Aiwowo (Steamed Rice Ball)

Aiwowo is a traditional old-Beijing glutinous-rice snack: steamed sticky-rice dough wrapped around a sweet filling and dusted white with rice flour — snow-pale, soft and sweet, sold especially around the Lunar New Year.

With a long history said to reach the Ming court, aiwowo became one of the representative items of Beijing's halal snacks and seasonal tea pastries — a springtime treat of old Beijing.

Steamed glutinous rice is kneaded, wrapped around a sweet filling of hawthorn, bean paste, or sugar and sesame, dusted in cooked rice flour and shaped into small round balls; eaten at room temperature, soft and lightly sweet.

Marked by its white, tender chew and a delicately sweet center, it is a tidy one-bite treat that is neither sticky nor cloying — a gentle, winsome member of old Beijing's family of glutinous-rice sweets.