tang yuan (汤圆 or glutinous rice balls)
汤圆 translates directly to "soup ball," and is a classic Chinese dessert comprising of chewy glutinous rice balls served in a ginger syrup.
***Despite the word “glutinous,” there’s actually no gluten in this recipe because it uses rice flour, not wheat.***
For as long as I can remember, we ate tang yuan every year during the Lunar New Year season. Traditionally, the dish symbolizes a family reunion, as yuan means “round” or “cohesive.” In my family, we like to joke that eating each ball represents aging a year, and I tend to eat the most.
These little balls can be made a bit bigger and stuffed with ingredients like ground peanuts, black sesame, or bean paste. Some cultures also make this into a savory dish in which the balls can be filled with pork, chicken, or vegetables. Kind of like a wonton soup but chewier.
Typically, the syrup is not as dark as the one I make because I use coconut sugar since we don’t keep white sugar in the house. Feel free to use monkfruit or juice sweetened with dates as you prefer.
Ingredients
1 cup glutinous rice flour
1/2 cup water (for glutinous rice balls)
Optional: gel food coloring or natural food coloring (ie beet juice, butterfly pea flower, matcha, pandan extract)
2 cups water (for syrup)
1/2 cup coconut sugar
2-inch piece ginger, peeled and pounded
2 pandan leaves
Directions
To prepare syrup, boil 2 cups water in a small saucepan. Stir in sugar, ginger, and pandan leaves. Reduce heat slightly and let mixture simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Syrup is best cold.
In a mixing bowl, mix flour with 1/2 cup water first and knead mixture to form a dough. Add 1 tbsp water at a time to mixture until dough is pliable but does not stick to your hand.
If using food coloring, divide dough into as many portions as you would like for there to be different colors. I tend to stick with a maximum of 4 colors. Add desired food color to each portion of dough and mix in thoroughly. Be sure to wash hands every time you move on to a new color.
Working with one color at a time, divide each portion into thirds, roll that piece of dough in between hands to form a rod-shape. Pinch off enough dough from this snake-like piece of dough and roll in the palm of your hands to form a marble-size ball.
Drop each ball onto a plate or baking sheet lined with a paper towel to help soak up any excess moisture in the balls.
Boil a medium pot of water, drop balls into the water, and use a strainer to fish them out once they float to the top. Transfer the balls to a large bowl of cold water before transferring them into the ginger syrup.
Serve immediately
