2021 KUIH EE [GLUTINOUS RICE BALLS]

2021 Winter Solstice [Dongzhi Festival], I prepared these glutinous rice balls in sweet syrup. A little different from the past Kuih Ee [Tang Yuan 汤圆 ] that I have prepared. There are various versions to make them and unending recipes to follow. All turned out to be cute lovely round Tang Yuan, that are chewy and  edible.  Great to enjoy with the sweet, gingery flavour soup.  Ample choice of recipes that you can follow.

The difference here is mainly the syrup, which uses Brown Sugar In Pieces [冰片糖]. For those who are not familiar with this type of sugar, below is a description which I have obtained from Google: "Brown sugar in pieces is a traditional sugar used for desserts in Southern China. These delicious bars of Brown Sugar are made from sugar cane which enhances the colours and flavour of Chinese style desserts. The ingredients are Cane Sugar (85%) and Water.

For this recipe, I have used 2 pieces with about 800 ml water.   It is rather sweet but goes well with the kuih ee.  Just adjust the water portion to suit you preference for the sweetness that is acceptable to you.

This recipe is adapted from K L Liew Youtube Video with slight modifications.

Ingredients for Syrup

800 ml water or more according to preference

2 pieces of the brown sugar in pieces 

4-5 blades of screwpine [pandan] leaves

a few slices of ginger

1. Bring water, pandan leaves and ginger to boil in a soup pot until aromatic.  Add in the sugar and continue to boil until sugar dissolves.  Taste to adjust the sweetness according to your preference [the sweetness should be able to flavour the glutinous rice balls].  Leave to cool before use, then remove the pandan leaves and ginger slices.  

Ingredients For 5-Colour Glutinous Rice Balls [Tang Yuan]

300 gm glutinous rice flour [+-]

10 gm rice flour + 100 gm water [to be cooked]

pink colouring

green colour - 5-6 pieces screwpine leaves + 100 ml water

yellow colour - 50 gm pumpkin puree

blue colour - 50 pieces blue pea flower [bunga telang] + 100 ml water

50 ml water or more to knead into a soft and pliable dough

1. Blend screwpine leaves with water.  Squeezed and strained to obtain the pandan juice.  Set aside.
2. Boil blue pea flowers with water until it is of dark blue colour [indigo colour].  Strain away the flowers to obtain the blue solution.  Set aside until required.
3. Mix rice flour with water in a small saucepan.  Boil over low heat, stirring constantly into a thick paste of runny consistency.  Immediately, mix into  the glutinous flour.  Rub with your finger tips.  Divide into 5 equal portions [estimate amount].
4. Take one portion of the flour, add the pandan water gradually.  Meanwhile, knead to incorporate into a soft and pliable dough.  You may not use up all the pandan juice.
5. Take one portion of the flour, add the blue pea flower water gradually.  Meanwhile, knead to incorporate into a soft and pliable dough.  You may not use up all the blue colour water juice.
6. Take one portion of the flour, add the pumpkin puree gradually.  Meanwhile, knead to incorporate into a soft and pliable dough.  You may need to add some water if it is too dry.
7. Mix the remaining flour with about 50 ml water or more into a soft and pliable dough.  Divide into 2 portions.  Set aside one portion for white colour and add a drop of pink colouring to the remaining portion.  Knead until the dough is pink in colour.
8. NOTE: you may have to add a little more glutinous flour if the dough is too wet, soft and sticky.
9. Shaping of Kuih Ee [Tang Yuan] - take a portion and divide it into smaller portions and roll each one into a round ball.  Place in a tray or plate.  Do the same until all the dough are shaped into round balls.
10. To Cook The Rice Balls - Bring a big pot of water to boil then drop in the shaped rice balls in batches to cook.  Once the rice balls floats up, they are cooked.  Use a serrated ladle to remove them and drop them into a pot of cooled boiled water before dropping them into the syrup.
11. Scoop tang yuan into small bowls to serve.

PUMPKIN KUIH EE IN GULA MERAH SYRUP

August 3, 2020 marks half year of the Chinese lunar calendar.  Some Chinese families will prepare Kuih Ee as offerings to the deities or ancestors.  I do not follow this procedure, it is not a must for my family but with some extra free time, I did it.

Anyway, with all the ingredients available here is a recipe which I like to share.  For the syrup, I used a small bit of Penang local ginger [popularly known as Air Itam ginger] and Gula Merah.  The syrup is aromatic and sweetness is acceptable as a dessert. I also add some chopped red dates.  As for the rice balls, I used glutinous rice flour, pumpkin puree, water and some white sugar.  

