Black Sesame Tang Yuan (湯圓) – Easy Traditional Recipe
Learn how to make tang yuan with black sesame filling — soft chewy rice dumplings filled with a smooth, creamy, and nutty black sesame filling. This traditional Chinese dessert is perfect for celebrating Chinese New Year or anytime you’re craving a warm, sweet treat.
Equipment
- 1 Blender or food processor
- 2 Pots
Ingredients
Filling
- 100 g Black sesame seeds
- 15 g White sesame seeds
- 15 g Walnuts
- 60 g Lard
- 60 g White granulated sugar
- 60 ml Water
Dough
- 325 g Glutinous rice flour Chinese or Thai brand
- 250 ml Boiling hot water
- 8 g Lard
Ginger sugar syrup
- 750 ml Water
- 5-6 Thick slices Ginger
- 1.5 Pieces Chinese brown sugar slabs
Instructions
Making the filling
- Wash the sesame seeds and walnuts
- Drain out the water and set them aside.
- Then add them to a frying pan or wok and toast them on low to medium-low heat until the white sesame seeds change color to a beige color and the sesame seeds become aromatic. It should take around 8-10 minutes. You might start to see the sesame seeds start to jump up too when they are ready.
- Once done, remove them from the wok and let them cool down.
- Next, add the sesame seeds, walnuts, white sugar, lard, and water into a blender or food processor.
- Blend everything together until it reaches a fine, semi-liquid texture.
- Once done, transfer everything to a flat container covered with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap will make removing the filling a whole lot easier.
- Cover the container and let it freeze for at least 1 hour in the freezer so that it solidifies.
- Now, take the container out and divide the black sesame filling into balls that weigh about 10g each. You should get about 29 pieces in total.
- Cover the black sesame balls, and let them freeze for another hour or two, or until they’re frozen solid. Don’t take it out until you’re ready to start wrapping the tang yuan, as the filling melts quickly.
Making the dough
- Bring a pot of water to a boil.
- In a large bowl, add in your glutinous rice flour + lard. Mix everything together.
- Now, add in about 85-90% of the boiling hot water onto the glutinous rice flour. Save the rest for later.
- Now mix the water with the glutinous rice flour and lard.
- Knead the dough until nice and smooth and elastic and shape it into a round ball.
- If you notice the dough is still too dry then slowly add in the leftover hot water onto the dough and continue kneading it.
- The dough should be neither too dry nor too wet and sticky.
- Once done, cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, divide the dough into balls weighing about 20g each and cover the balls.
Making the tang yuan balls
- Take a few pieces of the frozen black sesame filling out of the freezer and set them aside.
- Take 1 dough ball, flatten it out and put the filling in the center using either your hands or chopsticks.
- Wrap the dough over the filling, making sure to seal off the top of the dough ball.
- Now, roll it into a ball and set them aside.
- Wipe your fingers with some paper towels or a cloth if you get the black sesame filling onto them.
- Once done using up all of the filling in this batch, cover the tang yuan balls and place all of the tang yuan balls into the freezer.
- Repeat the steps for the rest of the filling and dough balls.
- Once done, place all of the tang yuan inside of a sealed airtight container and place them into the freezer.
Making the ginger sugar syrup
- Wash your ginger and peel off the skin.
- Slice the ginger into 5-6 thick slices.
- Smash the ginger slices with your cleaver or a blunt object and add them to a pot of water with 1.5 slabs of Chinese brown sugar.
- Bring it to a boil on medium heat.
- Cook it for about 10 minutes on medium heat, allowing the sugar to melt and the ginger aroma to infuse into the syrup while occasionally mixing everything around. Once done, turn off the stove and serve it with the cooked tang yuan.
Cooking the tang yuan
- When ready to cook, add the balls into a pot of boiling water and let them cook until the balls float to the top.
- Remove the tang yuan balls once they float to the top and add them to the ginger sugar syrup when ready to serve.