Jump to Comments

OK, by this time, you’re probably wondering, what’s with the ball theme? The fact of the matter is, most good things come in the shape of a ball…chocolate truffles, mochi, mozzarella, but most importantly, buchi.

Buchi is fried ball of sweet rice flour filled with red kidney bean paste (very popular in Japanese and Chinese desserts) and covered in sesame seeds. Filipinos buy it during the Christmas or holiday season and it’s best served fresh out of the fryer.

The texture of buchi is interesting — it looks deceptively dense on the outside, but when you bite into it, it’s surprisingly light and airy, like a fried donut. The dough is kind of glutinous and gooey, kind of like mochi, but it’s counterbalanced with the crispiness of the outside and the crunchy sesame seeds. And the bean paste filling is nutty, smooth and intensely sweet.

I love buchi, and it always reminds me of Christmastime with my family. I could eat about three of these in one sitting, which is probably not too healthy.