Melt sugar in 100ml boiling water, set aside to cool.

Whilst the sugar water is cooling, open the tin of lotus seed paste (or red bean paste), form into balls weighing about 18g each.

Make a well in the glutinous rice flour, pour in the cooled sugar water, mix.

Pour in 100ml cold water to start with, then add in enough water to the mix until it forms a soft dough.

Roll out the dough and divide into approx. 16. (I used a scale and weighed out 30g of dough, and sorry the pic is out of focus!)

Encase the ball of filling in the dough, seal and roll it into balls using your palms.

Prepare a little bowl of sesame seeds, slightly wet the surface of the balls and dip them in seeds.

Heat the oil in a wok (or wide opening pan) with medium heat, when you dip a wooden chopstick in the oil, little bubbles should come up after a few seconds. If it bubbles vigorously immediately then the oil is too hot.

Carefully lower the balls into the hot oil. Using a pair of long wooden chopsticks, make sure they're not sticking together or to the bottom of the wok.

They should float to the top after a while. At this point, gently press them using a slotted spoon (or a chinese deep fry utensil!). This will make them puff up and become big and round. See my video below!

It will take about 5-7 minutes to cook them. Turn the heat up a bit towards the end.

Get them out when they're all golden! Drain on a piece of kitchen paper.