Tang yuan
Glutinous rice balls served in China at the Lantern Festival and the winter solstice — their round shape stands for a family together. The secret is in the filling: the fat in the sesame paste must be frozen before wrapping. Frozen, it can be sealed inside the dough, and in hot water it melts and flows out at the first bite. Soft filling smears across your palms and the ball splits in the pot.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Sesame filling 20 min
- Freezing the filling 40 min
- Dough and shaping 35 min
- Cooking 15 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneToast the sesame and grind to a paste
Toast the sesame in a dry pan 3 minutes, until fragrant and popping, and grind it in a mill to an oily paste. Untoasted sesame is bland and gives up its oil less readily — and it is the oil that makes the filling run at the first bite.
Ingredients: 100 g black sesame seeds · 70 g sugar · 60 g butter · 1 pinch salt
Mix with butter and roll into balls
Mix the paste with the sugar, soft butter and salt and roll 24 balls the size of a hazelnut. The mixture is greasy and sticky — work fast, before it warms from your hands.
Ingredients: 100 g black sesame seeds · 70 g sugar · 60 g butter · 1 pinch salt
Hazelnut-sized balls — no larger.Freeze the filling for 40 minutes
Set the balls on a tray and freeze 40 minutes, until firm. Frozen they can be sealed in dough without smearing, and they melt only in the hot water, creating the liquid centre.
Ingredients: 100 g black sesame seeds · 70 g sugar · 60 g butter · 1 pinch salt
Knead the dough with hot water
Pour hot water into the glutinous flour, stirring with a chopstick, and knead to a smooth dough. Hot water gelatinises some of the starch, which makes the dough pliable — made with cold water it is more crumbly and cracks more easily as you wrap.
Ingredients: 250 g glutinous rice flour · 200 ml water
Smooth and soft as an earlobe — that is the right texture.Check the softness of the dough
The dough should be as soft as an earlobe and not stick to your hands. Too dry it cracks during shaping, too wet it will not hold the filling. Adjust with a spoon of flour or a teaspoon of water and keep it under a cloth, as it dries fast.
Ingredients: 250 g glutinous rice flour · 200 ml water
Wrap the filling in discs of dough
Pinch off pieces of dough, flatten into discs 3 mm thick, set a frozen ball in the middle and close by gathering the edges upwards. Roll between your palms until perfectly smooth — any crack will open in the pot.
Ingredients: 250 g glutinous rice flour · 200 ml water
Sealed tight and smoothed — a crack opens up in the water.Make the ginger syrup
Simmer the water with the sliced ginger, brown sugar and pandan for 15 minutes. The longer, the sharper the syrup — ginger needs a quarter of an hour to give up the heat that balances the sweet filling.
Ingredients: 1000 ml water · 40 g ginger · 80 g brown sugar · 1 pcs pandan leaf
Boil until they float, then two minutes more
Drop the balls into a large pan of boiling water, stir once so they do not stick to the base, and cook until they float (usually after 4–5 minutes), then 2 minutes longer. Floating means the dough is done, but the filling inside is still solid. Transfer into the syrup and serve hot.
Ingredients: 250 g glutinous rice flour · 200 ml water
Before you start
The flour must be glutinous rice
Ordinary rice flour will not work — it contains a good deal of amylose, whereas glutinous rice is almost pure amylopectin, which gives the characteristic chewy stretch. Look for packets labelled glutinous rice flour or mochiko; the name misleads, as it has nothing to do with gluten.
Traditionally made with lard
Traditionally the filling is made with lard rather than butter — it gives a cleaner sesame flavour. Butter is easier to find and works well, but brings its own dairy note.
Freeze raw, cook from frozen
Freeze the shaped balls on a tray and, once firm, tip them into a bag — they keep three months. Cook them straight from frozen, adding 2 minutes. Do not thaw them first — thawed, they go soft, stick to the tray and split as you lift them.
