Tang Yuan (glutinous rice balls)

The weather is sure getting colder and all of a sudden i just have this craving for a childhood memory dessert of mine, eating something i love when i was young and still do now. Is known as Tang Yuan i remember eating it on special occasions only so i always eat as much as i can as after the occasion is over so is  the Tang yuan. But now adays its much easier to get them if you live in Asia.


Tang yuan is a traditional Chinese dessert which is well loved by all generations. They’re basically glutinous rice balls (either filled or unfilled) that are served in a sweet broth. They’re most popular during the winter solstice usually celebrated in December and symbolizes the day in the year where the day is the shortest. After this celebration, the Chinese believe that the days will be filled with more hours of sunlight, and therefore and increase in the amount of positive energy. In addition, eating these during the winter solstice also symbolizes becoming a year older. Besides eating these during the winter solstice, tang yuan are also made on special celebrations (such as Chinese New Year) and used as an offering to the gods. They are also served during weddings, that it is considered good luck for the bride and groom.


There are many variants of tang yuan, and as I mentioned earlier they can be either filled or unfilled. The unfilled tang yuans tend to be smaller in size, and also tend to be more colourful. The fillings for tang yuan vary – popular fillings are black sesame paste, peanut paste and red bean paste.  The tang yuan are then cooked in a pot of boiling water, and served with a sweet broth. Again, there are many types of sweet broth – my favourite is a sweet broth made with ginger and rock sugar. (Other variants: red bean soup, a combination of fermented glutinous rice/rock sugar)

I’ve never made these before as I always thought they were lots work involve. And I was wrong. These are one of the easiest Chinese foods to make, and I’m not kidding.So i decided to get my 5 years old son involved as it's so much fun like playing with playdoh. And also to my surprise he loved it even the broth was spiced with ginger!

Tang yuan (unfilled)

• 2 cups glutinous rice flour

• 1 tbsp caster sugar

• 200ml water

• food coloring

• Mix glutinous rice flour with sugar in a large bowl.
• Add the water, and slowly knead until it forms a soft paste that does not stick to your hands. (The mixture is very gloopy and sticky at first, but the more you knead it, the less sticky it gets)

• Divide the dough into portions, and add a few drops of food colouring to each portion. Knead the dough until the food colouring is evenly distributed throughout the dough.
• Shape the dough into 1-2cm balls.

• Drop the balls into a pot of boiling water. The tang yuan will float to the surface of the water once they are cooked. Once this happens, transfer the tang yuan to a bowl of cold water to prevent it from sticking to one another. (The reason for boiling the tang yuan in a separate pot is so that they won’t “cloud” up your sweet broth.)

 For the sweet broth:

          4-5 cups water (depends on how much broth you want)

        2 pandan (screwpine) leaves, knotted (Optional)

        1/2 cup rock sugar/brown sugar/caster sugar

        2 inches of ginger

• Boil the water in a pot until it starts to bubble.
•  Add the pandan leaves and ginger, and boil for 5 minutes. Add the sugar, turn the heat down, and simmer for 15-20minutes.

When you are ready to eat just scoop the balls out from the cold water and place them in the broth and warm it up just before serving. I find it best to eat hot to warm temperature wise.