Dishes
Tangyuan (sweet rice-ball soup)
圓仔湯
Also called: 湯圓 · tangyuan · rice ball soup
Chewy glutinous-rice balls in a sweet soup, served hot or cold, often with red beans or peanuts.
What it is
Small, chewy balls of glutinous rice in a sweet soup. Classic partners are red bean soup and peanut soup, and the same rice balls also go over shaved ice.
Where it comes from
Tangyuan are traditionally eaten at the Lantern Festival and are linked with the winter solstice and Lunar New Year. The name sounds close to the word for reunion (團圓), so they are said to stand for family togetherness.
How it is made
Rice is ground, made into dough and rolled into balls by hand, then boiled. At Li Family in Kaohsiung the rice is ground each morning, the peanuts cooked for two to three hours until soft, and the syrup made with raw cane sugar.
How to eat it
Order it hot or cold, or have the rice balls over ice as mixed ice with red bean, mung bean and taro.
In Tainan
Li Family in Yancheng has sold just four things since 1953: red bean soup, peanut soup, rice-ball soup and mixed ice.
Where to eat it in Tainan
Sources