Mini Pumpkin Rice Cake

For the adzuki bean paste:
Rinse and soak the adzuki beans for at least 18 hours. Place the soaked adzuki beans into a small heat-proof bowl and then add water. Place onto a pressure cooker steamer rack and cook under pressure for 8 minutes. Let the pressure drop on its own. When safe to open the pressure cooker, drain beans.

In a blender, blend everything together. If the paste is too dry, add extra non-dairy milk (if you want to make them vegan) or water, 1 teaspoon at a time. You can also find adzuki bean paste in most Asian grocery stores.

For the dough:
Whisk together all the dry ingredients and add ½ cup pumpkin puree and oil. Use a spatula to combine. Gradually add more pumpkin puree (1 tablespoon at a time) and use your hand to combine all loose flour together until it forms a smooth ball.

Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 balls and roll each ball smoothly between palms. Use your thumb to push a cone shaped cavity into the center of each ball that can hold the filling.

Fill in approximately 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of adzuki bean paste and gently pinch the opening of the dough together to close and form a smooth ball again. Use the edge of a spoon to create the creases on the ball to make it look like a pumpkin. Place the green raisins or goji berries on top of each pumpkin as stems.

Fill a steamer pot with 2 cups of water. Line a steamer basket or disk with 8 pieces of parchment paper and place the uncooked pumpkin rice cakes on the parchment paper. Cover the steamer and place the steamer on a stove. Bring the water to a boil and then turn down to medium heat with gentle boiling. Steam for 9 minutes.

Remove the cooked pumpkin rice cakes with parchment paper from the steamer. At this point, the rice cakes will be very soft and sticky. Let stand and cool to room temperature completely before serving.

Notes:
1. These pumpkin rice cakes are best when served fresh. The leftovers will tend to be stiff if they are stored in refrigerator. Reheating in microwave will make them softer again.
2. Use a Chinese steamer to make this recipe.