My Wok Life Cooking Blog

It’s about every food I’ve cooked with heart and loves

Menu
  • Home
  • Recipe
    • Main Dishes
    • 1-dish Meal
    • Sides
    • Soup
    • Cakes and Bread
    • Children
    • Drinks
    • Festive Gourmet
    • Fish & Shells
    • Low-Fat
    • Meat & Poultry
    • Rice & Noodles
    • Sauce & Condiments
    • Singapore Favourites
    • Dessert
    • Vegetables & Fruits
  • Food Reviews
    • Overseas & Holidays
    • Singapore
  • Nutrition & Diet
    • Boosting Body Immune System
    • Effective Products
    • Ways to Keep Fit
  • Special Features
    • Advertorial
  • Tips & Info
    • Kitchen Tools & Appliances
    • Measurements
    • Notes & Ingredients Value
    • Weekend Spot
  • Contact My Wok Life
Menu
Sweet potato and rice ball dessert

Glutinous Rice Balls (Tang Yuan) and Sweet Potatoes Dessert Soup (冬至送甜蜜)

Posted on December 21, 2009December 28, 2022 by PatriCa BB 雪冰
Sweet potato and rice ball dessert

“Happy Dongzhi, with hearty Tang Yuan, for a Treat of Sweetness”

Tomorrow is Tuesday (22nd Dec), it’s also the Chinese Dōngzhì Festival (冬至), or you called it in more proper English term as Winter Solstice Festival. This festival is important to most Chinese, as it represents the growth of another year of wisdom with bountiful harvest.

Last year, we made our own rice balls and cooked it into dessert soup dish for the festive. And this year, I am not going to make my own rice balls, but to get the readily types of rice balls in the market. In fact, these kinds of convenient packs are available to most major supermarkets in Singapore all-year-long. You can simply buy and cook it anytime you want. Well, this is the Chinese ritual to have rice balls (pronouced as: Tang Yuan, 汤圆) in Dongzhi Festival, not just celebarating the growth, but to also symbolise the reunion of family (团圆) and the round shaped rice balls refers to the hope of having a perfect result in anything we do (圆满).

I yearned for a difference in making this traditional festive food. There are already many different delicious ways of having the rice balls desserts done interestingly in the market. They are no longer just having the rice balls in ginger soup, but have it in peanut soup, in “Dou Hua” (sweet beancurd dessert), with grassjelly and even go with chocolate dippings! So, how can I not be a little more adventurous this time since I was on my ‘own time, own pace‘ basis (chuckling). As you know, I am a big fan of sweet potatoes, and in fact, I was having this soup the other night as my ‘dinner meal’. So, I created this sweetness treat and hoping to cook it again for this upcoming Dongzhi festive, if the combination works well!

Ingredients
12 – 15 balls of Tang Yuan aka Glutinous Rice Balls (汤圆), with choices of filling: black sesame, red bean, yam and mashed peanut. *My favourite: the mashed peanut filling.
2 medium-sized orange-flesh sweet potatoes, cut into bite size
8 seedless red dates (红枣)
2 tablespoons of tiny sago
1 lump of ginger (about thumb-sized big), lightly smashed
2 lumps of honeyed rock sugar or normal ones (each about half the palm-sized big)

1 pot of water, 50% filled (about 1500ml)

Dipping (Optional):
Ground peanut mixture (peanut, white sesame and sugar)

Method
1) Boil a pot of water over high heat. Place ginger into the boiling water. Add sweet potatoes into the pot and bring it to another boil.

2) Reduce heat to low fire. Add in ginger, red dates and sago. Simmer the soup till sweet potatoes are softened, for about 20 minutes.

3) Add in rock sugar and simmer for another 10 minutes. When rock sugar is completely dissolved, increase heat to medium-high fire to bring the soup to a boil.

4) Place frozen rice balls into the boiling broth. Then, reduce heat again to low fire and let simmer till all rice balls rise to the surface of the broth. Heat off and serve hot.

Well, you still can make your own homemade glutinous rice balls with sweetened ginger soup (see recipe), and cook it this way. Tell you something, there are also beliefs in Chinese culture that one has to take the amount of rice balls according to one’s age, simply means, if you are 30 years old, please take 30 balls (laughing)!! So… if you are making your own rice ball, make it tiny!

With the ingredients used in this recipe, you may actually cook this during Chinese New Year as one of the auspicious food items.

A bowl of my sweet dessert soup with 2 chunky peanut glutinous rice balls counts about 350kcal.

Tips: Do not thaw the readily-packed frozen glutinous rice balls before cook.

Tags: Kid-FriendlySoup-based
Category: DessertFestive GourmetRecipeSweet Savoury

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Calin Chong MyWokLife
About My WokLife
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

MyWokLife Popular Posts

  • Tell Me the 5 Reasons to Drink MILO...

    5 Reasons to Drink Milo Every Day : "Get the best start to your day with MI...

  • Stir fried baby kailan
    Stir-Fried Baby Kai Lan with Garlic...

