Peanut Tang Yuan
 
 
Tang yuan (glutinous rice dumplings) with a runny peanut filling. This recipe makes 18 to 22 peanut balls.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Chinese
Serves: 6
Ingredients
Filling
  • 2 oz shelled peanut (55 g)
  • 2 tbsp fine sugar
  • 4 tbsp creamy peanut butter
  • 1½ tsp chia seeds
  • 3½ tbsp coconut oil or lard
  • 1 tbsp honey
Dough
  • 1½ cups glutinous rice flour
  • 150 ml water (may need slightly more)
Ginger Syrup
  • 4 cups water
  • 30 g ginger
  • 2 pandan leaves
  • Sugar (to taste)
Instructions
  1. Filling. Lightly toast the peanuts on a dry pan till fragrant and lightly golden. Let cool for about 5 minutes. Grind the peanuts (not too finely) with a small food processor. Transfer to a bowl. Add chia seeds, sugar, peanut butter, honey and coconut oil. Mix well. Place the peanut mixture in the chiller (30 minutes to an hour) to harden until it is firm enough to be molded into balls.
  2. Prepare 2 (or 3) small plates lined with parchment paper. Scoop out a rounded tsp of the filling and quickly roll into balls. Lay them on the plate with space in between each balls. After you have finished about 6 to 8, transfer the plate to the freezer. Continue to work on the rest of the filling until it is all used up. Place all the peanut balls in the freezer while you work on the dough. (See note 1)
  3. Ginger syrup. Add all ingredients (except sugar) for syrup into a small pot and bring to a boil. Add sugar once you can smell the fragrance of the pandan leaves and ginger. Simmer till sugar dissolves. Set aside.
  4. Dough. Gradually mix water with glutinous rice flour until it is smooth and pliable. Divide the dough into 2 portions and roll each portion into a long strip. Cut each strip into X dough pieces. The total number of pieces should match the number of peanut balls that you made earlier. Eg. if you made 20 peanut balls, cut each strip into 10 pieces.
  5. Take half of the dough pieces and roll them into balls. Cover the remaining dough pieces with a slightly damp kitchen paper.
  6. Wrap peanut filling. Take out 1 plate of the peanut balls out from the freezer (See note 2). Now work on one dough ball at a time. Flatten each ball with your palm and shape it into a small bowl. You can leave the center of the dough slightly thicker. Pinch out the sides more. Place one frozen peanut ball into the middle of the dough. Fold the dough around the filling till it is entirely covered. If you see any cracks or gaps, gently pinch the dough till it is well sealed. Then gently roll the dough into a ball. (See note 3) Place the rolled dough balls onto a parchment lined plate and keep them covered with a damp kitchen paper.
  7. If you plan to eat the tang yuan on the same day, add water to a pot and bring to a boil. After you have made about 5 to 6 balls, gently drop them into the water and cook on medium heat until it starts to float up. Fish them out with a slotted spoon and portion into serving bowls. Pour ginger syrup water over the tang yuan and serve. Repeat the process of wrapping up all the peanut balls with the dough. Cook once you have 5 to 6. (See note 4)
  8. If you can't finish eating all the tang yuan or plan to cook this another day, put the plate of filled tang yuan inside the freezer to flash freeze till they harden. Then transfer them into a zip-lock bag.
Cooking Notes
1. If you find the filling starting to melt, put it back into the fridge to chill again.
2. If this is your first time making this, I would suggest that you take out just 1 peanut ball out of the freezer to roll to get the hang of it. This is because if you take too long to roll the balls, the rest of the peanut filling will start melting.
3. Do not over-roll once you've wrapped the filling inside the dough as it will cause the dumpling to crack easily.
4. The filled tang yuan has to be cooked in batches. Don't start to cook the filled tang yuan only when have finished wrapping everything up. Because by then, the frozen peanut filling inside every dough ball will melt and seep out, wasting all your earlier effort.
Recipe by Souper Diaries at https://souperdiaries.com/peanut-tang-yuan-recipe/