Piggy Glutinous Rice Balls in Ginger Soup (Tang Yuan)
Growing up, my aunt would always gather the family to come together to shape these glutinous rice balls (also known as tang yuan) during festives such as Winter Solstice and Chinese New Year. As a kid I have never truly understood the significance of it other than an opportunity to get hands-on for some fun until I was much older. Looking back, it was always a time for family bonding. Tangyuan, with its round shape and stickiness, carries a symbolic meaning of family togetherness.
Passing this family tradition down to the kids and hopefully they will always come together in the future years to do this as a family! We made piggy-shaped ones because it is still the Year of the Pig and also because its so darn cute!
Once you create the dough, separate it into 2 portions. To make piggies, we need white and pink. Add in red plant-based food colouring to one portion of the dough and knead well. Go gentle on the colours as it tends to darken after cooking. (See full recipe below)
Use a chopsticks to give the piggies their snouts. This has to be the favourite part for kids to get hands-on.
Dab some water to get the parts to stick. You will also notice that the dough dries out pretty quickly as you work with it longer, the trick is to add in some water to give it another knead so that it remains easy to shape.
Proud of her creation!
The kids’ job to give the piggies their sesame eyes.
IDrop the piggy balls into boiling water (in a separate pot) to cook it through before adding it to the ginger soup. You know it’s cooked when they float up to the surface.
Scoop it up and add it into the ginger soup.
The ginger soup is really quick to make. Simply de-skin the ginger and pound it to release its flavour using the pestle and mortar, add in water, red dates and brown rock sugar to boil before adding in the cooked piggy balls.
Serve!
Look how cute! Notice how that the shade of pink turns darker after cooking? So go easy when you are mixing colouring to the dough before.
I prefer my glutinous rice piggies plain to go with the ginger soup, but you can always add fillings such as the traditional peanut, sesame or red bean paste.
Have fun with it!
Recipe
For the Piggy Balls:
250g Glutinous rice flour
1 cup water
2-3 drops of red plant-based food colouring (You may also use the juice of a red dragonfruit or beetroot)
Black sesame seeds
For the Ginger & Red Date Soup:
1 large ginger
10-15 red dates, pitted
Rock sugar (added to your preferred sweetness liking)
To make the dough:
Add water slowly to glutinous rice flour. Use hands to knead into a soft workable dough. You want it to be moist and not overly sticky.
This dough is not stretchy so if cracks do appear during shaping process, simply wet the broken part with a tiny layer of water, then rub gently to reseal.
Separate dough into 2 portions. Add 2-3 drops of red food colouring to one portion, knead well to achieve a nice light pink
After shaping the piggies, cook it through boiling water. When it floats to the surface, scoop it up and add to the ginger soup.
To make the soup:
De-skin ginger, slice to pieces and pound it using the pestle & mortar to release the flavours.
Bring 1L of water to boil, add in ginger, red dates and brown sugar.