Glutinous Sweet Rice Balls (Tang Yuan 桂花姜汁汤圆

• Baking & Spices

  • 1/8 tsp Food colouring
  • 250 g Rice flour, glutinous
  • 1 cup Sugar

• Liquids

  • 5 cup Water

• Other

  • 150 g Rams old ginger (peeled and lightly bruised
  • 1 tsp Sweet osmanthus ((optional
  • 2 Screw pine leaves (knotted

Found on huangkitchen.com

Description

Directions

• First peel the skin off the old ginger. Cut the ginger into thick pieces and lightly bruised them to release their aromatic flavour.
• Then, rinse screw pine leaves and tie into a knot. And were ready to boil the syrup.
• To cook the syrup, first, bring a pot of water to a boil.
• Add the crushed ginger and screw pine leaves into the water.
• Cover and continue to boil for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Then add sugar and sweet osmanthus and boil for another 5 minutes.
• Cover and lower heat to simmer and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, until all the sugar has dissolved and the syrup is fully infused with ginger and sweet osmanthus aroma.
• Then remove the crushed ginger and screw pine leaves from the ginger syrup. Set aside the syrup to cool while we prepare the glutinous rice balls.
• In a big bowl, add hot boiling water into glutinous rice flour to half cook the flour. The hot water will make the rice balls nice and chewy.
• Using a spoon or spatula, stir to mix well.
• Then, slowly add some cold water into the dough. Water should be added a little at a time, depending on the humidity of the flour.
• Knead the flour as you add the water to check on the consistency of the dough.
• Mix and knead till a smooth dough is formed.
• Divide the dough into smaller portions to make colourful glutinous rice balls.
• Using disposable stick or chopstick, first add red food colouring into one of the dough. Then, wearing plastic gloves, knead the dough until the colour is well distributed.
• Continue to do the same for the other dough portions using different colours leaving one part of dough without colour.
• Form each dough into long strips and using the palms of your hands, roll them into balls. It can be in different sizes.
• Place the glutinous rice balls onto a lightly floured plate to prevent sticking. Then, cover to prevent drying. And we can prepare to cook the balls!
• To cook the glutinous rice balls, first bring a pot of water to a boil. Make sure there is enough water to submerge the rice balls completely.
• Then add in the glutinous rice balls and cook for about 3 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the rice balls from sticking.
• The glutinous rice balls are cooked when they starts to float to the surface.
• Add 1 cup of cold water into the pot when the rice balls start to float. This is to ensure the glutinous rice balls are cooked thoroughly.
• Cover and continue to cook till the rice balls float to the surface again. And were done!
• Using a sieve, drain out the cooked glutinous rice balls from the pot.
• Place them into a large bowl of cold water for about one minute. This will prevent the glutinous rice balls from sticking to one another and make them more chewy.
• Then drain and transfer the glutinous rice balls into the ginger syrup prepared earlier. And were done!
• These colourful sweet glutinous rice balls can be served hot or cold. As always, Enjoy!