Savory Glutinous Rice Balls （咸汤圆）

It's customary to have glutinous rice balls (Tangyuan汤圆) on the winter solstice. Tangyuan is a must-have food for the winter solstice. It is a round dessert made of glutinous rice flour. There is a folk saying that “you will be one year older after eating glutinous rice balls”.

Even restaurants also serve glutinous rice balls as a promotional menu on that day.  On the dining table, Cantonese treat sweet glutinous rice balls seem to dominate.  My late parents are Cantonese, yet my mother never makes sweet "tang yuan" on this day; instead, she always makes a pot of salty glutinous rice balls. The filling is not wrapped in glutinous rice balls, but glutinous rice is rolled into balls and boiled into a soup base with other ingredients.

Glutinous rice balls, fresh prawns, dried shrimp, vegetables, and a flavorful soup base with distinctively flavored mushrooms are all combined. The soup is tasty and has a distinctive flavor. You will adore it.

Typically, it takes around 20 minutes to boil chucky radish. However, in order to speed up the cooking process and prevent the sliced pork from drying out, I shredded my radish. For this recipe, I'm using green radish, but you may also use white radish.

Do glutinous rice balls need to be soaked in cold water? It depends on your personal preference. If you prefer chewy rice balls, cook them separately until done and then soak them in cool water for five minutes before adding them to the soup. Me and my family prefer soft rice balls, I add them directly to the soup and let them cook with the other ingredients.

The soup is full of fresh ingredients, and a flavorful soup base with distinctively flavored. The taste of the soup is very rich and paired with the glutinous rice balls, you must not miss this recipe.

 

INGREDIENTS

 

200g glutinous rice flour

120ml water (rice balls)

1500ml water (soup)

5 dry shiitake mushrooms

15g dried shrimp

150g shrimps, cleaned and deveined

20g salted dry radish

100g sliced pork

½ of green radish

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 inch length ginger, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Some cooking oil

 

Marinade seasoning (Pork slices and shrimps)

¼ tsp salt

1/8 white pepper

½ tsp cornstarch

1 tbsp water

METHOD

 

1. Add water to the glutinous rice flour in a mixing bowl, stir with rubber spatula to produce flocs, and then use your hands to knead the mixture into a smooth dough.

NOTE:

The common practice is to add a little water if the dough feels too dry. In fact, holding back a little of the water from the recipe, and adding it incrementally, going by feel rather than measurement, is the preferred way to get a perfect dough.

2. Divided the dough in half. Roll the first half into a log shape and cut into small pieces about 1.5 to 2cm long. Roll them into a small ball. Do the same for the other half of the dough.

3. Peel and shredded the green radish. Rinse and soak dried shrimp and shiitake mushrooms in adequate water until soft, squeeze dry. Soak the salted dry radish (10 minutes) to reduce the saltiness.  Shredded the mushrooms for later use. Keep the dried shrimps and mushrooms for later use.

4. Rince and devein the shrimps, place all heads and shells into a stock pot or a wok.  Sauté the shrimp shells with 1 tablespoon of oil at medium high heat until stuff that sticks to the wok starts to brown slightly. Then, remove the shells.

5. Add one tablespoon of cooking oil to the shrimp oil, heat up. Sauté the sliced ginger and minced garlic until slightly brown. Add in the dried shrimps, mushrooms and salted dry radish until fragrant. Add in sliced pork, quick stir until the meat turns pale.

6. Add in the fresh shredded greed radish together with the reserve mushroom and dry shrimp water. Quickly stir until all the ingredients are all well combined.

7. Pour in the water to cover all the ingredients and bring it to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add in fresh shrimp and rice balls, bring it to a boil and give it a stir to prevent the rice balls from sticking to the bottom of the wok. Cook the rice balls begin to float up. Season with salt and pepper. Give it another 5 minutes to cook until the soup is bubbling. Serve hot.