Lantern Festival (元宵) - Emointhekitchen

emointhekitchen

Tangyuan balls (汤圆) are traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first month of the Lunar New Year, which is the first full moon. The festival falls on a February day in the international calendar every year. People eat the balls for luck and in the hope of filling their lives with sweetness and joy.

During the Lantern Festival, glutinous rice balls must be eaten, which means that the whole family will be reunited. There is no such atmosphere abroad, so I decided to make our sticky rice balls. Sticky rice balls, freshly fried peanuts, bean paste, and sesame with a little brown sugar.

Lantern Festival New Year’s Vegetables: Peanut, Bean Paste and Sesame

You will need:

glutinous rice flour
brown sugar
bean paste
peanuts
sesame

Procedure:

Put glutinous rice flour in a bowl, add water and make a dough. The dough should be kneaded into a ball by hand with a little force. If it is too soft, it will not be able to hold its shape. If it is too hard, it will be difficult to knead into a ball and affect the taste. Put the peanuts in a pan and fry them over low heat, stirring constantly. The peanuts are crushed with a rolling pin and a little brown sugar is added, too much sugar easily gets in and covers the aroma of the peanuts.

Add a little water to moisten the brown sugar. Divide the sticky rice dough into suitable sizes, knead it a little to form a roughly round shape, press your thumb deeply into the centre of the small dough, then add the prepared crushed peanuts, bean paste, sesame and brown sugar and close. Add water to the pot and boil. Add balls. Wait until the balls are fully cooked, put them in the bowl and you can taste it immediately after biting into them. The smell of peanuts, bean paste and sesame plus the right amount of sweetness accompanied by the smell of sticky rice is sweet but not greasy and it’s great to be warm and cosy.