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.
It's a common dessert you can find in Hong Kong where dessert shops include black sesame, peanut or red bean fillings inside the rice balls with sweet potato and in ginger syrup soup. There are many variations on serving these rice balls and I recommend that you explore different variations in different shops!
In my recipe, I've made a twist. Many recipes use food colourings to colour the rice balls but in my version, I've used 100% natural cranberry powder from 'Grape Tree' for the pink rice balls and matcha powder for the green ones. I also chopped up a Chinese red date in to pieces and combined them with the plain coloured balls to make them into a 'red date rice ball'. They were served with sweet potato cubes in ginger syrup soup.
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.
Matcha for green rice balls
To skip green food colouring, incorporate some matcha powder in to the rice balls. The matcha can make rice balls a bit bitter due to its natural flavour so I'd suggest having them beside sweet potato cubes in ginger syrup soup
Matcha powder has been proven to contain anti-oxidants such as catechins and can promote heart health. You may know that matcha powder is used in matcha lattes, matcha cakes, matcha cookies etc. So this ingredient is very useful!
For a fully themed matcha rice ball dessert, I've link the matcha rice balls in red bean soup dessert below:
Cranberry powder for pink rice balls
As this cranberry powder is 100% made out of cranberries, I assume the cranberries were freeze-dried then blitzed up until it formed a powder, you think? Because it's 100% cranberries, it does bring its natural sour taste to the rice balls so best to eat them beside something sweet. Hence the ginger syrup soup and sweet potato cubes!
I bought this from 'Grape Tree' and I've linked them below in case you were interested in using this product. You may also use cranberry powder for smoothies so this product is useful for many other recipes.
For alternatives to pink coloured rice balls, I will suggest pomegranate juice. If you do use pomegranate juice, I suggest the following measurements:
1/4 cup rice flour + 2 tbsp hot water + 1 tbsp fresh pomegranate juice = 4 pink rice balls
Marks & Spencer's British edible flowers have a variation of colours so you have a lot of freedom for choosing the colour you like.
Red date rice balls
For a fully themed red date rice ball in herbal soup, click this link:
This alternative recipe brings you more into Chinese herbs and talks more about the nutritious benefits each herb can provide for your body.
Sweet potato
I think this makes a great addition as I always come across it being served with tong jyun in Hong Kong. It gives a great contrast in texture beside the rice balls and is naturally sweet as well.
Ginger syrup soup
I used Le Creuset's pestle and mortar first to pound the ginger as I wanted the ginger to soften before boiling them into the soup. Adding ginger into the soup will make you warmer and is especially more cozy during winter because of the cold weather.
Ginger also helps relieve headaches, stomachaches and nausea as well!
I once had some rice balls ginger soup in Hong Kong that was so spicy! Using a lot of ginger can actually make the soup spicy itself so if you'd like to skip on that, add less ginger to the soup.
The use of brown sugar in the soup gave a golden caramel colour which made the rice balls stand out. White sugar will work too if you haven't got some.
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 below:
Total time: 30 mins
Each flavour makes 4 balls
Classic coloured balls
4 tbsp cup tbsp glutinous rice flour
2 tbsp warm water
Matcha rice balls
4 tbsp cup glutinous rice flour
1 tsp matcha powder
1 tsp sugar
5 tbsp warm water
Cranberry rice balls
4 tbsp cup glutinous rice flour
2 tsp cranberry powder
4 1/2 tbsp warm water
Soup:
150g sweet potato (cubed)
21g ginger (2 slices)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
Method:
Pound the ginger in a pestle and mortar. Skip if no access to pestle and mortar.
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. For the matcha and cranberry rice balls, mix 2 separate rice flour with one mixed with matcha powder and the other with cranberry powder.
Form 4 equal-sized balls from each flavour by rolling the dough with the palm of your hands.
Cover the balls with a damp cloth/cling film to keep them from drying out.
Fill 1/2 of a pot with water and boil. Once the water starts to boil, add in ginger, dark brown sugar and sweet potato. Boil for 10 minutes then the ginger syrup soup is completed.
Fill 1/2 of a separate pot with water and boil. Add in the glutinous rice balls. Once the balls start to float on to the surface, continue to boil them for another minute. They are ready!
Serve the rice balls with the sweet potato cubes in ginger syrup soup. Keep the flavours in separate bowls.
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