Every year around mid to end of December, many East Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Japanese, Korean would celebrate the winter solstice festival also known as Dong Zhi. During this cold season, an Asian delicacy known as Tang Yuan dessert is often prepared in most homes. It is easy to make, warms the body with its ginger spice soup and gives energy with its sugary fillings.
In today's era, a lot of Chinese would eat Tang Yuan as a dessert and after many years, it has even evolved to have many other fillings and soup base. Now you can get Tang Yuan with peanut fillings, sesame and many more. Aside from the ginger soup, there are now shops that sell soy bean soup, milk soup and many various others as it is now commercialized. You can say that the Tang Yuan is a Chinese version of the Japanese dessert Mochi except, less expensive and easier to make.
Basically it's coloured flour with a little bit of water. Then you start rolling it up into a ball. Before you round it up, this is where u add your fillings. For this round, Yuna decided to add the brown sugar filling.
The soup is easily prepared as well. Slice a few slices of ginger, pour in water. Add some pandan leaves. You may add some sugar to sweeten the soup to your liking. You will know when it is ready when the Tang Yuan floats up.
There you have it. It's chewy, sweet and keeps the body warm during the winter season. You can pair it with some roasted peanuts and sugar. Basically it's an easy to make dessert that comforts the soul.
