Kam Wai's Tang Yuan 湯圓 recipe + Tea and Paint for last day of Lunar New Year!
元宵節 Yuan Xiao Jie is just around the corner
The last day of Lunar New Year is this Saturday, Feb 24! It’s also known as 元宵節 (Yuan Xiao Jie) or Lantern Festival where everyone eats tang yuan 湯圓 (sweet dumplings) and admire lanterns.
While we don’t have a tang yuan workshop this time, we know some of you have been patiently waiting for Kam Wai’s tang yuan recipe from the winter solstice workshop, and we finally have it in full below! You can get all the ingredients from any herbal shop or grocery store in Chinatown.
Making and admiring lanterns is also another tradition of 元宵節. To celebrate, we’re hosting a free Tea and Paint Lantern workshop with @lucky.munyi this Saturday, Feb 24 from 1-3pm at the Chinatown Plaza Mall. You’ll learn how to paint lanterns and florals, and there will be snacks and a tea ceremony demonstration.
Tea and Paint is one of our most popular workshops for all ages, so don’t miss it! (FYI - The waitlist may be turned on for the RSVP, but you can just come on down to the event anyway, there’s no capacity limit!)
Pssst…there’s an early bird deal at Floata where you can get 2 dim sum and a big bowl of congee for $20 before 11am. So have brunch at Floata and head downstairs afterwards for painting, tea, snacks and a good time!
After tea and paint, catch the Big Fight in Little Chinatown screening and panel at the VIFF Theatre for $7! Tickets here.
Kam Wai’s Tang Yuan 湯圓 Recipe
Shopping List (You can give this to any herbal shop or grocery store in Chinatown and they should most of the ingredients!)
Glutinous Rice Flour 糯米粉
Brown Cane Sugar (片糖)
Red Bean Paste or Lotus Seed Paste or Black Sesame Paste
Dry Chrysanthemum Flower
Fresh Ginger
Granulated Sugar
Canola Oil
Ingredients for Tang Yuan 湯圓
2 cups of Glutinous Rice Flour (糯米粉)*will need more to prevent sticking on surface
1/2 cup Boiled Water (must be at least 80C when using)
1/2 cup Boiled Water (room temperature)
2oz Canola Oil
2oz Granulated Sugar
1/2lb of Red Bean Paste or Lotus Seed Paste or Black Sesame Paste
Ingredients for Tang Yuan sweet broth
3pcs of Brown Cane Sugar (片糖) *can add more pieces of sugar to taste*
50g Dry Chrysanthemum Flower
80g Sliced Ginger
8-10 cups of Water *to taste*
Directions for sweet broth
Throw all sweet broth ingredients in the pot and bring to boil and once it's at a boil, bring down to a low simmer for 20 mins.
Directions for Tang Yuan
Step 1:
Place Glutinous Rice Flour in a mixing bowl and start to add hot water slowly while mixing the dough with chopsticks. Keep mixing until all the water has been absorbed into the flour.
Step 2:
After you have mixed in the hot water, pour the Canola Oil(reserve a tiny bit of oil) and Granulated Sugar into the dough and start mixing it in until the oil and s
Step 3:
After the oil and sugar have been mixed in, continue to mix the dough and slowly pour more warm water in until a ball is formed. You may not need all the water on hand.
Step 4:
Once your dough has formed into a ball, continue working the dough until the surface is smooth, then pour a tiny bit of oil on top of the ball and let it rest in the bowl with a damp towel covering it for 30 mins.
Step 5:
Prepare your sweet broth! Just put the water into a pot and throw all the ingredients into the water and wait for it to boil. Once it begins to boil, bring it down to a simmer. Once it has simmered for at least 20 mins, turn it down to the lowest setting. You can start on Step 6 while the pot is simmering! If you have a cheesecloth or a herb satchel to put the ginger and chrysanthemum flower into, that would be best!
Step 6:
Once your dough has rested, you can divide the dough into 8 segments. Take 1 segment of the dough and work it with a little dusting of glutinous rice flour on the working table, and roll it out into a long log about 3/4 inch in diameter. Cover the rest of the segments with a damp cloth.
Step 7:
Grab a digital kitchen scale, pinch off pieces of the log and weigh them out to 10g per piece. Set them aside and cover with a cloth or towel.
Step 8:
Take your filling and cut it in half. Take one half and work the filling until it is smooth and pliable. Once it's pliable, cut it in half and roll it out into a long log about 1/2 inch in diameter and weigh out 5g pieces of your filling.
Step 9:
Once you have the weighed out pieces of dough and filling in front of you, you can begin forming the Tang Yuan. Take a piece of dough and roll it into a sphere between the palm of your hands. Once that is done, place the dough in the palm of your non-dominant hand and press the dough down with your dominant thumb.
Step 10:
Once the dough is flat, grab the filling and put in the middle of the dough. Then begin to gather the sides of the dumpling and start pinching the dough upward until you get a full closure of the dumpling and can't see any filling at all. Roll the dumpling in the palm of your hands until you get a beautiful round 湯圓!
Step 11:
Bring a pot of water to a gentle boil and gently drop your dumplings into the water. Make sure you stir the water every 30 seconds to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Once your dumplings float, turn off the heat and let them float for another 2 minutes. If you are cooking them from frozen, the process doesn't change, it just takes a little longer for the dumplings to float up!
Step 12:
Put it all together into a beautiful bowl. Place a few dumplings into the bowl, and gently ladle the broth over the 湯圓. You can garnish with some goji berries if you have some lying around, or you can put some chrysanthemum flowers, but they can be a bit bitter if you eat them.