Glutinous Rice Balls or Tangyuan

"Falling on the 15th day of the first lunar month, Lantern Festival is the first significant feast after Spring Festival, so called because the most important activity during the night of the event is watching various wonderful Chinese lanterns. And because every household eats yuanxiao / tangyuan (a rice ball stuffed with different fillings) on that day, it is called Yuan Xiao Festival. For its rich and colorful activities, it is regarded as the most recreational among all the Chinese festivals and a day for appreciating the bright full moon, and family reunion." - Source

I was FORCED to make Tangyuan last February 24. My parents told me they paid my tuition fee at ISCAHM so I have to show them what I have learned. What I did was I got packages of Glutinous Rice Balls from Walmart, followed the instruction on how to cook them and added a couple of more ingredients to make it extra special. Easy as one two three! :D

You will need the following:

FROZEN OR FRESH GLUTINOUS RICE BALLS

FRESH GINGER ( You will need probably half of this but you can add more or lessen it depending on how strong the ginger taste you want your soup broth to be. )

ROCK SUGAR ( I used about 1/4 cup. )

4 CUPS OF WATER

* If you can get PANDAN LEAVES, feel free to add it in the pot.

The 1-2-3 cooking steps:

Step 1 Combine the peeled-sliced-crushed ginger, rock sugar and water in a pot. Let it boil for 15 minutes.

Step 2 Drop in all the Glutinous Rice Balls and wait for them to float to the surface. That is how you can tell if they are ready.

Step 3 Enjoy it. ( The broth is suppose to be clear in color but some of the Glutinous Rice Balls broke while being cooked. )

Have A Lovely Day!