When I attempt to pass a piece of food with my chopsticks, my mom will bat it away quicker than swatting at a mosquito. When I named my child after the rain, she inhaled through her teeth like she was bracing herself against the wrath of our ancestors. But if you bring any attention to the fact that my mother is superstitious, she’ll glare as though you just wished a curse upon her. Without missing a beat, she’ll sneer: “Don’t be superstitious!”

I think she pays attention to luck when it suits her and willingly ignores the rest, or at least gives it enough stink eye to chase it away. I suppose if you’re going to believe in luck, you might as well be biased about it.

She’s the same way with tradition — a radical in many ways, especially with cooking, but if you tell her you’re putting Portuguese sausage in the turnip cakes and no shrimp at all, she might shake her head at you. That’s messing with good luck. She recently spent about a week preparing traditional Japanese foods for New Year’s. When she finally got to eat them, she said they were pretty, but not so tasty. She has quite a modern, sophisticated palate, and it has to make peace with her childhood traditions.

For this column, I made a Chinese New Year treat, jin dui, with chocolate-and-banana filling. As much as they are delicious with traditional red bean filling, I think they might be even better this way. I don’t know how much I changed the luck of the fried dessert.

Jin dui is thought to be lucky because of its golden color. In all seriousness, I think that’s just a great excuse to eat something fried. Give me golden-fried anything if that will tip the scales in my favor.

Chocolate-Banana Jin Dui

• 1-1/2 cups water, as needed
• 1-1/4 cups dark brown sugar
• 1 (1-pound) box mochiko (sweet rice flour)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 banana, cut into 20 to 24 slices
• 1 cup white sesame seeds
• Oil for frying

Boil 1-1/4 cups water and stir in brown sugar to dissolve.

Place flour in large bowl. Make a well in flour and pour in sugar mixture. Stir thoroughly, adding more water 1 tablespoon at a time as needed until a smooth dough is formed. Knead dough a few minutes. Do not overdo it or it will be tough.

Divide dough into 20 to 24 pieces. Roll each into a ball and place on a pan. Cover with plastic wrap as you work to keep them from drying out.

Take 1 piece at a time and flatten into a disk. Add 1/2 teaspoon chocolate chips and a slice of banana, then bring edges back together to enclose filling. Roll into a ball and return to pan, still covered in plastic wrap, and repeat with rest of dough.

In small pot, heat 3 inches of oil to 350 degrees.

Place remaining water in a bowl; place sesame seeds in another bowl. Roll each ball of dough in water, then in sesame seeds, pressing seeds into dough.

Fry a few pieces at a time, for 5 minutes or until golden. If dough gets too hot it will not cook thoroughly; if it is not hot enough the seeds will fall off. As they rise to the top, remove jin dui from oil and drain on paper towel-lined plate.

Serve while hot. These don’t stay good for long. Makes 20 to 24.

Approximate nutritional information, based on 20 sesame seed balls: 290 calories, 15 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, no cholesterol, 5 mg sodium, 38 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 18 g sugar, 4 g protein

Mariko Jackson blogs about family and food at thelittlefoodie.com. Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.