TheStar Online (December 22, 2010)
IT IS a merry family affair whenever Lau Kwai Fong makes glutinuous rice balls (tang yuan) for the Winter Solstice festival.
IT IS a merry family affair whenever Lau Kwai Fong makes glutinuous rice balls (tang yuan) for the Winter Solstice festival.
Her daughters-in-law and grandchildren will gather at her home in Petaling Jaya to knead, roll and boil the tang yuan before bowls of the marble-sized balls are offered at the altar for prayers.
Lau, 80, has been making the glutinous rice balls from the time she got married.
Closely-knit: Samantha (second from left) feeding her grandmother Lau with the tang yuan while Lau’s other grandchildren Nicholas (left), Nigel (third from left) and Benjamin look on.She insists that the tang yuan must be hand- made, which she does lovingly for the family.
“I do not buy ready-made ones because I don’t know the ingredients or colouring that are used,” said Lau.
“It’s not really hard work. I have my children and my daughters-in-laws to help me. Sometimes, I would do it myself because I know they are busy,” she said.
The sweet syrup is made from rock sugar and added with pandan leaves for fragrance, while ginger lends a tinge of “piquancy” to enhance the taste and also remove any overwhelming feeling of eating too much tang yuan.
“Once the balls start floating to the surface, I would scoop them up as they are well-boiled.”
Her tang yuan were springy in texture, and not at all rubbery with flour. It was a testament of her experience and skills after so many years.
Her granddaughter, Samantha Khoo, 17, said she enjoyed making the tang yuan every year.
“We used to make them in many different colours but it’s a lot of work, so we just stick to the basic white, green (from pandan leaves) and pink (from permitted food colouring).
“This is one festival where we can get in touch with our Chinese roots,” she said.
Her brother, Nigel Khoo, said he could easily have three bowls at one go.
Lau said to the Chinese, Winter Solstice (Dong Zhi) was even bigger than the Chinese New Year.
Winter Solstice falls around Dec 22 every year.
It is a day that families gather to enjoy glutinous rice balls with bowls of steaming hot, sweet ginger soup.
In China, it is traditionally celebrated at the beginning of winter to remind of another year gone by, and for one to look forward to the new year.
The glutinous rice balls are meant to symbolise family unity and perfect health — the rounder the balls, the stronger the family ties are!
On the day of the festival, the whole family will gather together for prayers.
The tang yuan will be placed on the altar and once prayers are over, family members will have the sweet dessert together.
An old belief observed during the festival is that if there is a pregnant woman in the family, a dollop of the dough would be placed in the fire to predict the gender of the baby from the shape of the burst dough!