Ingredients

[serves 4-5]

150 gm pumpkin puree

150 gm glutinous rice flour

1 tbsp fine sugar

a few tbsp water

600 ml water or more [depends on the sweetness you prefer]

100 gm gula merah

1 small knob of ginger - rinsed and lightly bruised

6 red dates - deseeded and chopped

1. Steamed sliced pumpkin for 20 minutes over high heat or until soft.  Mash into puree while still hot with 1 tbsp fine sugar [optional].  Leave to cool.
2. Bring water to boil with ginger until aromatic.  Add in sugar, continue to boil until sugar dissolves.  Tastes to adjust bearing in mind that red dates will add sweetness to the syrup. Add in red dates, continue to boil until soft.  Off heat, leave to cool completely.  Tip: can prepare earlier before preparing the rice balls.
3. In a big bowl, mix glutinous rice flour gradually to pumpkin puree then knead into a smooth pliable dough.  Add some water gradually if dough is too dry.  Leave to rest for 20-30 minutes before shaping into round balls.
4. Bring a pot of water to rolling boil, drop in rice balls in batches.  The rice balls will float to the surface when cooked.  Remove with a serrated ladle and drop them into a bowl of cool water, then dish up using the serrated ladle.
5. Add to prepare syrup.
6. Serve.

SAVOURY RICE DUMPLING [BAK CHANG] - DUAN WU JIE / 端午节 2015

This year's Duan Wu Jie 2015/ 端午节 2015 [Chinese Rice Dumplings' Festival], I again made savoury rice dumpling [Hokkien Kiam Bak Chang] for the family because it is always the favourite among all and well accepted by many Chinese people.  My nephews' favourite.
Visit this site for more information about Bak Chang and Duan Wu Jie.

It is tasty, aromatic and the numerous fillings are delicious and yummy. Bak Chang is best eaten warm [not steaming hot] so that you can enjoy the chewy glutinous rice and fragrant fillings.  Some people prefer to eat these rice dumplings with or without sweet chilli sauce.   Awesome home-made Kiam Bak Chang.  

If you break up the procedures, it is not difficult at all to make Kiam Bak Chang at home. 

1st Part - getting the ingredients

2nd Part - soak the leaves, chestnuts and mushrooms and washing/wiping the leaves

3rd Part - marinate the meat and prepare the shallots/garlic then frying and set aside in the refrigerator until required

4th Part - fry the rice

5th Part - wrapping and cooking the rice dumplings

Recipe adapted from Amy Beh [Kuali.com] - modified
Ingredients

[makes 28-30 small dumplings or 20 average dumplings of about 150 gm each]

1 kg glutinous rice - washed, soaked overnight and drained
56-60 pieces of bamboo leaves - soaked overnight, washed and wiped
some hemp strings - soaked and drained
7-8 salted egg yolks - steamed for 10 minutes, cooled and quartered
50 gm dried prawns - rinsed and drained
400 - 500 gm pork belly - cut into chunky pieces - about 30 pieces
30 dried chestnuts - soaked with a drop of alkaline water for several hours, rinsed and boil for about 30 minutes, drained
14 pieces dried mushrooms - soaked and halved
4 tbsp chopped garlic
4 tbsp chopped shallots
6-8 tbsp oil

Seasoning for Rice
1 tbsp Chinese five spice powder [ngoh heong hoon]
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp chicken stock granules
2-3 tbsp light soy sauce
1-2 tbsp dark soy sauce

Seasoning for Fillings 
1/2 tbsp Chinese five spice powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp chicken stock granules
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1. Marinate pork with seasonings for fillings for several hours.
2. Mix drained rice with seasoning for rice.  Set aside.
3. Heat 3-4 tablespoons of oil, fry half shallots and garlic until golden brown.  Add marinated pork, fry for a few minutes.  Add in mushrooms and chestnuts.  Stir fry to mix well for a few more minutes.  Remove and set aside.
4. Heat 3-4 tablespoons of oil, fry remaining shallots and garlic until golden brown.  Add in the dried prawns, stir fry to mix well.  Add in the  seasoned rice.  Stir fry well to combine the ingredients.  Remove and set aside.

1. To wrap dumplings, take 2 pieces of bamboo leaves and fold into a cone.  
2. Add 1 heaped tablespoon of rice, add a slice of pork, a piece of mushroom,  a chestnut, a piece of salted egg yolk, top up with 1-2 tablespoon of rice.
3. Wrap into a pyramid shape dumpling and secure tightly with a hemp string.  Do the same until all the ingredients are finished.
4. Put the bundles of rice dumpling in a big pot.  Top up with water enough to cover the changs.  Add a tablespoon of salt to the water.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Bring to boil over high heat, then lower to medium and continue to cook for 2 hours or until rice dumplings are cooked.  Replenish with more hot water to the pot when required.
6. Remove and hang to let it dry.  Best to serve rice dumplings warm.

I'm sharing this post with Cook Your Books Event #24 [June 2015] hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours