Winter Solstice - 冬至

My granny used to say that the Winter Solstice is a bigger celebration than Chinese New Year ( 冬至大过新年). She would knead and prepare the dough (glutinous rice dough) with different color and we would help her to shape the tiny dough into round shape. There are two types of Tang Yuen, sweet and savoury. The sweet one is with the sugar syrup and the savoury one is cooked with meat, pig's liver, fish ball and garnished with lots of chopped green onion and Chinese celery.


But nowadays, Tang Yuen is eaten in many different ways. Some with fillings inside such as red bean, black sesame, peanut. Some cooked with Gula Melaka instead of white sugar syrup. My son's nanny adds sliced jack fruit into the Gula Melaka syrup Tang Yuen, like some kind of Thai dessert to me. Some eat dry like 'Mua Chi', just mix with ground peanut, sesame seed and sugar. As for myself, this year I made the simplest Tang Yuen, just eat plain with sugar syrup.

My 'not so round' Tang Yuen. The red one is coloring, not the beetroot juice but the green one is from pure Pandan Juice. The round Tang Yuen must be placed on a piece of Mahjung paper to absorb extra water from the dough so that it tastes 'Q' when it is cooked.


Boil brown sugar syrup with some Pandan Leaves to make it more fragrant. The Tang Yuen and the syrup should be made one night earlier. The syrup should be cold when cooked Tang Yuen is poured into it. Taste better this way.

Next morning, on the Big Day, Granny would wake up early to cook the Tang Yuen before serving some on the praying altar and later to all her grandchildren. I woke up early this morning to cook the Tang Yuen before going to work.

The Tang Yuen floated above means it is cooked. Some would( 飞水)wash quickly in cold running water the Tang Yuen to make it "Q" but mine is simple, just add the cooked Tang Yuen in the cold syrup I made a night earlier. It tastes "Q" too!

I pack some to work and left half a pot at home for Kevin, my youngest son. Sean, the big one is away holidaying in Spore, he must be missing my home made Tang Yuen too. Both of them love Tang Yuen so much that they want me to make them on normal days too!

Winter Solstice is being celebrated in different parts of the world by different people of different race and religion. I have got to know this from here :

http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice
http://http//www.farmersalmanac.com/astronomy/a/winter-solstice-longest-night-of-the-year

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!