Verdict: Win
I stopped by Asia Market last week and was pleasantly surprised that a pound of glutinous rice flour only cost a buck, so I picked up 2 1-lb bags with the intent of making sesame balls, tang yuan, mochi, or nian gao.
DY and I made tang yuan tonight just because it was so easy and fast, and we needed something sweet post-dinner. He filled his up with store-bought red bean pasta, whereas I ate mine plain in a homemade ginger-brown sugar syrup. They had a little bit of an adverse rice dough smell/taste, so next time I'm going to use sugar water (with a lot of sugar) instead of plain water, as well as fill more of them with red bean paste. The recipe still did the job and it was rather nostalgic.
***Update 1/29
I stored my leftovers in a container with the syrup, and it looks like not only did the tang yuan double in size after absorbing the syrup, but they also lost that odd dough smell/taste after reheating them in the microwave. Yum!
Tang Yuan from Nyonya Food
Yield: about 30 riceballs
INGREDIENTS
For the syrup:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup water
4 oz ginger, peeled
For the rice balls:
2 cups glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp white sugar
7 oz water
food coloring (optional)
red bean paste (optional)
DIRECTIONS
To prepare syrup, boil water in a pot. Add the ginger and let it boil on medium heat for 15 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 forms a soft dough and no longer sticks to your hands. If adding food coloring, divide into 3-4 portions and add 2-3 drops of coloring to each portion.
Divide into small balls and lightly shape into balls using both palms. If adding a filling, flatten each ball in your palm, then add filling. Fold the edge to seal and gently roll it into a ball shape using both palms.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and drop the rice balls into the water. Boil until rice balls float to the surface, then transfter to the ginger-syrup water and serve.
I stopped by Asia Market last week and was pleasantly surprised that a pound of glutinous rice flour only cost a buck, so I picked up 2 1-lb bags with the intent of making sesame balls, tang yuan, mochi, or nian gao.
DY and I made tang yuan tonight just because it was so easy and fast, and we needed something sweet post-dinner. He filled his up with store-bought red bean pasta, whereas I ate mine plain in a homemade ginger-brown sugar syrup. They had a little bit of an adverse rice dough smell/taste, so next time I'm going to use sugar water (with a lot of sugar) instead of plain water, as well as fill more of them with red bean paste. The recipe still did the job and it was rather nostalgic.
***Update 1/29
I stored my leftovers in a container with the syrup, and it looks like not only did the tang yuan double in size after absorbing the syrup, but they also lost that odd dough smell/taste after reheating them in the microwave. Yum!
Tang Yuan from Nyonya Food
Yield: about 30 riceballs
INGREDIENTS
For the syrup:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup water
4 oz ginger, peeled
For the rice balls:
2 cups glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp white sugar
7 oz water
food coloring (optional)
red bean paste (optional)
DIRECTIONS
To prepare syrup, boil water in a pot. Add the ginger and let it boil on medium heat for 15 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 forms a soft dough and no longer sticks to your hands. If adding food coloring, divide into 3-4 portions and add 2-3 drops of coloring to each portion.
Divide into small balls and lightly shape into balls using both palms. If adding a filling, flatten each ball in your palm, then add filling. Fold the edge to seal and gently roll it into a ball shape using both palms.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and drop the rice balls into the water. Boil until rice balls float to the surface, then transfter to the ginger-syrup water and serve.