The History of Tang Yuan

The History of Tang Yuan

Monday, 11 May 2015 / No Comments

Image taken from: http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/

Hello everyone… did you read the history of Zongzi that I posted before? Do you like the value of that food?. Well actually Chinese food are really interesting for me, because Chinese it self has a lot of sacred tradition that contain food, so the value of the food is much precious as the tradition.

Well, this time we will talk about the other good history about Chinese food. We will talk about Tang Yuan. I already posted about how to make Tang Yuan, so you can try to make this one by your own.

In china tang yuan is such an important dessert in the Chinese Lunar Festival or Yuan Xiao Jie. In the festival Chinese people usually make and eat tang yuan with their family. Actually this food is the symbol of unity.

Long time ago, During the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – A.D. 220), a girl named Yuan Xiao was taken from her home when she was very young to serve the emperor by making the best tangyuan in the kingdom. She hadn’t seen her family for a long time, and her homesickness had driven her to thoughts of suicide when one of the emperor’s advisors, Dong Fangshuo, found her weeping next to a well, contemplating her final leap. Yuan Xiao explained that she missed her family, and was considering committing suicide.  The advisor promised Yuan Xiao that he would find a way to reunite her with her family.

Dong Fangshuo pretended to be a fortune-teller.  He told all the people that the God of Fire was expected to burn down the entire city on the fifteenth day of the month. The Emperor, when he found out about this, asked Dong Fangshuo for a solution.  Dong Fangshuo said that the city should hang red lanterns and light fireworks to make it appear as if the city was burning, which would appease to the God of Fire.  As well, Dong Fangshuo told the Emperor that the God of Fire likes to eat Tang Yuan, a specialty of Yuan Xiao’s.  So everyone in the city had to prepare Tang Yuan on the fifteenth day of the month.

Yuan Xiao’s parents also came to the capital to make the Tang Yuan for the festival, so Yuan Xiao can reunite with her family and live happily ever after. Based on the story, tang yuan has the meaning about the unity not only between Yuan Xiao and his family but also about the people that together make the Tang Yuan for the festival. The shape of tang yuan also symbolized the full moon in the first full moon of the lunar new year.

I hope, after we know about the story beside the food we can appreciate our food more and more. Well, see you next time… have a nice day…

How to Make Black Sesame Paste

How to Make Black Sesame Paste

Thursday, 7 May 2015 / No Comments

Hello everyone. Like what I told before, in this post I will share about how to make black sesame paste. Black sesame paste is usually used in many kind of Asians foods. Just like mocha, tang yuan, bread, and many more. You will easily find them at the groceries store, but if you are the fans of Asians food, I think you need to know how to make the authentic one by yourself.

Image taken from: homemadeinhk

It’s so simple to make black sesame paste, let’s check the recipe below.

Ingredients:

• 1 part of roasted black sesame seeds (1 Tbsp.)
• 1 part of honey (1 Tbsp.)

Instructions:

1. Grind the black sesame seeds by mortar and pestle or in food processor. It takes some time for sesame seeds to secrete oil, but be patient.

2. When the sesame seeds are finely ground and become moist from natural sesame oil, add honey and mix all together. If you want to use black sesame paste for savory dishes, you can add a little bit of sesame oil instead of honey.

That’s how to make black sesame paste. If you can make the good filling for your dessert I’m sure the dessert will be so much special. See you next time… have a good day…

How to Make Tang Yuan

How to Make Tang Yuan

/ No Comments

Good day everyone, how was your day? Every day is our gift from God, so we need to enjoy our day in order to fill our self with blessed feeling.

Image taken from: chinasichuanfood

Well, today I want to share about how to make Chinese dessert. That’s Tang Yuan. This dessert is so much popular in China, served in many occasions like holiday and festival. The texture of Tang Yuan is soft and chewy maybe you can try this one at home.

To make the black sesame filling, we need black sesame powder or paste. You can try to search some in Asian stores or make your own toasted black sesame and then ground them into powders. In the next post I will share about how to make your own black sesame powder or paste.

Ingredients:

For Black Sesame

• 1 cup toasted black sesame

• 1 cup sugar or as needed

• 1/2 cup of lard or butter, melted

For Tang Yuan

• 2 cups glutinous rice flour

• 1 cup water

Instructions

To make the dough:

1. Mix the glutinous rice flour and water to make the dough. Keep kneading for couple of minutes until the smooth; shape the dough into a long log so that you can make similar pieces in the following step.

2. Take one piece and shape it to a bowl carefully. When shaping the bowl, we need to make the bottom thicker while the other parts uniform. If the bottom is too thin, the balls might break during the shaping process. Then scoop around 1/2 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon black sesame filling into the center. Seal the rice dumpling completely. If you are not skilled at sealing balls, try to shape the filling into balls too. This will make the process easier.

3. Shape the balls as round as possible gently.

4. Bring water to a boiling in a pot (the water should be at least 2 cm higher than the balls); cook the rice dumplings for 5-6 minutes or until they float on the surface.

5. Scoop out with the soup and serve with sugar, or sweet osmanthus or syrup.

Tang Yuan usually is served warm with syrup, sugar or fermented glutinous rice. In some parts of China, people love to eat meat dumplings with a savory soup base. You need to scoop one up and gently take one bite. Then say hello to the lovely filling.

Well, that’s all how to make this popular dessert. I hope you can try and enjoy this one. Have a nice day…