Happy 元宵節 (yuan xiao festival)! This marks the end of Chinese New Year and it also marks the first full moon of the year. On this day, it is tradition to eat Tang Yuan 湯圓 also known as Yuan Xiao 元宵 with your family for good fortune.
This dessert is chewy, nutty, and sweet. If you like mochi or chewy textured foods, this will be right up your ally. I am showing you a filled version, a plain version, and a matcha version which you can enjoy either in a soup or coated with some sesame peanut sugar.
INGREDIENTS:
BLACK SESAME & WALNUT FILLING –
- 40g Black Sesame Seeds
- 25g Walnuts
- 40g Caster/Granulated Sugar
- 1tbsp Water
- 30g Unsalted Butter, melted
TANG YUAN DOUGH (湯圓)-
- 150 g Glutinous Rice Flour
- 115 g Water, Hot
- 1/2- 1tsp Matcha
- Optional – cornstarch for dusting
STEPS:
BLACK SESAME & WALNUT FILLING –
- Gently toast black sesame seeds and walnut: Add both to a stainless steel pan and place over medium heat. Occasionally stir until it becomes fragrant
- Pour it onto a large tray or plate to help quickly cool it down
- Once the sesame and walnuts have completely cooled, add it to a food processor. Add the sugar and blitz until it reaches a “kinetic sand”-like texture
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add 1tbsp of water and the melted butter. Mix well
- Pour the runny mixture into a plastic bag and using a bench scraper, push the mixture to the end of the bag. Then flatten it slightly to create a uniform rectangular slab
- Place it into the freezer for at least 30min
- Once hardened, remove the mixture from the plastic bag and divide into 12 equal piece. Work quickly with your hands to shape each piece into a ball and pop them into the freezer on a plate for at least 1hr
TANG YUAN DOUGH –
- Add glutinous rice flour to a large bowl, then pour in the hot water. Mix with a spatula. It will look crumbly, do not add more water
- Transfer the mixture to a clean surface and quickly knead it together. It will be sticky at first, but as it cools, it will become easier to work with. Wash your hands when needed to make the processes easier
- Divide the dough in half – half will be used for the filled Tang Yuan, and the other half will be for the mini ones.
- The dough will dry very fast so when you are not working on it, wrap it with cling film
MINI MATCHA TANG YUAN-
- Grab the halved Tang Yuan dough, we will be making 3 different mini Tang Yuan. Divide the dough in half. Keep one half plain and add 1/2-1tsp of matcha powder to the other half. Knead until it’s a smooth green dough (if it becomes dry, add a tiny bit of water)
- Cut off 1/3 of the matcha dough, and 1/3 of the plain dough. Press them together and knead a few times to make a marbled effect
- Now you have a portion for plain, matcha, and marbled. Cut into small pieces and roll the dough into marble sized balls. If sticky, you can dust your hands with cornstarch. If the dough cracks, wet your hands to help smooth out the surface
BLACK SESAME FILLED TANG YUAN-
- Cut a bigger piece of the plain dough and gently press it flat
- Add a frozen ball of the sesame filling into the center and pinch the dough together to fully encase the filling
COOK-
- Gently add the Tang Yuan into some boiling water and let it cook on medium heat. Occasionally stir to avoid it getting stuck to the pot
- Once it begins to float, let it boil for another minute and turn off the heat
SERVE-
- Eat it as a soup: Add the cooked Tang Yuan to a bowl with some of the water it was cooked in and add 1-2tbsps of sugar for sweetness. Enjoy!
- Make it into Tang Bu Shuai 糖不甩 (a dry version of the dessert): Make a sugar mix with 1:1:1 ratio of black sesame seeds, peanuts, and white sugar. Blitz it in a food processor to make a powder. Add it to some drained Tang Yuan so it’s evenly coated. Enjoy!
STORAGE:
Once shaped, gently coat it in cornstarch to avoid it from sticking to each other. Place it on a piece of baking paper and pop it into the freezer. Once frozen you can transfer it into a ziplock bag and keep it in the freezer.
To cook it, do not thaw. Simply add it to some boiling water and cook as usual.
