What says family togetherness?

[First published April 15, 2015] Okay, maybe "glutinous rice ball" doesn't sound very appealing or interesting to you.  It didn't to me, either, but I thought I would try some, because it is the thing that you eat during Lantern Festival. It's not just their round shape, symbolizing unity, that makes them symbolic of family holiday gatherings, their Chinese name, tangyuan, sounds like the Chinese for "union." 

A Chinese friend brought me some to try.  The white outer part is made of glutinous rice but the inside is stuffed with various fillings -- peanut paste, sweet potato paste, even chocolate. This batch went into boiling water in my new cooking pot. These are actually made with tapioca paste so that as they heat up, the white outer case becomes transparent and you can see the color of the filling inside. They looked like big fish eggs...

After just a few minutes, the balls float to the top of the water and that's the time to scoop them out. They are served in a bowl with some of the hot water (I guess so that they don't start to stick together). They are soft and warm and gooey inside and range from mildly sweet/salty to definitely sweet, depending on the filling. Below left are some of the new-fangled crystal rice balls and below right are some more traditional rice balls. The Minion bowl is not traditional, of course.

I enjoyed the tangyuan my friend bought me so much I went out and found some more in the frozen foods section of the store. I think the peanut-and-sesame version makes a nice breakfast. Apparently you can get them year-round but it's nice to observe a traditional calendar sometimes. But maybe you'll see some in the ethnic foods section of your store -- give them a try! They're certainly easy to prepare, just slip them into boiling water. Just don't overcook them or they turn shapeless and mushy. 

I wrote a ribald insinuating headline for this post but decided that no-one wants to hear that kind of joke from a woman my age. But if you do, follow this link.