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happy lantern festival!
black sesame tang yuan in red bean paste
Tangyuan or tang yuan (simplified Chinese: 汤圆; traditional Chinese: 湯圓; pinyin: tāngyuán) is a Chinese food made from glutinous rice flour mixed with a small amount of water to form balls and is then cooked and served in boiling water. Tangyuan can be either small or large, and filled or unfilled. They are traditionally eaten during Yuanxiao or the Lantern Festival, but also served as a dessert on Chinese wedding day, Winter Solstice Festival (Chinese: 冬至; pinyin: Dōngzhì), and any occasions such as family re-union, because of a homophone for union (simplified Chinese: 团圆; traditional Chinese: 團圓; pinyin: tuányuán)
Historically, a number of different names were used to refer to tangyuan. During the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty, the name was officially settled as yuanxiao (derived from the Yuanxiao Festival), which is used in northern China. This name literally means "first evening", being the first full moon after Chinese New Year, which is always a new moon.
In southern China, however, they are called tangyuan or tangtuan. Legend has it that during Yuan Shikai's rule from 1912 to 1916, he disliked the name yuanxiao (元宵) because it sounded identical to "remove Yuan" (袁消), and so he gave orders to change the name to tangyuan. This new moniker literally means "round balls in soup". Tangtuan similarly means "round dumplings in soup".
Northern Chinese tend to eat yuanxiao while Southern Chinese eat tangyuan. Both yuanxiao and tangyuan are in the form of a small round dumpling ball made of glutinous rice flour. However, the preference for taste could be different between Northern and Southern Chinese. Sweet fillings, preferred by Southern Chinese, often consist of sugar, sesame, osmanthus flowers, sweet bean paste and sweetened tangerine peel, to name but a few. As for the salty fillings preferred by Northern Chinese, minced meat and vegetables are usually the ingredients.
Tangyuan are first cooked in boiling water. Once cooked, savoury filled tangyuan are served in a clear soup broth, whilst sweet filled tangyuan are served in a ginger infused syrup.
Unfilled tangyuan are served as part of a sweet dessert soup (known in Cantonese cuisine as tong sui, which literally means "sugar water"). Common types include:
Red bean soup
Black sesame soup
Ginger and rock sugar
Fermented glutinous rice (醪糟 or 酒釀), Sweet Osmanthus and rock sugar.
Source: Wikipedia
lantern festival (元宵节) see also:
www.flickr.com/photos/leonghong/12518139873/
happy lantern festival!
black sesame tang yuan in red bean paste
Tangyuan or tang yuan (simplified Chinese: 汤圆; traditional Chinese: 湯圓; pinyin: tāngyuán) is a Chinese food made from glutinous rice flour mixed with a small amount of water to form balls and is then cooked and served in boiling water. Tangyuan can be either small or large, and filled or unfilled. They are traditionally eaten during Yuanxiao or the Lantern Festival, but also served as a dessert on Chinese wedding day, Winter Solstice Festival (Chinese: 冬至; pinyin: Dōngzhì), and any occasions such as family re-union, because of a homophone for union (simplified Chinese: 团圆; traditional Chinese: 團圓; pinyin: tuányuán)
Historically, a number of different names were used to refer to tangyuan. During the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty, the name was officially settled as yuanxiao (derived from the Yuanxiao Festival), which is used in northern China. This name literally means "first evening", being the first full moon after Chinese New Year, which is always a new moon.
In southern China, however, they are called tangyuan or tangtuan. Legend has it that during Yuan Shikai's rule from 1912 to 1916, he disliked the name yuanxiao (元宵) because it sounded identical to "remove Yuan" (袁消), and so he gave orders to change the name to tangyuan. This new moniker literally means "round balls in soup". Tangtuan similarly means "round dumplings in soup".
Northern Chinese tend to eat yuanxiao while Southern Chinese eat tangyuan. Both yuanxiao and tangyuan are in the form of a small round dumpling ball made of glutinous rice flour. However, the preference for taste could be different between Northern and Southern Chinese. Sweet fillings, preferred by Southern Chinese, often consist of sugar, sesame, osmanthus flowers, sweet bean paste and sweetened tangerine peel, to name but a few. As for the salty fillings preferred by Northern Chinese, minced meat and vegetables are usually the ingredients.
Tangyuan are first cooked in boiling water. Once cooked, savoury filled tangyuan are served in a clear soup broth, whilst sweet filled tangyuan are served in a ginger infused syrup.
Unfilled tangyuan are served as part of a sweet dessert soup (known in Cantonese cuisine as tong sui, which literally means "sugar water"). Common types include:
Red bean soup
Black sesame soup
Ginger and rock sugar
Fermented glutinous rice (醪糟 or 酒釀), Sweet Osmanthus and rock sugar.
Source: Wikipedia
lantern festival (元宵节) see also:
www.flickr.com/photos/leonghong/12518139873/