- After the dough is easier to cut, slice into thin slices and thinly roll out dough slices to seal pink dough ring around the white dough center circle.
- Lay 4 dumpling wrappers on a cutting board, overlapping by about ½ inch. Remove sesame filling from freezer and scoop half moons of filling in the center of each circle. Dab top half of each dough circle with water and fold all 4 dumplings in half, resulting in 4 half-circles that are slightly overlapping. Start from one corner and roll the dough firmly into a short, fat roll. Place the rose (pink dough facing up) into steamer basket, and lightly pull each ‘petal’ apart. Steam for 10 minutes or until dough is completely cooked through. Serve with optional chili-ginger syrup on the side.
- Roll white dough into a log about 6 inches long. Roll pink dough out into a rectangle to wrap the white dough completely - about 6 x 6 inches. Place white dough log onto pink dough log and roll together (like a cylindrical joint!).
- Cut into ¼ inch thick slices and thinly roll out dough slices to seal pink dough ring around the white dough center circle.
- Lay 4 dumpling wrappers on cutting board, overlapping by about 1/4 inch. Remove sesame filling from freezer and scoop half moons of filling in the center of each circle. Do not overfill. Dab top half of each dough circle with water and fold all 4 dumplings in half, resulting in 4 half-circles that are slightly overlapping. Start from one corner and roll the dough firmly into a short, fat roll. Place the roseinto steamer basket, and lightly pull each ‘petal’ apart.
- Steam for 5 minutes or until dough is completely cooked through. Serve with optional chili-ginger syrup on the side.
