Tang Yuan (With Filling and Plain)

For the plain tang yuan

1. Mix the glutinous rice flour with the warm water. Keep a bowl of water by your side so it's easy to add water/ wet your fingers.Note: If you're making flavoured/ coloured tang yuan, add some of the suggested natural colourings in the ingredients list above.
2. Make sure it's not too hot (so you don't burn yourself) then knead with your hands. Note: If the dough is too sticky, add more glutinous rice flour. If too dry and hard, add more warm water teaspoon by teaspoon.
3. Alternatively if you are having problems with your dough, a 2nd method is to grab a small piece of dough (about 1 inch in diameter), flatten it then boil it. Once cooked (the color has changed), add it back to the raw flour mixture and knead everything together. This will help make your dough more pliable. I've never had to do this myself but it creates a stretchier dough, which makes it easier to fill tang yuan.
4. Separate the dough into equal sized pieces, then roll between the palms of your hands to form balls. Don't place them too close to each other or they'll stick.
5. Proceed to Step 2

1b. For black sesame filled tang yuan

1. Make sweet black sesame paste as per the recipe in the link.
2. Place in a ziplock bag, flatten to form a ½ inch thick rectangular disk, squeeze out the air, seal and freeze for a few hours.
3. Once solid, remove from the bag (easiest to cut the base of the ziplock bag) and cut into equal sized blocks smaller than the dough balls from Step 1.Note: These taste best when you have just the right amount of filling to dough However, for the first try,.don't be too ambitious and make the black sesame filling too big!
4. Wash your hands and dry them, then press a hole in the ball using your thumb. (The dough becomes shaped like a deep bowl.)
5. Pick up the black sesame and place it in the hole- use chopsticks or the black sesame will stain your fingers, which will in turn stain the outside of the tang yuan, making it look less attractive.
6. Use the thumb and 2nd finger of 1 hand to form a circle, place the open tang yuan in the circle, and slowly make the circle smaller. This will squeeze the dough of the tang yuan to close it.Note: make sure it is firmly sealed- if it looks cracked, wet your finger lightly and pinch it together. If not well sealed, everything will open up when boiling later!
7. Place the filled and closed tang yuan to the side. Make sure the tang yuan don't touch each other or they will stick and maybe tear.
8. Repeat for all the dough balls then proceed to Step 2.

2. Cooking the tang yuan (Plain or filled)

1. Bring water to the boil in a covered pot.
2. When at a rolling boil, add the glutinous rice balls. Don't overcrowd the pot as they expand in the boiling water! Keep stirring or they'll stick to the bottom of the pot.
3. They're cooked when they float (took me 3-4 minutes.) Note: If you can't see because of the steam and bubbles, note that the color also changes after cooking. A plain ball becomes less of a matt white and a pandan ball becomes a darker and brighter shade.
4. Leave the balls in the hot pot of water whilst you make the soup.

3. Making the sweet ginger soup

1. Add the ginger to the water and boil for 20 minutes or till spicy enough for you. Stir in the brown sugar then switch off the fire.Note: for other soups, you can use black sesame tong sui, sweetened dried longan tea (with brown sugar) or sweetened osmanthus tea.
2. Add the cooked tang yuan in and serve.