Tangyuan - Chinese sweet dumplings

peanut filling showing on Chinese sweet dumplings - tangyuan - resting on bowl

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5 from 3 votes

Tangyuan - Chinese sweet dumplings

A smooth, slightly sticky outside around a sweet nutty filling - a tasty traditional treat.

Prep Time20

Cook Time5

Total Time25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Chinese

Servings: (approx - makes 8 balls)

Calories: 453kcal

Author: Adapted from Jodie's Kitchen

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Ingredients

For the outer dough

¾ cup glutinous rice flour
6 tablespoon water hot

For the filling

4 tablespoon peanuts (see notes)
2 tablespoon peanut butter (may need a little less if very soft)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon coconut oil (see notes)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

If not already toasted, dry roast the peanuts in a skillet until gently brown and remove any shell. Place the peanuts, peanut butter, sugar and coconut oil in a food processor and blend until combined - it doesn't have to be smooth, you want a bit of texture.
Take rounded teaspoons of the peanut paste and spoon onto a parchment-lined plate or baking sheet in small mounds, roughly balls. Use all the mixture to make eight balls, as even as possible. Place the plate/baking sheet in the freezer for a couple minutes while you prepare the outer dough.
Mix the rice flour and hot water for the dough to make a smooth dough.
Divide the dough into eight equal pieces and roll into balls. Use some flour on your hands if it is very sticky.
Flatten one of the pieces into a circle either with a rolling pin or your hands. Place one of the chilled peanut filling pieces in the middle. I recommend keeping the remaining filling pieces in the freezer and just take out a couple at a time so they don't get too soft to work with.
Carefully bring up the sides of the dough to join together around the filling. Try not to have it doubled over but relatively even thickness on all sides. Once all joined, gently roll the dumpling in floured hands to form a ball. Repeat with the rest of the pieces of dough.
When ready to cook, bring a pan of water to a continuous boil and add the balls of dough. Cook for a few minutes until they rise to the top (like cooking gnocchi) then remove. You can serve them as they are, but commonly served in a light sugar syrup (see notes below) or warm water.

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Notes

For the best flavor, you want dry toasted peanuts for this - bought dry roasted can have a coating on them that you don't want here, but I found crushed peanuts which were toasted work perfectly. Alternatively, toast your own in a skillet as described above.

Traditionally, lard would be used rather than coconut oil but I find coconut oil better for holding together when cold, plus I prefer the flavor and have on hand more readily.

For a light syrup to serve, combine ½ cup (120ml) water with 2tbsp sugar and a slice of ginger. Place in a small pan and warm through until the sugar dissolves. Allow to cool then remove the ginger. Omit ginger if you prefer not to have the ginger flavor.

Nutrition