Learn to make incredible sweet ginger syrup for Tang Yuan.
What is Tang Yuan 湯圓?
Tang Yuan or Tong Yuen is a Chinese dessert made with glutinous rice balls served in water or a sweet syrup. The rice balls are made of glutinous rice flour and water and often stuffed with a flavoured paste such as ground black sesame, peanut, or red bean paste.
What makes the dessert so special?
The Word “Tang Yuan” sounds like “Tuen Yuen” in Cantonese, which means “Togetherness or Unity”. The round shape of the balls and the bowl that it is served in, makes this a popular dessert to eat with the family to symbolize family togetherness. I enjoy biting into the balls and getting the pop of flavour from the filling (I find the glutinous rice part pretty bland). A good syrup is what brings the dessert together, which is why I wanted to share my ginger syrup recipe.
Aside from family gatherings throughout the year, the dessert is typically eaten during Chinese holidays including the Lunar New Year, Chinese Valentine’s Day, Winter Solstice (Dongzhi), and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Ingredients for the ginger syrup
Frozen packaged Tang Yuan (glutinous rice balls)
Why you need this recipe?
This recipe is focused on the sweet syrup and not on how to make the tang yuan from scratch.
I find that the store-bought versions (and I have tried many brands) comes out consistent each time, tastes good, and really inexpensive. I bought a pack of 10 glutinous rice balls filled with black sesame seeds (featured in the recipe below) for less than $4 CAD including tax at T & T Supermarket. Hey, if you can save time on making dessert so you can focus on other parts of your meal, it’s worth it!
The stand out…
I love ginger and my sweet syrup has the warmth and slight spiciness from the ginger, yet it is not overpowering. The technique to getting the ginger taste to come through in the syrup is to smash the ginger and have it cook in the water first. Then grated ginger is added to bring out the ginger taste even more. As for the sweetness, I find that my ratio of one Chinese Brown sugar stick to every 6 cups of water is perfect, but the sweetness is subjective. Try out the recipe and adjust the sugar and ginger levels to your liking.
The recipe is passed down from my parents who have been making it this way for many years. The additional ingredients including dried longan pulp, goji berries, and mini dates are excellent additions, including health benefits, but feel free to omit or change it up with the items you have in your pantry. All ingredients in my recipe can be easily found at Chinese grocery stores in Canada.
Do note that the sweet syrup in my recipe is watery and not a thick syrup consistency like maple syrup. As for the flavour of the glutinous rice balls, you can use any filling flavour of your choice.
Smashed Ginger
Tang Yuan Ginger Syrup Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 cups (1500 ml) of water
- 4 slices of ginger- smashed slices are 1 inch in diameter and 1 cm thick before it is smashed
- 12 (11 g) dried longan pulp
- 5 (8 g) mini dates
- ⅓ cup of goji berries
- ½ tsp of grated ginger
- 1 stick (48 g) Chinese brown sugar
- 1 package (200 g) or 10 of glutinous rice balls black sesame flavour
Instructions
Cut the ginger into slices and smash it with the flat part of your knife. Have all the other ingredients ready.
Add water to a pot, followed by the longan pulp, dates, and smashed ginger. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 7 minutes. The dried longan pulp should change to a soft consistency and become round.
At 7 minutes, add the grated ginger into the water. Add goji berries, sugar and the package of glutinous rice balls. Use a spoon to help dissolve the sugar. Give everything in the pot a quick stir. Simmer for 4-6 minutes until the balls are cooked through.
- Ladle the dessert into bowls and serve.
Bowls of the Tang Yuan with the ginger syrup
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Tang Yuan ginger syrup Pinterest
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