Bunny Tang Yuan 汤圆 with black sesame filling

Name: Bunny Tang Yuan 汤圆 with black sesame filling
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 3 min
Total time: 1 h 3 min
Ingredients: 300 g Glutinous rice flour; 250 g Water; A drop of 2 of red food colouring; 80 g Black sesame seeds; 30 g Peanuts; 60 g Melted butter; 2 tbsp Water

AuthorYun Zhang JohnCategoryRice, SweetsDifficultyIntermediateRating

Yields1 Serving

Prep Time1 hrCook Time3 minsTotal Time1 hr 3 mins

Bunny Tang Yuan 汤圆 with black sesame filling

The Lantern Festival Yuánxiāo jié 元宵节 falls on the 15th day of the first month of the Lunar New Year. Tradition dictates that lanterns be lit at night and Tang Yuan 汤圆, glutinous rice balls, be eaten. This festival of light and colour caps off two weeks of Chinese new year celebrations.

Chinese dessert

Tang Yuan 汤圆 is often called a Chinese dessert because they are rice dumplings stuffed with sweet fillings like sesame, peanut or red bean pastes. Similar to a mochi ball, the gelatinous rice dough cooks into a sticky and chewy texture while the interior should be smooth and semi-liquid. When you bite into a tang yuan, the filling should run out. But in my experience, they’re most often eaten for breakfast and not at the end of the meal.

Tang yuan are served floating in a bowl of warm liquid. Most often, the liquid is simply the water the rice balls were boiled in, but sometimes, it can be sweetened ginger or fermented glutinous rice wine 酒酿 broths. Personally, I prefer to eat tang yuan with just plain water because it helps offset the richness of the decadent filling. Take spoonfuls of the warm liquid as you eat tang yuan will ensure a balanced bite.

Glutinous rice flour

Contrary to its name, glutinous rice flour is actually gluten free. “Glutinous" refers to the rice flour’s sticky and gluey texture when cooked. Also known as sweet rice flour, it is made from milling long and short grain rice.

Due to its beloved chewy texture, glutinous rice flour is frequently used in Asian desserts like mochi, boba pearls for bubble tea and my sweet potato balls. But do not confuse it with regular rice flour which is less sticky and made with long or medium grain rice.

Black Sesame filling

Black sesame tang yuan is a classic, it is tang yuan 101 and it can't be beat. If you've never tried this dish, I would say to start here. And it's pretty simple...just toasted black sesame seeds, sugar and some form of fat. In my recipe, I've also added a few roasted peanuts and couple spoonfuls of water. The peanuts doesn't add any flavour, just another type of richness and the water helps the filling to stay semi-liquid and gooey when warmed up.

And while traditional tang yuan relies on the mild taste of pork lard or suet for fat, I've substituted for butter because it's easier to find and you do not need to cook it down yourself as you would lard or suet. The only downside is that butter does impart some of its flavour to the filling while lard does not, but for most, this is not a problem.

Cute bunnies

Ok, I know assembling these bunnies does take a bit of finicky work and a bunch of time that you probably don’t have. BUT, come on, they are too cute! You don’t need any special equipment, just a toothpick and some patience and you too can make these adorable novelty bunny tang yuan to surprise your loved ones.

Boil them right away and watch the bunnies dance around in the pot, or freeze them for next time, you know you won’t get these anywhere else besides in your kitchen.

Happy year of the rabbit!

You Will Need

Rice Dough

300 g Glutinous rice flour

250 g Water230-250g

A drop of 2 of red food colouring

Filling

80 g Black sesame seeds

30 g Peanuts

60 g Melted butter

2 tbsp Water

Instructions

Making the filling

Toast the black sesame seeds and the peanuts (if not already roasted) in a dry pan for a couple of minutes. Make sure to move it around constantly so they toast up evenly.

Blend toasted sesame seeds and peanuts in a blender or food processor until a fine sandy texture. Add the sugar blend again to combine.

Put mixture into a bowl and mix with melted butter and water. Then pour it into a plastic bag and leave it to harden up in the freezer for 20min.

Making the rice dough

Mix glutinous rice flour with water in a mixing bowl, knead until you have a cohesive dough. Then take a small piece, 10-20g and boil it. Once cooked, knead the cooked dough into the rest.

Take a small part of the dough pink with a drop of two of red food colouring and cover both the pink and white with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.

Shaping

Prep the now hardened filling by breaking it up into pieces of about 1 tsp each. Form into roundish shape and put into the fridge to keep cool until you are ready to use them.

To make a bunny. Take a big ball of about >1 tbsp of white dough, 1 small (1/4 tsp) dough of each the white and the pink .

With the large white dough ball and mold it to accommodate the filling. Put prepped filling into the centre and mould the dough to surround the filling completely shut. Then form the filled tang yuan into an oval.

Next, take the smaller white ball and roll them out to a long cylinder. with the tapered ends. Cut a tiny section off of one end and roll into a tiny ball.
Taper the remaining white strip again and divide into 2 equal pieces.

Do the same with the small pink dough, you should have 2 white tapered pieces, 2 pink, slightly smaller pieces of similar shape, 1 tiny white ball and one tinier pink ball.

To assemble, put the pink on the white and apply some water to the bottom to attach onto the oval tang yuan. These are the ears. Attach the pink nose on the side close to the ears and the white tail on the opposite end.

Then get a toothpick and press down the centre of the ears. Finally, attached 2 black sesame seeds for eyes.

This amount of dough makes about 20 bunny tang yuan.

Cooking

Boil the tang yuan in simmering water. Make sure to gently move it around at the beginning to prevent sticking. Once they float, they are ready to be served.

Ingredients

Rice Dough

300 g Glutinous rice flour

250 g Water230-250g

A drop of 2 of red food colouring

Filling

80 g Black sesame seeds

30 g Peanuts

60 g Melted butter

2 tbsp Water

Directions

Making the filling

Toast the black sesame seeds and the peanuts (if not already roasted) in a dry pan for a couple of minutes. Make sure to move it around constantly so they toast up evenly.

Blend toasted sesame seeds and peanuts in a blender or food processor until a fine sandy texture. Add the sugar blend again to combine.

Put mixture into a bowl and mix with melted butter and water. Then pour it into a plastic bag and leave it to harden up in the freezer for 20min.

Making the rice dough

Mix glutinous rice flour with water in a mixing bowl, knead until you have a cohesive dough. Then take a small piece, 10-20g and boil it. Once cooked, knead the cooked dough into the rest.

Take a small part of the dough pink with a drop of two of red food colouring and cover both the pink and white with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.

Shaping

Prep the now hardened filling by breaking it up into pieces of about 1 tsp each. Form into roundish shape and put into the fridge to keep cool until you are ready to use them.

To make a bunny. Take a big ball of about >1 tbsp of white dough, 1 small (1/4 tsp) dough of each the white and the pink .

Do the same with the small pink dough, you should have 2 white tapered pieces, 2 pink, slightly smaller pieces of similar shape, 1 tiny white ball and one tinier pink ball.

Then get a toothpick and press down the centre of the ears. Finally, attached 2 black sesame seeds for eyes.

This amount of dough makes about 20 bunny tang yuan.

Cooking

Boil the tang yuan in simmering water. Make sure to gently move it around at the beginning to prevent sticking. Once they float, they are ready to be served.

Bunny Tang Yuan 汤圆 with black sesame filling

Ingredients Directions