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
      • Children
      • Cakes and Bread
    • Sides
    • Soup
    • 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
  • Privacy Policy
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
The Myst Condo at Upper Bukit Timah
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

MyWokLife Popular Posts

  • 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...

  • 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...

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

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

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

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

  • Omelette with onion
    Omelette with Chopped Onion

    "Omelette - the best dish that complements your plain porridge meal" Onion...

  • Otak-Otak Recipe (乌打食谱)

    Post & Recipe in English and Chinese (中英食谱) "How about some homemade Ot...

  • Taiwanese Lu Rou Rice (台式卤肉饭)

    “Taiwanese Lu Rou Rice : Easy recipe of a popular Taiwanese dish which you...

  • Glutinous rice ball in sweet peanut soup
    ‘A-Balling’ Peanut Soup...

    "An iconic Singapore Hawker Dessert made at home" Not sure why this is call...

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

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

  • 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

One of my go-to dining places when I need a quiet One of my go-to dining places when I need a quiet and relaxing (with live piano performance) dinner on a week night if I am in KL. #colonialcafe at The Majestic Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. 

Serving not just the Western, but Hainanese cuisine. Loved their dinner rolls (but not the butter), too. 

Averagely RM150 per pax for a 2-course (shared appetizer and main course) and coffee/ chilled drink. 

#kualalumpur #majestichotel #autographcollectionhotel #malaysia #goodfood #noneeddressuptodinein
First visit to this popular food centre in PUDU, K First visit to this popular food centre in PUDU, KL, Malaysia, selling plenty of nostalgic KL food, etc, white laksa, hainam toast, hainam kopi, dim sum, wanton noodles, porridge, etc. Came for the famous yellow wine chicken bun which I wanted to try for a long time. It was good. :)

#马来西亚美食 #古早味 #吉隆坡美食 #半山巴美食 #海南咖啡真的很好喝 ☕️
#happymothersday to #womenalmighty ❤️ #happymothersday to #womenalmighty ❤️
Yes, I am in my mid 40, who lives well. ❤️ Ju Yes, I am in my mid 40, who lives well. ❤️

Just came across a random IG post this morning saying that “woman over 40, can never looked as young and as energetic as young girls no matter how well she took care of herself”…… In the first place, why should women over their 40s, to take care of themselves and their appearance, is to compare with young girls…. Why only women over 40 need to be taught by him (a guy at his 20s or so) that these women should and should not do certain things in their life…. Why only women over 40s….. Speechless. Period. #happymothersdaytoall 

#takecaretopleasemyself #agegracefully 
#energycomesfromheart #youngatheart 
#womenover40s #justlookgoodatyourage
#artofspeechisimportant #justventing
The 2 sets at $12 deal is one of my fav meals from The 2 sets at $12 deal is one of my fav meals from #coffeebeanandtealeaf 

#coffeebean #singaporefood #breakfast
Steamboat for dessert, not too sweet, it’s refre Steamboat for dessert, not too sweet, it’s refreshing 😋

#dessert #supper #bugis #janedeer #简鹿糖水铺 #甜品
One of the best #chickenrice 🍚 shops in #singap One of the best #chickenrice 🍚 shops in #singapore 🇸🇬
It’s not difficult to prepare a jar of #honey #l It’s not difficult to prepare a jar of #honey #lemon #water at home. It’s good to sooth throat, quench thirst, reduce heatiness, and replenish #vitaminc 🍋 Chill it before serving!

#wildflowerhoney #shophousebyshangrila
Which one will you pick as main? Huge super crispy Which one will you pick as main? Huge super crispy but light #天丼 or the elegant super tender but fatty #鰻丼 🍱🥢

Food was fresh and delicious. Also checked my #sashimi 🧐 for sure, no🪱😝🥶

#mikuni is located in the #fairmonthotel and so #accorplus member enjoys certain discounts. Just sharing.
Load More... Follow on Instagram

©2023 My Wok Life Cooking Blog