Tangyuan (food)
 A bowl of tangyuan |
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| Origin | |
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| Alternative name(s) | yuanxiao, tangtuan |
| Place of origin | China |
| Region or state | Chinese-speaking areas |
| Details | |
| Main ingredient(s) | Glutinous rice flour |
| Variations | Regional variants differing in ingredients and method |
| Other information | Traditionally consumed during Yuanxiao (Lantern Festival) |
| Tangyuan (food) | |||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 湯圓 or 湯團 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 汤圆 or 汤团 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | tāngyuán or tāngtuán | ||||||||||||||||
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| Yuanxiao | |||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 元宵 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Second alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 圓仔 or 米圓 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 圆仔 or 米圆 | ||||||||||||||||
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Tāngyuán is a Chinese food made from glutinous rice flour. Glutinous rice flour is mixed with a small amount of water to form balls and is then cooked and served in boiling water. Tangyuan can be either small or large, and filled or unfilled. They are traditionally eaten during Yuanxiao, or the Lantern Festival.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Name
Historically, a number of different names were used to refer to tangyuan. During the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty, the name was officially settled as yuanxiao (derived from the Yuanxiao Festival), which is used in northern China. This name literally means "first evening", being the first full moon after Chinese New Year, which is always a new moon.[citation needed]
In southern China, however, they are called tangyuan or tangtuan.[1] Legend has it that during Yuan Shikai's rule from 1912 to 1916, he disliked the name yuanxiao (元宵) because it sounded identical to "remove Yuan" (袁消), and so he gave orders to changed the name to tangyuan.[2] This new moniker literally means "round balls in soup". Tangtuan similarly means "round dumplings in soup". In the two major Chinese dialects of far southern China, Hakka and Cantonese, "tangyuan" is pronounced as tong rhen and tong jyun respectively. The term "tangtuan" (Hakka: tong ton, Cantonese: tong tyun) is not as commonly used in these dialects as tangyuan.
[edit] Cultural significance
For many Chinese families in mainland China as well as overseas, tangyuan is usually eaten together with family. The round shape of the balls and the bowls where they are served, come to symbolise the family togetherness.[1]
[edit] Ingredients
In both filled and unfilled tangyuan, the main ingredient is glutinous rice flour. For filled tangyuan, the filling can be either sweet or savoury. Northern variations mix sesame, peanuts, sweet bean paste and place them into bamboo baskets with rice flour, sprinkle wather continuously on the rice flour to form the fillings and form round balls. Southern variations are typically larger, and are made by wrapping the filling into sticky rice flour wrapping and crumpling them into balls.[1]
Sweet fillings can be:
- A piece of cut sugarcane rock candy
- Sesame paste (ground black sesame seeds mixed with sugar and lard) - the most common filling
- Red bean paste (Azuki bean paste)
- Chopped peanuts and sugar
[edit] Serving
Tangyuan are cooked in boiling water. Filled tangyuan are served along with the water in which it is boiled (hence the "soup" in the name).
Unfilled tangyuan are served as part of a sweet dessert soup (known in Cantonese cuisine as tong sui, which literally means "sugar water"). Common types include:
- Red bean soup
- Black sesame soup
- Ginger and rock sugar
- Fermented glutinous rice (醪糟 or 酒釀), Sweet Osmanthus and rock sugar.
[edit] Availability
The most notable[why?] varieties come from Ningbo and Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province. However, they are traditionally eaten throughout China.
Tangyuan have also come to be associated with the Winter Solstice and Chinese New Year in various regions. Today, the food is eaten all year round. Mass-produced tangyuan are commonly found in the frozen food section of Asian supermarkets in China and overseas.
[edit] Related dishes
In southern Vietnam, a similar dish, called chè xôi nước, is served in a mild, sweet liquid flavored with grated ginger root. In northern Vietnam, bánh trôi (also called bánh trôi nước) and bánh chay are also very similar, with the latter being served with coconut milk. In the Philippines, the dish ginataang bilo-bilo is also served in coconut milk, and sometimes local produce such as plantains (saba), tapioca, and/or sweet potatoes are cooked in.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Gong, Wen (2007). Lifestyle in China. Journey into China. 五洲传播出版社. pp. 13. ISBN 9787508511023.
- ^ "因“元宵”与“袁消”谐音袁世凯下令改叫“汤圆”". 半岛网-城市信报. 2010-02-22. http://csxb.bandao.cn/data/20100222/html/22/content_3.html.
[edit] See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tangyuan |
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