Contributor: Ho Siew Loon
How time flies and we will be ushering 2010 in about 2 weeks.
December has always been my favorite month with so many festivals like Christmas, New Year and Dong Zhi (冬至) festival. Dong Zhi or winter solstice has always been a very important event in the Chinese custom. It is also known as Tang Check by the Peranakan which means the arrival of winter. It signifies the longest night in the year. Tang Check is a very important day in the Chinese calender and some people celebrate it on a bigger scale than Chinese New Year. On this day, the Chinese will make Tang Yuan (汤圆) or Kuih Ee to signifies the arrival of winter and by eating this we will be a year older. In Chinese custom, this round shaped rice ball symbolizes togetherness and completeness of the family. This year Tang Check will be celebrated on 21 December…(get Tang Yuan recipe after the jump)
Tang Yuan is also known as glutinous rice balls. This dessert (check out other Nyonya desserts such as bubur cha cha and bee koh moy) is made during the Dong Zi festival and it comes in different colors like white, pink, green, yellow, blue and orange. This little rices balls are then served with syrup but these days people are getting more creative and Tang Yuan comes with different types of filling like peanut, black sesame, red bean etc. There are savoury ones as well. However, the traditional ones are still my favorite…
Ingredients:
Syrup
1/3 cup sugar
1.5 cups water
2-3 pandan leaves/screwpine leaves
Rice Dumplings
2 cups glutinous rice (sticky rice) flour
1 Tbsp fine sugar
7 oz water
food coloring ( 2-3 different colors )
Method:
- To prepare syrup, boil water in a pot. Add the screwpine pleaves and let it boil on medium fire for 5 minutes. Add sugar and let it boil for 5 minutes. Lower fire and let it simmer to another 15 miuntes. Sugar can be added to taste if you like. Set aside.
- In a big bowl, mix glutinous flour with sugar.
- Add water and knead to form a paste. Continue to knead until it form a soft dough and no longer sticks to your hands.
- Divide into 3-4 portion and add 2-3 drops of food coloring to the each portion of dough.
- Divide into small balls and lightly shape into balls using both palms.
- Set aside a few hours or overnight as this will make the dough a bit harder and easier to handle.
- Boil another pot of water, drop the dumplings into the boiling water. As soon as it floats to the transfer it to the syrup water.
- Serve.
Cook’s Note :
You can add a few slices ginger to the syrup water if you like. Or you can replace the fine sugar with palm sugar or brown sugar using same method.
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Oooh thanks for the recipe. I finally managed to find pandan leaves in Chinatown so will have to make this this weekend. :)
Thank you for sharing all your recipe generously. Will try all my favorites soon. Happy holidays
I love tang yuan! Especially when they are colored. I love so many foods, but tang yuan has got to be one my favorite of all time. Seeing this picture makes me want to make some right now.
Although this is a simple dessert it does give me a warm feeling just by looking at the great photos :)
Thanks. Happy Winter!
i wanna find the recipe of Dragon In tong yuen… i ate last time.. so nice…
got arak de….
duno wat its name…
Ooohh….ginger in the syrup is a must! Btw, isn’t it supposed to be on the 22nd? It falls on the same day every year.
I ADORE your blog and it has brought me much homesickness and joy over the past year. Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas and a happy new year! Catty x
Catty – thanks for your kind wishes.
seeing this Tang Yuan…reminds me of my childhood where i help my nyonya grandma (paternal) make this lovely dessert…i would help roll the small red and orange ones only…it seemed easier to handle and make…:) thanks for reminding me of my humble but happy childhood with very beautiful memories…of my grandma..
My mom let us dip the tang yuen in ground roasted peanuts/sugar mixture. Delicious!
Wow, really remind me of my childhood days when my grandmother cooked for me. I am a crazy fan of your blog! Everyday, without fear, I will log into to view your delicious recipes. How I wish I can cook like you! By the way, do you know where can I get pandan leave (Screwpine leaves) in Australia? I went to the local Chinese Market, I cant get any of it. Or would you know of any online purchase of pandan leaves or seed so that I can grown on my own? Thank you!
Linda – thanks for your kind comment, do you visit Rasa Malaysia (http://rasamalaysia.com)? It’s also my blog.
I don’t live in AU, so I don’t know where to get it. Sorry.
Hello, where about do you live in Australia? You can get the pandan leaves at the grocer that sells other greens. But your best bet is around grocers who are vietnamse, as the hk style store dont often have them i find. If in Syndey, the store in Cabramatta or Canley Heights will have them.
hi linda,
i live in melbourne and managed to find pandan leaves in chinese grocery stores their usually frozen though and hidden, so its best to ask someone who works there where they keep it. for fresh ones they can be found in any asian suburban markets, like springvale, boxhill, footscray etc.
sorry how many servings does this make? how much would i need for 8 servings??
i love tong yuen with gula melaka filling inside.