Rainbow Tang Yuan

Tang Yuan (汤圆) also know as Glutinous Rice Balls is a Chinese dessert. In Malaysia, we have sweet Tang Yuan and salted Tang Yuan. Tang Yuan also can be either small or large and filled or unfilled. They are traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival and Dongzhi Festival. The meaning of Tang Yuan is reunion (团圆), so it always serves during wedding days, etc. Tang Yuan always is my favorite Chinese dessert and I like to cook this during the reunion dinner parties. This is because Tang Yuan always can give us interesting texture and super tasty flavor.

In this recipe, I will cook 7 colours Tang Yuan by using natural ingredients, such as dragon fruits, carrots, pandan leaves, lime, natural purple potato powder, and Butterfly pea flower. Brown sugar ginger syrup is the best combination of the Tang Yuan. It also is my family all times favorite. I also like to add a few pieces of pandan leaves to increase the aromatic of the syrup.

Recipe Ingredients

The recipe calls for:

• Glutinous Rice Flour
• Dragon fruit
• Carrot
• Pandan Leaves
• Lime
• Natural Purple Potato Powder
• Butterfly Pea Flower
• Water
• Ginger
• Brown Sugar

How to make Natural 7 Colour Tang Yuan?

Extract the Colour Juice from the Natural Ingredients

• Blue Colour Juice: Remove the green part of the Butterfly pea flower. Wash it and put it in a bowl. Pour in 55 ml hot water. Stir it. Rest it for 1 minute. Filter it.
• Green Colour Juice: Cut the pandan leaves into small pieces (around 2 cm) and put them in the blender. Pour 55 ml room temperature water into the blender. Blend it. Filter it after blended.
• Red Colour Juice: Cut half of the dragon fruit into small pieces and put them in the blender. Pour 55 ml room temperature water into the blender. Blend it. Filter it after blended.
• Purple Colour Juice: Put 1 tbsp natural purple potato powder in the bowl. Pour in 55 ml hot water. Stir it.
• Purplish Pink Colour Juice: Put 1 tbsp natural purple potato powder in the bowl. Pour in 55 ml hot water. Stir it. Cut a lime and squeeze the lime juice into the bowl.
• Orange Colour Juice：Cut the carrot into small pieces and put them in the blender. Pour 55 ml room temperature water into the blender. Blend it. Filter it after blended.

Make the Dough

• This step is applicable to all colour dough.
• Pour 50-gram glutinous rice flour into the bowl and mixed it with water. Divide it into 7 pieces. Cook it. (This is used to combine with the raw dough later during assembling process)
• In a mixing bowl, pour the water or the juice into glutinous rice flour while stirring with hand.
• Add 1 piece of cooked dough with the raw dough.
• Knead with your hand until a smooth, soft dough forms.
• Divide and roll into small balls.

Cook Tang Yuan

• Prepare a large pot. Pour in 1.5 liter water. Put in the brown sugar, ginger and pandan leaves. Boil it.
• Bring another large pot of water to a boil. Gently slide in some Tang Yuan.
• Stir it gently to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
• When all the balls start to float on the surface, cook for a further minute.
• Put the cooked Tang Yuan in the cold water to lower its temperature.
• Put the Tang Yuan in the brown sugar ginger syrup. Serve immediately.

Tips of Perfect Dough

• The Tang Yuan is made of glutinous rice flour. It’s mixed with water (or juice for colour) to form a dough. This type of dough doesn’t stretch much, so it easy to crack. You may cover the dough by using the wet kitchen towel before you cook it and if it still cracks during the assembling process, you may put a tiny layer of water on the broken part, then rub gently to reseal.
• Add a small piece of cooked dough to the raw dough during the assembling process to enhance the texture of the Tang Yuan.