Yuanxiao Makeover

After coming face-to-face with freezer-burned yuanxiao (sticky sweet rice balls) on the night of Lantern Festival, I vowed to learn how to make this Chinese dish.  Now, despite what the name of my blog suggests, I am not a natural cook (my husband is the cook in our house…but that’s a topic for another post!).  I love to eat good food, and really appreciate the magic in the kitchen that produces memorable meals.  But, sadly and despite my earnestness, I often fail to conjure such magic.

Take my latest experiment of making yuanxiao for example.  I followed RasaMalaysia’s recipe (minus the ginger syrup), and all was going splendidly until I took my first taste of the steaming dumpling.  It was salty!  I searched my mind, trying to figure out where I went wrong.  Salted butter! The recipe calls for unsalted butter, and in my haste, I grabbed the salted variety instead.  Oops.
 

I was determined to find a way to redeem this treat for my family (my poor daughter gagged after her first taste!)  And then the idea hit me, Nutella!  What is the magic hazelnut spread that makes all things taste yummy to a six-year-old? 

Nutella.

So, I remade RasaMalaysia's recipe, using Nutella instead of sesame paste as a filler (I stuck the jar in the freezer for a few minutes to stiffen the spread. Don't leave it in too long, though, or it will harden like concrete.)   

My yuanxiao, all rolled and ready to be boiled.

Three little yuanxiao. Aren't they cute?

And the result was....surprisingly delicious!  The Nutella filling in the cooked yuanxiao was warm and creamy, contrasting the thick, chewy mochi-textured outside.  Next time, I'm going to try a different rice flour (I used Koda Farms' Sweet Rice Flour this time) to see if I can make the outside layer thinner.  

What are your ideas for new yuanxiao fillings?

Lantern Festival and "Togetherness"

“Today is the last day of Spring Festival. You must cook yuanxiao for the children and light lanterns,” my mother-in-law called from China to remind me.

Spring Festival is the fifteen-day period in which the new lunar year is celebrated. Lantern Festival (or Yuanxiao Festival) marks the last day of the celebrations. At dusk on this day, families gather together to eat sweet or savory sticky rice balls (yuanxiao), light beautiful lanterns, and celebrate “togetherness” (tuanyuan). 

“Hao Aiyi (Youngest Aunt) waited in line to buy yuanxiao for four hours yesterday. That store on Huaihai Road (a famous commercial street in Shanghai) has the freshest yuanxiao in all of Shanghai.” She continued,  “And then she went to Yu Garden to buy a rabbit-shaped lantern for Da Yima (Eldest Aunt).”

Before we hung up, I told her that I’d try my best to share Lantern Festival with the kids.

How did this holiday sneak up on me?  It shouldn’t be a surprise; Lantern Festival happens every year at the same time—fifteen days after Chinese New Year. But here I was, again, ten minutes before bedtime looking at a package of freezer-burned yuanxiao. Memories of Mid-Autumn Festival came flooding back. 

I felt guilty for missing yet another Chinese holiday, but more than that, I felt sadness that all the yuanxiao in the world couldn’t bring my in-laws and us together to celebrate this holiday. My husband was out of town visiting my father-in-law, who was finishing up his last year of work before retirement, and my mother-in-law was in China caring for her sister, who was undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer.

This weekend my husband will fly my father-in-law back for a short visit. Though my mother-in-law will not be able to join us, we will celebrate being together for a few short days.

And we might even eat yuanxiao!

How do you and your family celebrate “togetherness” during Lantern Festival?