Sweet potatoes Tang Yuan (甜番薯奶黄馅汤圆）

 

This is another tangyuan （汤圆） recipe I would like to share for the DongZhi （冬至）festival. It is a sweet dessert. They are made with flavorful sweet potatoes with custard filling.

These glutinous rice balls taste like mochi. They are distinctive from others since they are made with flavorful sweet potatoes. The custard filling is wrapped in a glutinous rice ball, which is not only distinctive in form but also incredibly eye-catching.

Glutinous rice balls are made of glutinous rice and have a high viscosity, which makes them difficult to digest for some people. This tangyuan uses more sweet potatoes and less glutinous rice flour. For those who like to eat tang yuan but worry that it will cause stomach bloating. This is the right recipe for you.

Making this tangyuan with the kids is a delightful project since you may shape and fill the rice balls with your own paste. I am using two different types of sweet potatoes, which are orange and sweet potatoes. I combined mashed orange and purple sweet potatoes with glutinous flour to make the tang yuan. Different varieties of potatoes absorb flour and water at varying rates. The purple potatoes require extra water or flour to make a smooth dough because they are dry after steaming and cooling compared to orange sweet potatoes.

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.

Custard is a kind of filling that children like very much, and my children like to eat it very much. And I even use it for making mooncakes. The custard is much easier to work with while it is still warm. If you let it cool completely, it takes much longer to knead it to smooth. You can also make the custard one day ahead and leave it in the fridge overnight.  Of course, you can use any filling that you like.

 

INGREDIENTS

(For purple glutinous rice balls)

150g glutinous rice flour

80g cook purple sweet potatoes

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cooking oil

50ml water or add accordingly

 

(For orange glutinous rice balls)

150g glutinous rice flour

80g cook orange sweet potatoes

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cooking oil

50ml water or add accordingly

 

(For custard)

60g custard powder

40g milk powder

45g sugar

100ml coconut milk

80ml milk

1 egg (beaten)

25ml cooking oil or melted butter

 

(Sugar water)

1000ml water

2 pandan leaves, knotted

10g sliced ginger

50g palm sugar

  

 

 

METHODS (Custard filling)

1. Combine dry ingredients (custard powder, sugar, and milk powder). Add in coconut milk, milk, and beaten eggs. Mix it well until it is incorporated.

2. Add cooking oil. Mixed well again. There will be a lot of little lumps in the mixture, sieved it through a strainer to get a smooth mixture.

3. Transfer to a lightly greased heatproof dish and steamed them at HIGH heat for 10 minutes.

4. Remove the custard from the steamer, let it cool for about 10 minutes, and scrape off the custard dough from the dish. Put it on the table and knead the custard until it becomes a smooth paste.

5. Roll the custard into a ball about 2cm in size and set aside for later use.

 

METHODS (For glutinous rice balls)

1. Mashed the purple sweet potatoes in a mixing bowl, add half of the glutinous rice flour (according to the water content of sweet potatoes, add a little flour), then add oil and sugar.

2. Knead the dough with your hands until smooth and not sticky, then divide the dough into balls.

3. Flat the dough, put in the custard and seal it.  Repeat the steps until the custard and glutinous rice dough is used up.

4. Do the same for the orange sweet potatoes glutinous rice balls.

5. In a pot filled with water, pandan leaves, sliced ginger, and palm sugar. Bring it to a boil, turn it to low heat and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes.

6. Put the glutinous rice balls into the pot and give it a stir to prevent the rice balls from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Cook the rice balls until they begin to float to the top of the pot. Serve hot and enjoy!!