    Stir-Fried Baby Kai Lan Stir-Fried Baby Kai Lan with Garlic (清炒小芥兰) : "Simp...

  • Glutinous rice balls dessert soup
    Homemade Tang Yuan in Ginger flavou...

    Homemade Tang Yuan in Ginger Soup or "Hand made Glutinous Rice Ba...

  • Luohan guo herbal tea
    Luo Han Guo Chinese Herbal Tea (罗汉果...

    "Fruit of Medicine, the natrual sweet fruit, for general well being, and so...

  • Peach Gum Dessert Soup (桃胶糖水)

    Peach Gum Dessert Soup not only making the soup look more beautiful, it’s d...

  • Ginger and spring onion pork stripes
    Ginger and Spring Onion Pork Dish (...

    "Delicious home-taste pork dish with smooth and tendering texture that you...

  • Easy Treasure Pot “Pen Cai” Recipe...

    Easy Treasure Pot Pen Cai Recipe 简易盆菜食谱 “Food Abundance. Fortune Abounds. I...

  • Huai Shan Soup
    Fresh Chinese Yam Root (Huai Shan)...

    Huai Shan Soup Recipe or Fresh Chinese Yam Root (Huai Shan) Soup with Corn...

  • Curry Chicken
    A1 Curry Chicken (Express Recipe)

    "Impress your guests with this quick and easy curry chicken and egg goodies...

  • Stir fried spinach with wolfberry
    Stir-fried Chinese Spinach with Goj...

    Stir-fried Chinese Spinach with Goji Berries (清炒枸杞子苋菜) "Healthy Stir-fried...

mywoklife

It was a great and fun experience to have a tea ce It was a great and fun experience to have a tea ceremony at a local house. Tea with #sweet 🍵 Always love #matcha #greentea #teaceremony #japan #airkitchen #chado #greatexperience #local #japaneseculture #wagashi 

先生のうちで #茶道 #習い事 #千船 #大阪 #着物 #たのしかった #楽しい #日本文化 #ぶんか
#wagashi in #japan especially in #ōsaka the kitch #wagashi in #japan especially in #ōsaka the kitchen of Japan. All their #dessert and #snack are just so #beautiful so #tasty 😍 #feastforeyes don’t need to eat them all, I am full…..

#和菓子 #生菓子 #梅田 #foodhall #sweets #umeda #ケーキ #甘い #いっぱい
The tomato #okonomiyaki #osaka style is really nic The tomato #okonomiyaki #osaka style is really nice! Very very nice, in fact. Just located at the Shin Ōsaka station. 

#トマト #お好み焼き #大阪 #新大阪 #関西 #たべもの #最高 #美味しい #日本 #食べ物 #delicious #supernice #musteat #musttry #japan #shinosaka
中谷堂の餅 The “heart” pounding performin 中谷堂の餅 The “heart” pounding performing of the mochi dough worth it all! The mugwort #mochi is super soft and Q….. 

#もち #よもぎ餅 #奈良 #mustsee #musteat
#matcha even the curry udon is match curry plus ma #matcha even the curry udon is match curry plus match udon, and it’s just a word to describe #oishii 😋😋

#matchatea #matchacake #matchaparfait #matchaudon #matchamochi #matchaicecream #matchacafe #eataroundtheworld #gion #祇園
Nissin Instant Cup Noodle Museum with DIY #cupnood Nissin Instant Cup Noodle Museum with DIY #cupnoodles #making and #design 🥳 It was #fun and #therapeutic 

#cupnoodlesmuseum #cupnoodlefactory #japan #ikeda #osaka #nissin #カップヌドール #面白い #おもしろい #日本 #にほん #ラーメン #作ること #作るの楽しい #池田 #momofukuando #百福安藤
金ゆ(湯)銀ゆ(湯)、ふゆ(冬)、ありま(す) 

In Chinese, read as 金”有” having golds, 銀”有 having silvers, “富有” wealthy、”在” 有(馬) existence。

It’s just so auspicious to me. 🥰

#arimaonsen #有馬温泉 #湯 #温泉 #日本の風景 #ミルク
Okonomiyaki, the Japanese stir fried soba cabbage Okonomiyaki, the Japanese stir fried soba cabbage egg pancake with your choice of seafood or meat toppings/ fillings. Hiroshima style. ~Lovely #お好みやき #広島 

Price range 890-1980yen. 

#musteat #hiroshima #okonomiyaki #soba #pancake #okomimura #shintenchi #お好みむら #新天地 #日本
When most of the momiji manjū (maple leaf cakes) When most of the momiji manjū (maple leaf cakes) are baked, this store specializes in deep fried version, the #揚げもみじ in Miyajima, Japan. 

#もみじ饅頭 #宮島 #おいしい #みやけ #foodaroundtheworld
Load More... Follow on Instagram

©2023 My Wok Life Cooking Blog