This dessert is wonderful for the cooler months of the year - rich, nourishing and warming.

1 cup sticky black rice (Thai black rice)

1 - 1 ¼ cups water

1 pinch of salt

½ cup walnuts, lightly roasted, then finely chopped

½ cup mulberries or raisins, minced

¼ cup dried apricots, minced

2 - 3 tablespoons rice syrup

1 teaspoon barley miso mixed with 1 teaspoon sweet miso such as chickpea miso

Shredded coconut for garnish

Place black sweet rice with water and salt into a sauce pan, cover, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to very low or place a flame deflector under the pot and simmer for 40 minutes.

Immediately after the rice is cooked, add nuts and dried fruit into the rice, mix well and let it sit until it cools. Add rice syrup and miso into a saucepan and heat slowly until well mixed.

Mold the rice into small spheres (no bigger than a golf ball) and top with a small amount of rice syrup-miso mixture. Serve with shredded coconut garnish.