How to Make – Golden Chocolate-filled Kariokas (Cariocas)

I still remember the first time I laid eyes on kariokas (or cariocas).  It was on a burning hot day in Ilocos Norte, in the Northern region of the Philippines, and we were all so tired from a long day of filming from the previous night.  I was so tired and sleep deprived, that when I saw our surprise Pinoy dishes, I was dumbfounded as to where to begin.  It’s rather difficult to recreate a dish I’ve never seen, let alone, heard of, before.  I could only rely on my palate to direct me in which ingredients and cooking techniques to use.  Thankfully, I am a seasoned eater!

As last night’s episode of The Amazing Food Challenge on AFC unveiled, our Team Red ultimately won the cooking challenge.  Hence, I’ve teamed up with fellow foodies Tim Ong and Jun Wu of Homemade In HK  to replicate our dishes on our blogs.  My winning dish was the kariokas, so I’ve decided to share my recipe here.  Check out Tim’s and Jun’s blogs for their renditions of the other two dishes!  You can find Jun’s Pinakbet recipe by clicking here and check out Tim’s Bagnet recipe here.

When I first tasted the kariokas under the pressures of the cooking challenge, all I can think of was “this tastes incredibly similar to our Chinese dessert tang yuan“!  It was an “eureka” moment for me, as I regularly make tang yuan at home.  During the show, I decided to add a personal touch and incorporate a filling of salted shredded coconut and palm sugar, and crown the dish with a golden ball of spun sugar.  However, for the following recipe, I’ve decided to use Hershey’s kisses instead, for that irresistible chocolatey finish.  This recipe is essential my tang yuan recipe (which I will soon be posting), but just deep fried and mixed with coconut milk

What you’ll need (makes 9 – 10):

• 3/4 cup glutinous rice flour
• 4.5 tbls coconut milk
• Hershey’s chocolate kisses
• Vegetable oil (for deep frying)
• icing sugar (optional) 

Mix together coconut milk and glutinous rice flour.  Knead together to form a pliable dough.

I am not a sweets person, but I can never resist chocolate!  Here, I’ve unwrapped the little Hershey’s kisses, which are the perfect size for the filling of the kariokas.  I would cut of the little pointy ends though, as it might easily puncture the surrounding dough and cause the kariokas to leak.

Roll out a little ball of the dough, and make a deep indention in the centre.  Drop in the chocolate, and gently fold the dough over the filling.

Once the filling is covered by the dough, gently roll into a ball, taking care not to press down too hard.

Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Tumble in the little rice balls, and lightly simmer until they float to the surface (around 3 minutes).

Strain out the water, and transfer the little rice balls to a pot of heated oil.  Deep fry until golden.  Be careful – because there can be some trapped water inside these little balls, some times they can splatter out oil unexpectedly.  This is how I got burned on the show, so be sure to stand quite far from the fryer!

Once golden, rest these little babies on some kitchen paper to soak up excess oil.  Dust with icing sugar and indulge!

Bon Appetit!