Tang yuan are my favourite Lunar New Year dessert. Traditionally, glutinous rice balls are filled with sesame paste or peanuts. For these rice balls, coarsely ground pistachios are combined with honey and sea salt to create a vibrant green filling. I love pairing pistachio with floral flavours so I made a fragrant osmanthus broth for the chewy rice balls.
Ingredients
Pistachio Filling
40g (1/4 cup) roasted pistachios
2tbsphoney
1tbspgranulated sugar
1/2tspsalt, *if the pistachios you are using are salted, decrease salt amount to 1/4 tsp
Rice Ball Dough
130g(1 cup) glutinous rice flour, plus more as needed
120mlboiling water
Osmanthus Broth
480ml(2 cups) water
80g(1/3 cup + 1 tbsp) rock or granulated sugar
1 tbspdried osmanthus flowers
Instructions
Pistachio Filling
On a food processor, blitz pistachios until it reaches a coarse crumb, some larger pieces are okay.
In a bowl, combine blitzed pistachio, honey, sugar, and salt. Mix until filling comes together. The filling will be loose but should form a ball when your squeeze it.
Portion filling into 12 equal balls. transfer balls to a plate and place in freezer to set while you make the wrapper
Rice Ball Wrapper
In a medium-sized bowl, combine glutinous rice flour and boiling water. Using a spoon or spatula, mix until it forms a cohesive dough.
Once the dough is no longer too hot to the touch, knead the dough for 3 minutes. If dough is sticking to your hands, add an extra tbsp of glutinous rice flour.
Portion the dough into 12 equal portions, keeping the balls under a damp towel to prevent the dough from drying out,
Assembly
Remove the filling from the freezer. Take a piece of dough and using your fingers, press the dough until it becomes a 2-inch round disc. Place a piece of the filling into the centre and pinch seams shut and roll between palms of hands until smooth. Repeat with the remaining filling and dough.
In a large pot of boiling water, cook rice balls over medium until they float to the top, about 8 minutes.
Osmanthus Broth
While the rice balls are cooking, bring water to boil in a medium size pot. Add osmanthus flowers and sugar. Mix until sugar has dissolved. Allow flowers to steep for an extra 5 mins. Strain flowers before serving.