Heard of this nutritious dessert? Herbal and multi-coloured glutinous rice balls. Naturally sweet from the red dates and cozy with the herbal soup. Tong jyun/tang yuan don't usually have herbs stuck on them but look what I've done to them!
Glutinous rice balls also known as 'tong jyun' (cantonese)/'tang yuan' (mandarin) are round rice dumplings made with glutinous rice flour and water. Their round shapes symbolise being whole and feeling united with your family, so it's great to share these with them! They are usually eaten during Winter solstice, Chinese new year and ... actually you can eat it at any time of the year.
Herbs in the soup
For the soup, dried lily bulbs 百合, lotus seeds 蓮子 and longan 龍眼 were used. All of these combined together made the soup naturally sweet. What's amazing is that you get nutritious benefits from this red date rice ball dessert.
Dried lotus seeds 蓮子 can promote liver and skin health. They even contain chemicals that can kill cancer cells. For this recipe, I used white dried lotus seeds. These need to be soaked for an hour in room temperature water so be prepared!
Dried lily bulbs 百合 can help treat coughs, dry throats and aid in getting a good night's sleep. These need to be soaked for 30 minutes in room temperature water.
***Note, avoid boiling them for too long as they can disintegrate and lose their shapes.
Longan 龍眼 helps with insomnia, nourishes the blood and can control blood pressure. These need to be soaked for 10 minutes in room temperature water and not for longer.
***Note, if you soak them for longer, most of the sweetness will be released in to water and thus the sweetness will be lost!
Simmer the dried lily bulbs 百合, lotus seeds 蓮子 and longan 龍眼 on low heat for 30 minutes.
In the last 10 minutes of simmering the soup, add the red date rice balls. Once the red date rice balls begin to float on to the surface of the soup, continue to simmer them for 2 minutes.
Red dates 紅棗
Red dates aid with digestion, nourish the kidney and provide natural sweetness. Since the rice balls haven't got any filling, this red date rice ball will be sweet on its own. To prepare red dates, soak them in room temperature water for 30 minutes until they are softer.
Roughly chop up a soaked red date into pieces (not too tiny) and mix them with one plain coloured rice ball. It should look like the below:
***Carefully press the red date pieces only on the surface of the rice balls then roll into a ball. Try avoiding pushing the red dates to the very inside of each ball!
Glutinous rice flour comparison to other types of plain flour
Glutinous rice flour gives a dough a chewier and stickier texture. It does well for dessert and it has a smooth texture. I used this Thai glutinous rice flour which worked equally well! Any glutinous rice flour will do for this recipe.
Key notes
*Keep the dough damp when not rolling into balls as it can dry up and crack. Cover with damp cloth or cling film.
*Ratio of water to flour and powders may vary, so depending on your environment you might have to add more flour or water at times. Also remember to add water into flour little by little.
*Storage: if not cooking rice balls straight away, you can store in the freezer and keep up to 3 months.
Video version linked below:
Total time: 1 hour 30 mins
This makes 4 red date rice balls
Ingredients:
4g dried lily bulbs 百合
3 lotus seeds 蓮子
3 dried longan 龍眼
4 red dates 紅棗
4 tbsp cup glutinous rice flour
2 tbsp warm water
Method:
Soak lotus seeds for 1 hour, dried lily bulbs for 30 minutes and dried longan for 10 minutes in room temperature water. Once soaked, bring 1 litre of water to boil. Add in the soaked herbs and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
Soak red dates in room temperature water for 30 minutes or overnight in the fridge in an airtight container. Once soaked, chop into pieces.
Place glutinous rice flour in a bowl. Tablespoon by tablespoon, mix in the warm water with the rice flour and keep combining until it's able to form a smooth dough. You may need to add less or more flour/water to achieve the right consistency so always add little by little.
Form 4 equal-sized balls from each flavour by rolling the dough with the palm of your hands. Carefully press the chopped red date pieces on to the surfaces of the rice balls to blend into their round shapes.
In the last 10 minutes of simmering the soup with the herbs, add the red date rice balls. Once the red date rice balls begin to float on to the surface of the soup, continue to simmer them for 2 minutes.
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