Food Recipe- 'Tang Yuan' (Glutinous rice balls served in sweet soup)

The food industry has evolved massively over the years, modern food has introduced to us genetically modified fruits and meats, artificial sweetener and preservation just to name a few. It is undeniable that we live in a fast paced world where everyone is obsessed with convenience, everyone wants fast service and fast food. In this rapid world where there is a huge demand for fast food, it has contributed to the massive increase in the supply of fast food restaurants. Everything is changing and happening so quickly, if we don’t stop and ‘smell the rose once a while’, we might miss out on the most important things in life - authentic food.

Hence, an investigation was conducted to study how a traditional food has evolved over time. ‘Tang Yuan’ was chosen because the dish has a history of over 1000 years and the dish was passed down from generation to generation.

'Tang Yuan’ is  a Chinese desert made from glutinous rice flour, served in ginger syrup. The history of ‘Tang Yuan’ dates back to the Song Dynasty during the 9^th century (Chinancient,2014). The name then was called ‘Yuan Xiao’ that derived from ‘Yuan Xiao’ festival also known as the Lantern Festival. ‘Yuan Xiao’ literally means first full moon after Chinese New Year. In the 19^th century, during the Yuan ShiKai rule, Yuan disliked the name ‘Yuan Xiao’ because it sounded like ‘remove Yuan’, and so renamed ‘Yuan Xiao’ into ‘ Tang Yuan’ which literary means ‘round balls in soup’. The round shape of ‘Tang Yuan’ together with the round bowl being served symbolizes family togetherness. Today, ‘Tang Yuan’ tradition is still alive in many Chinese families. Family members would get together and savour ‘Tang Yuan’ as a complete family unit like a full circle, as what the ‘Tang Yuan’ represents (Gourmet Garden, 2008). Over the years, ‘Tang Yuan’ has evolved from the way it is made to how it is served.

An interview was conducted with Ms Mary Lim Peck See, a housewife, on how she prepared ‘Tang Yuan’ for more than 20 years. She said that the recipe was passed down from her mother to her family. She also said that there is an old saying that the number of ‘Tang Yuan’ a person eats depends on the person's age, if a person is 20 years old then he/she is entitled to 20 balls of ‘Tang Yuan’, however they do not practice this tradition anymore. She said that her family savors ‘Tang Yuan’ once a year during the Winter Solstice festival.

We also interviewed Jeffrey Lew Chun Chuen to get an insight of 'Tang Yuan'. Ms Mary Lim Peck See does not want her photo to be featured in our blog.

The recipe and preparation method for ‘Tang Yuan' given by Miss Mary Lim Peck See is as below:

Glutinous rice ball Ingredients: (For 7 people or more)

- 500g of Glutinous rice flour

- 35 teaspoons of warm water

- Food colouring

 

500g Glutinous rice flour

Food colouring (any colour of your choice)

Ginger Syrup ingredients:

- A pot of water

- Ginger

- 3-4 Pandan leaves(screwpine leaves)

- 90g of rock sugar ( depending how sweet you want it)

 

 Ginger

 

Pandan leaves (screwpine leaves) 

 

Rock Sugar

Cooking steps for Ginger Syrup:
Since preparing the syrup takes a longer time, it is best to start off with it first. 

1) Wash, peel and slice the ginger as shown above. 

(There is no precise measurements for the amount of ginger to use. If you prefer the soup to be strong with flavour, then add more to your liking.)

 

2) Wash the pandan leaves (screwpine leaves) thoroughly.

       3) Tie the pandan leaves (screwpine leaves) into knots so that it is easier to submerge it into the pot of water. Then add the sliced ginger and rock sugar into the pot as well and let it boil.

  4) Boil the mixture till it is yellowish in colour. If you want the soup to be strong with ginger flavour, then let it boil for a longer time. If you prefer it to be mild, then turn off the fire and let the soup cool down.

Typically, while the soup is boiling, we would prepare the rice balls, and the steps to making them is as below:

Preparing and cooking steps for rice balls:

1) Ration the amount of flour accordingly. Since we had three people preparing the glutinous balls, we ration them three ways on a plate. (You can ration them however you wish).

2) To form the dough, add water to the flour gradually, and then knead it with your hand.

3) During the stage of kneading the dough, you can add any colouring to your liking. Make sure that the colouring is mixed properly into the dough.

4) You can also choose not to add colouring into the glutinous balls. So keep kneading till you get a smooth and soft consistency in the dough, and it is not sticky. 

5) Once you have gotten the consistency of the dough, pinch a small piece from it and start rolling it into small balls on your palms.
The glutinous balls should look as shown above. Don't worry if you can't get the consistency of the size.

   6) The end product of preparing the uncooked glutinous balls.

7) Once done preparing the glutinous balls, boil another pot of water with a few pandan leaves (screwpine leaves). Once it is boiling, add in the rice balls.

8) When the rice balls float it means that it is cooked. Use a sieve to scoop out the cooked rice balls.

