Ingredients
2 cups Glutinous Rice Flour
1 cup Water
2 drops Red Food Colouring
1 cup Black Sesame Powder
½ cup Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar)
1 tbsp Clarified butter
3 cups Water
1 thumb Ginger (thickly sliced or bruised)
4 tbsp Rock Sugar
2 Pandan Leaves (knotted)
Method
For Basic Tang Yuan
- Add water a little at a time to the flour to make a pliable dough that is not too wet. The tension should feel like the bottom of your ear lobe. Roll into balls of about 1″ in diameter. (Optional: Separate a portion of the dough, add the food colouring, knead and roll into balls.) Cover with a wet towel while not being used to prevent it from drying out.
- Prepare a large, preferably wide bowl or pot and fill with iced water or water at room temperature. Boil at least 3″ of water in a pot. Add each ball into the boiling water. Once a ball floats, scoop it out and transfer to the iced water to stop it from cooking and prevent sticking.
- Prepare the ginger syrup: Boil 4 cups of water in a pot. Add ginger, pandan leaves and rock sugar (adjust according to taste). Boil for about 5 minutes. Remove the ginger and pandan leaves.
- Serve ‘tang yuan’ balls in a bowl of ginger syrup.
For Black Sesame Tang Yuan
- Mix black sesame powder with clarified butter and gula melaka. Microwave for 30 seconds if the butter is not soft enough.
- Make the tang yuan dough in Step 1 of the Basic Tang Yuan recipe (above).
- Flatten a ball of dough into a circular shape. Spoon 1-2 teaspoons of stuffing and carefully wrap the dough around it.
- Continue with step 2 of the Basic Tang Yuan recipe.