Mother, Baby & Kids

A Special Tang Yuan (Glutinous Rice Ball) Recipe That ONLY Uses Natural Food Colouring

Merryn Tan

Dongzhi or Winter Solstice festival is one of the most important celebrations for Chinese people. It falls on December 21 this year.

Tang yuan is a dessert traditionally eaten during this festival. It is a dessert of glutinous rice flour balls that is served hot or cold in syrup. These glutinous rice balls can either be filled or unfilled with the most popular filling being crushed peanut or black sesame paste.

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The Winter Solstice festival is also a time for families to get together to make and eat these balls of glutinous rice or tangyuan (湯圓) which symbolises reunion.

Tang yuan is traditionally white, but over the years, colours have been added to enhance the aesthetic value of these glutinous rice balls.

These days, tang yuan often comes in rainbow-like colours and this is exactly what I’ll be sharing today – how to make the colourful glutinous rice balls by using only natural food colouring.

I use blue pea flower for blue, pandan leaves for green, beetroot for red, yellow sweet potato for yellow, purple sweet potato for purple and orange sweet potato (yes, you guessed it correctly!) for orange.

Ingredients:

  • Glutinous rice flour
  • Purple sweet potato
  • Orange sweet potato
  • Yellow sweet potato
  • Beetroot
  • Dried butterfly blue pea flower
  • Pandan leaves
  • Water

For filling

  • 200g skinless peanut
  • 65g brown sugar
  • A pinch of salt

For syrup

  • Rock sugar
  • Pandan leaves
  • Water

How to prepare the natural food colouring:

BEETROOT (RED)

  1. Peel the beetroot.
  2. Boil it in a cup of water until it turns soft and water becomes red.
  3. Pour the red water into a bowl and set aside.

PANDAN (GREEN)

  1. Blend 3-4 pandan leaves with a little water.
  2. Pour through a strainer.
  3. Set aside. 

BLUE PEA FLOWER (BLUE)

  1. Scoop about a teaspoon of dried blue pea flower into a bowl.
  2. Pour some hot water into the bowl and set aside.

PURPLE, ORANGE AND YELLOW SWEET POTATO

  1. Peel purple, orange and yellow sweet potatoes.
  2. Steam until soft.
  3. You may add pandan leaves while steaming for added fragrance.
  4. Mash the potatoes while they are still warm.
  5. Set aside.

Method:

Let’s start with the peanut filling.

  1. Toast skinless peanut at 170C until golden brown.
  2. Crush toasted peanut in a blender.
  3. Pour crushed peanut into a bowl.
  4. Add brown sugar and salt.
  5. Mix.
  6. Roll into small balls and refrigerate.

Next, we’ll need to boil the syrup.

  1. Pour water into a pot.
  2. Add rock sugar and pandan leaves.
  3. Bring to a boil.
  4. You may add some ginger at this point.
  5. Once boiled, remove from heat and leave to cool.

Now, let’s prepare the colourful dough.

  1. Combine 40g purple sweet potato with 30g glutinous rice flour.
  2. Gradually add water until it forms a smooth dough.
  3. Do the same with orange and yellow sweet potato.
  4. Cover with a cloth to keep the dough from drying out.
  5. Add water to 40g glutinous rice flour to make a white dough. Cover with a cloth and set aside.
  6. Use pandan extract to make a green dough. Gradually add pandan extract to 40g glutinous rice flour until it forms a smooth dough. Cover with a cloth and set aside.
  7. Use butterfly blue pea flower extract for blue dough. Add into 40g glutinous rice flour until it forms a smooth dough. Cover with a cloth and set aside.
  8. Lastly, add beetroot extract to make a red dough. Gradually add beetroot extract to 40g glutinous rice flour, knead until it forms a smooth dough. Cover with a cloth.
Colourful dough using only NATURAL food colouring – butterfly pea flower (blue), pandan (green), beetroot (red), yellow sweet potato (yellow), purple sweet potato (purple) and orange sweet potato (orange).

Finally, let’s make these colourful glutinous rice balls.

  1. Pinch out a small amount of dough.
  2. Roll into a ball and then flatten the dough.
  3. Place a filling in the middle and wrap.
  4. Roll to seal.
  5. Roll the glutinous balls again for a chewier texture.
  6. Repeat until all dough is used up.
  7. Bring a pot of water to boil.
  8. Drop the glutinous rice balls into the pot of boiling water.
  9. The balls are cooked when they start to float.
  10. Scoop them out and immediately drop them into a bowl of iced water to cool.
  11. Scoop them out of ice water and transfer into a bowl of sugar syrup.
The balls are cooked when they start to float.
Slippery, chewy and nutty Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls served in cooled syrup infused with pandan and/or ginger flavour.

Hope you find these colourful glutinous rice balls using only natural food colouring appealing and easy to make.

For more recipe ideas, do check out Mums Homemade Recipes.