Tangyuan — glutinous rice flour balls filled with black sesame paste or sweet peanut paste, served in a sweet ginger broth — represent the Chinese glutinous rice sweet preparation tradition. The key: glutinous rice flour (different from regular rice flour) contains almost entirely amylopectin starch (vs amylose in regular rice flour) — this produces an extremely sticky, elastic, translucent cooked texture that has no equivalent in any other starch.
- **Glutinous rice flour (nuò mǐ fěn):** Produced from waxy rice — the high amylopectin content produces the characteristic sticky, elastic cooked texture. - **The dough:** Glutinous rice flour + boiling water — the boiling water partially gelatinises some starch, producing a pliable, non-sticky dough. - **The black sesame filling:** Roasted black sesame seeds ground with sugar and lard — the lard is essential for the spreading quality of the filling when bitten. - **The cooking:** Boiled in water until they float (indicating the rice starch has fully gelatinised) + 1 more minute. The float is the doneness signal. - **The ginger broth:** Sweet, simple — fresh ginger, water, rock sugar. Provides the aromatic counterpoint to the rich sesame filling.
China: The Cookbook