Tang Yuan (Chinese Sweet Rice Dumplings)

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Happy year of the pig. We celebrated potluck style with family and some really great friends. The night was filled with good food, great conversations, and laughter. It was crazy loud (how could it not, with 7 kids in the house) and a bit chaotic but a good kind of chaos.

There are many delicious dishes traditionally served at a Chinese New Year feast. Each dish symbolizes the hopes for the new year. Noodles symbolize happiness and longevity. Fish and dumplings symbolize prosperity and wealth. For the best part of the meal (dessert), tang yuan symbolizes family togetherness.

Lesson learned from making Tang Yuan this year, buy glutinous rice flour well before the Chinese New Year celebrations begin. We went to the local Asian market the week before and all of the glutinous rice flour packages were gone. The entire shelf, empty. Fortunately we had a little bit left at home, just enough for a batch.

Tang Yuan or sweet glutinous rice dumplings are used to make a sweet dessert soup. They can be filled or left plain and served in a lightly sweetened syrup. They are smooth and chewy in texture and the ones we made are filled with a sweet sesame paste. The wonderful thing about the tang yuan is that you can fill them with other delicious flavors like peanut or red bean.

Since 2019 is the year of the pig (we’re piggies by the way, yay!), we wanted to surprise our friends with some piggy tang yuan.

The ingredients and the process of making the dough is extremely easy but filling the dumplings can be a bit tricky. The dough is smooth and pliable but feels a little like oobleck. The longer it stays in you hands, the stickier it gets and the harder it is to work with. With a little practice, it gets easier.

To make the piggies, follow the recipe below to make the dough and the filling. Portion out a ball of dough 1/2 inch diameter in size for the eyes. Use 2 drops of black food gel to color the dough. Color the remaining dough with pink food gel to your desired shade of pink. Reserve a ping pong ball sized pink dough to make the snout and ears.

Once you’ve filled the dumplings, roll out a small oval piece of pink dough and place it in the center of the dumpling. Use a toothpick to poke two holes for the nostrils. Then roll out two little balls of black dough and attach for the eyes. Finally, shape two small pink balls into triangles. Flatten and fold in half then attach them to the sides of the dumpling for ears.

Viola! Filling these dumplings was a bit of a challenge but we had fun and the piggies turned out adorable. For some added color, we made a rainbow of unfilled tang yuan (just roll the dough into little balls) to compliment the piggies.

Tang Yuan (Chinese Sweet Rice Dumplings)

These smooth and chewy dumplings are perfect to eat with family on a cold winter’s night.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 1 hr

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 1 hr 5 mins

Course Dessert

Servings 16 dumplings

Ingredients

  

For the Filling

• 1 cup Sesame powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening (melted) Use can use other forms of fat ie: butter or lard

For the dough

• 1 cup glutinous rice flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 16 2×2 squares parchment paper

Instructions

 

For the Filling

• In a bowl, combine 1 cup sesame powder, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup melted shortening together into a paste.

  2. Press sesame paste into 1/2 inch diameter balls. If the balls can’t hold their shape, add more melted shortening.

  3. Place in the refrigerator to chill.

To make the dumplings

• In a bowl, knead 1 cup glutinous rice flour and 1/2 cup water to form a smooth and slightly tacky dough. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour. If the dough cracks, add more water.

  2. Take the chilled filling out of the refrigerator.

  3. Divide dough into 16 ping pong ball sized portions. Roll them into balls.

  4. Placing your thumbs in the center of a dough ball, shape into a bowl. 

  5. Place a ball of filling into the center of the dough. Stretch the edge of the dough around the filling and pinch to close. 

  6. Gently roll the dumpling into a smooth ball. Place filled dumplings onto a piece of parchment paper.

  7. Boil enough water to submerge the dumplings completely.

  8. Carefully place each dumpling into boiling water and stir gently to prevent sticking to the pot and each other.

  9. When the dumplings start to float, let them cook for another minute. Ladle them into bowls and enjoy them while they’re hot.

Notes

1. It’s important to use glutinous rice flour. Do not substitute with sweet rice flour (ie: Mochiko). The texture comes out more dense and gummy.
2. Enjoy your tang yuan as is or serve them in a lightly sweetened syrup. We served ours in a syrup made of water and rock sugar. 
3. When your tang yuan are made, you can freeze them for later use or cook them immediately. When freezing, place the tang yuan on a cookie sheet. Once frozen, they can be stored in a plastic bag or air tight container.

Keyword lunar new year, sweet dumplings, tang yuan

We wish you all a prosperous and happy new year!