Tong Yuen

According to Wikipedia - "The Dōngzhì Festival or Winter Solstice Festival (Chinese: 冬至; Pinyin: dōng zhì; "The Extreme of Winter") is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians during the Dongzhi solar term on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest; i.e., on the first day of the Dongzhi solar term
The origins of this festival can be traced back to the Yin and Yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, there will be days with longer daylight hours and therefore an increase in positive energy flowing in. The philosophical significance of this is symbolized by the I Ching hexagram fù (復, "Returning").
Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get togethers (especially in the southern parts of China and in Chinese communities overseas) is the making and eating of Tangyuan (湯圓, Cantonese jyutping: tong1 jyun2; Mandarin Pinyin: Tāng Yuán) or balls of glutinuous rice, which symbolize reunion. "

According to what i have been told since i was a child that we must take these 'tong yuen' so that we will be a year older. I have not ate these balls for quite a while, no wonder I am not getting older - ha ha - how i wish.

HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE

Ingredients:

1 lb glutinious flour mix with 2 tablespoon of sugar
1 cup of boiling water

1 cup of room temperature water
.
Method:

Pour hot water into glutinious flour and using a wooden spoon, mix the dough. Slowly add some room temperature water and keep adding water till you get a dough that doesn’t stick to your hand. (There is no firm and fast rule on the quantity of flour versus water. Just add flour or water to get the right consistency)

Once the dough is pliable, separate them into small portions and add food colourings.

Roll dough into tiny consistent size balls.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and drop in the balls. Once they float, they are cooked.

Prepare a big bowl of room temperature water that has been boiled. Scoop the tang yuan from the pot and put them in the bowl of water.

FOR THE SYRUP

Cook rock sugar, ginger slices , pandan leaves and water to make a sweet syrup.

Cool syrup before adding in the cooked balls.

Serve at room temperature.

Serves