Tang Yuan with Longan and Red Dates

Tang Yuan a.k.a 汤圆 is always my favourite dessert that cannot be missed during the Dong Zhi festive or Chap Goh Mei (the last day of Chinese New Year) festive. With a chewy texture and tasty soup paste, Tang yuan is one of my family favourite Chinese desserts all year-round.

Previously, I did share the Rainbow Tang Yuan recipe pair with the brown sugar ginger syrup. Today, I will share another recipe of Tang yuan paired with the different syrup. This syrup includes the following ingredients: brown sugar, dried longan, red dates and white lotus seed.

Unlike the previous Tang Yuan recipe with seven colours Tang Yuan, I only prepared two colours for the Tang Yuan which are white and red. The white colour is the original version made with glutinous rice and water, while the red one is made using natural beetroot powder with water.

In Hakka culture, Tang yuen is very important during Dong Zhi festive. The traditional Hakka Tang yuen is normally served without any filling. The two traditional colours in Hakka Tang Yuen tradition are white and red; Red symbolizes a happy marriage and better popularity and White symbolizes luck and long life.

Recipe Ingredients

The recipe calls for:

• 160 gram Glutinous Rice Flour – main ingredients in this recipe.
• 1 tbsp Natural Beetroot Powder – colour for the red tang yuan.
• 30 gram Dried Longan – ingredient for the syrup. Dried longan helps to promote heart health and nourish the blood. It also helps to improve and regulate insomnia, work fatigue and forgetfulness.
• 30 gram White Lotus Seed – ingredient for the syrup. Lotus seed has high amount of vitamins including vitamin A, B, C and E. Also, it also contains a good amount of carbohydrates and protein.
• 7 Red Dates – ingredient for the syrup. Dried red dates have sweet and apple-like flavor which can be added into the soup for natural sweetness. Red dates is a superfood which can improve our digestion and relax our mind.
• 130 gram Brown/Cane Sugar – main ingredients for the syrup. You need to ‘fry’ the sugar. This improves the aromatic of the syrup. Remember to stay beside the stove for the entire process, because you need to cook the sugar at a constant temperature and be ready to act in order to prevent the sugar from burning.

How to Cook the Tang Yuan with Longan and Red Dates?

Make the Dough

1. This step is applicable to both colour dough.
2. Pour 20-gram glutinous rice flour into the bowl and mix it with water. Divide it into 2 pieces. Cook it. (This cooked dough will be used to combine with raw dough during assembling process later)

3. In a mixing bowl, pour the water or the juice into the rest of the glutinous rice flour while stirring with hand.
4. Add one piece of cooked dough into the raw dough.

5. Knead with your hand until a smooth, soft dough forms.
6. Divide and roll them into small balls.

REMEMBER: You will need around 1g glutinous rice flour to 1ml of water ratio in the mixing process, you may add or reduce the water based on the dryness of the dough in the mixing process.

Cook Tang Yuan

1. Prepare a large pot. Put in the brown/cane sugar and fry it.

2. Fry it until the sugar is caramelized.

3. Pour 1.5 liter of water to the pot and bring it to a boil.

4. Put in the syrup ingredients: dried longan, red dates, and white lotus seed. Bring it to a boil and simmer it at medium heat for 20 minutes.

5. Bring another large pot of water to a boil. Gently slide in some Tang Yuan.

6. Stir it gently form time to time in order to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
7. When all the balls float on the surface, cook for a further minute.

8. Put the cooked Tang Yuan in the cold water to lower its temperature.

9. Put the Tang Yuan in the syrup prepared early. Serve immediately. You may serve it cool if you like.

Tips of Perfect Dough

• The Tang Yuan is made of glutinous rice flour. It is mixed with water (or juice for colour) to form a dough. This type of dough tends to crack easily when it is dry. You may cover the dough using wet kitchen towel before you cook it and if it still cracks during the assembling process, you may add a little bit of water on the broken part, then rub gently to reseal it.
• Add a small piece of cooked dough to the raw dough during the assembling process to enhance the texture of the Tang Yuan.