9) Then submerge the cooked rice balls into a pot or bowl of cold water so that they do not stick together.

10) Once cooled down for about a minute or so, you can scoop it into small bowls, ready to be served with the soup.

By the time you are done cooking the glutinous balls, the soup would have been ready by then.

Last step; serving it:

 

1) Add the ginger syrup into the rice balls and it is ready to be served

2) The final product

If we compare a homemade 'Tang Yuan' recipe to an online recipe, we can see slight difference. One of the difference between Ms Mary Lim's family recipe and rasamalaysia.com is that rasamalaysia.com uses white sugar instead of rock sugar. One reason for this change is because rock sugar requires a longer time to dissolve, so people would pick using normal white sugar as it dissolves faster. However, rock sugar is healthier than white sugar.

According to Ms Mary Lim, the preparation of 'Tang Yuan' has also changed over the time. During her grandparents' time, they would extract colourings naturally. Green colouring was extracted from pandan leaves (screwpine leaves), while blue colouring was extracted from Clitoria flowers, and yellow colouring was extracted from pumpkins, these not only colours the rice balls, it also adds flavourings to them. Today, artificial coloring is added instead because it is much more easier and convenient. Ms Mary Lim also stated that it is not recommended to consume the 'Tang Yuan' during breakfast as it is not good for the digestive system. 

(MintyKitchen, 2012)

Traditionally, 'Tang Yuan' is prepared with no fillings, but today the rice balls are filled with many different food inside to cater to different consumers taste. According to rasamalaysia.com and other recipe websites, the rice balls can be filled with black sesame, chocolates, peanut butter and meat just to name a few, as shown above. This changed the food heritage of 'Tang Yuan'.  Furthermore, the  traditionally ginger syrup has evolved into many varieties of flavour. Instead of ginger syrup, some restaurants or home recipes now serve it in sugar cane soup or in savoury soups such as chicken or pork broth. The food industry is a very competitive market due to the escalating number of restaurants and this leads to many new ideas and creativity to stand out among restaurant businesses.

In terms of geographic location, 'Tang Yuan' in China is consumed all year round and mostly during  the Lantern Festival, Chap Goh Meh( Last day of Chinese New Year), and Winter Solstice Festival. However, in Malaysia, 'Tang Yuan' is only consumed during Winter Solstice festival.

 (Sharonmoh, 2011)

Besides that, supermarkets today sell pre-made frozen glutinous balls for 'Tang Yuan'. Although it brings lots of convenience to consumers and allow consumers to savour the food anytime, but this affected the sole purpose of this food heritage, that is to bring family members together by making the rice balls.

'Tang Yuan' heritage has changed a lot since it was first introduced ranging from its purpose to how it is served. Today, 'Tang Yuan' can easily be bought and made very conveniently. One main reason for  change in this food heritage is because people are getting busier due to time constraint and often find the fastest way to create something. In the early years, most of the housewives stay at home to take care of the house and children, giving them time to prepare 'Tang Yuan' the traditional way. In this era, most of the parents are working and this caused them to have limited time to prepare this food.

Thus, it creates a demand for processed 'Tang Yuan' . Furthermore, the increased in Malaysian households income also caused 'Tang Yuan' heritage to change, as households now can afford to purchase ready-made rice balls rather than spending time preparing the rice balls (Freemalaysiatoday, 2012). However, it has affected the most important part of the food, that is the preparation of the food which is to bring family members closer.

 

References

Chinancient (2014) Tang Yuan. Available from:

http://www.chinancient.com/tang-yuan/ [Accessed 11 June 2014]

Freemalaysiatoday (2012) Malaysian household income has increased. Available from:

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/10/02/msian-household-income-has-inreased/ [Accessed 11 June 2014]

Gourmet Garden (2008) Tang Yuan. Available from:

http://www.gourmetgarden.com.my/2008/12/20/tangyuan-a-meaningful-winter-tradition-of-dong-zhi/ [Accessed 11 June 2014] 

Lim, M. (2014). Interview on 'Tang Yuan' [interview] Bernie Ho, Hou Hung Yen, Sania Haroon,

Chang Kiat Seong, Idris, Choong Kit Voon and Lew Chun Chuen. PJS7, Sunway. 11 June 2014

Lew, J. (2014). Interview on 'Tang Yuan' [interview] Bernie Ho, Hou Hung Yen, Sania Haroon,

Chang Kiat Seong, Idris and Choong Kit Voon. PJS7, Sunway. 11 June 2014

MintyKitchen (2012) Black Sesame Glutinous Rice. Available from:

http://mintyskitchen.blogspot.com/2012/04/black-sesame-glutinous-rice-balls.html

[Accessed 11 June 2014]

Sharonmoh (2011) Best Way to eat Tang Yuan. Available from:

http://sharonmoh.com/2011/03/best-way-to-eat-tang-yuan-glutinous-rice-balls/

[Accessed 11 June 2014]