It will usher in the last important festival of the Chinese New Year customs - the Lantern Festival. In my mind, I also remembered a children's song that I used to sing when I was a child: "Selling tangyuan, selling tangyuan, the tangyuan of the little second brother is round and round, and a bowl of soup is complete and full..."
Tangyuan is one of the famous snacks in Ala Ningbo, with a very long history, and Ningbo people also call it soup dumplings.
According to legend, tangyuan originated in the Song Dynasty, when Mingzhou (now Ningbo City) rose to eat a novel food, that is, with black sesame seeds, lard as filling, and then add a small amount of white sugar, the outside with glutinous rice flour into a ball, cooked, eat sweet and soft glutinous and delicious. Because this kind of glutinous rice dumplings will float up and down in the pot, so it was first called "floating yuanzi", and there are many other names in history as "face cocoons, powder fruits, yuanbao, soup cakes, round corners", etc., until the Ming Dynasty Yongle years were officially named "Lantern". So how did the name tangyuan come about? Legend has it that in 1912, Yuan Shikai usurped the fruits of the revolution and became the president, he was bent on becoming emperor, but he was afraid of the opposition of the masses and was afraid of it all day long. Because "Yuan" and "Yuan", "Xiao" and "Elimination" are homophonous, "Yuan Elimination" is suspected of "Yuan Shikai was eliminated", so before the Lantern Festival in 1913, Yuan Shikaijiu ordered that the Lantern Be changed to Tangyuan. This is the origin of the legendary name of Tangyuan.
Every fifteenth day of the first month, Ningbo people always have to eat a bowl of steaming tangyuan. However, there are many kinds of tangyuan all over the country.
Beijing has creamy tangyuan,
Tianjin has honey stuffed tangyuan,
Shanghai has salty tangyuan,
Fuzhou has Mandarin duck tangyuan,
Guangdong has sugar ginger tangyuan,
There is also Hong Kong's "sugar does not fling",
The first in my heart is always the lard soup dumplings in Ala Ningbo! As a post-95 foodie, I ate all kinds of tangyuan, and the only thing I thought about was my grandmother herself and the lard black sesame filling, and the tangyuan wrapped by myself. The taste is simply amazing, the soft glutinous on the outside and the sweet but not greasy lard black sesame seeds on the inside, both the taste and the taste, are the top praise.
The method of lard dumplings sounds very simple, but if the proportions are not accurate, it will affect the taste and appearance of the dumplings. The old bottom makes tangyuan filling, and must put lard so that it tastes fragrant. Prepare the finest water-ground glutinous rice flour, black sesame seeds, lard, white sugar and warm water. After washing and draining the black sesame seeds, slowly stir-fry over low heat and let them cool, grind the cooked sesame seeds into powder, of course, the more delicate the better.
Put the ground lard in the container, add white sugar and black sesame powder and stir well, then roll into a round filling, and wait until the inside is strong, the surface is delicate and shiny, and then you can put it in the refrigerator and set aside.
Next, with years of experience, do not be too wet nor dry, soft and hard moderate, not sticky to the hand as well, otherwise it will affect the taste of the tangyuan. Knead the glutinous rice flour into thick strips and divide them into small sticky rice balls and place them on a new towel that has been wet and then fully wrung out. Take out the refrigerated lard sesame filling in advance, put it at room temperature and cut into small pieces of about 5 grams, and roll into round fillings.
Roll the small glutinous rice balls into a ball in the palm of your hand one by one, poke the hole in the middle, put the filling in with chopsticks, gradually pinch the hole with your fingers, and then put it in the palm of your hand to rub the circle. Such a tangyuan will be ready. After wrapping the rice balls, the next step is to cook the rice balls,
Put the tangyuan into the water, the tangyuan sinks and floats, for which people also created a riddle: "A pair of geese, jumping down the river, drifting drifting, falling falling." "Vividly reproduced the wonderful scene when cooking tangyuan. After the pot is boiled, the tangyuan floats on the surface of the water, just like the poem" in the poem, "In the dark clouds of the stars, the beads float in the turbid water." "It's good-looking, and it's like a bright moon hanging in the night sky." The bright moon in the sky, the tangyuan in the bowl, symbolizes the reunion.
The cooked tangyuan is as white as mutton fat, and it is chubby and round, which is particularly likable, and the white shows its integrity, and the roundness shows its flexibility and rigidity, just like the quality of the Ala Ningbo people who are just right and lively. Use the spice spoon to hold the tangyuan gently blow, put it in the mouth, gently touch it with your teeth, and the fragrant and sweet lard sesame seeds will flow into the mouth, swallow the stomach, and the sweetness hovers between the lips and teeth, stimulating the taste buds and the aftertaste is endless. Don't bite open when eating tangyuan, otherwise the hot stuffing in the tangyuan will make you unable to speak. Tangyuan is not only delicious, the soup of tangyuan is also very delicious, and there will be a faint stickiness of glutinous rice flour in the soup water, which will satisfy the taste buds of foodies with just a small sip. This is authentic Ningbo tangyuan!
Eating tangyuan not only means family reunion, its main ingredient glutinous rice flour contains calcium, iron, phosphorus, riboflavin, niacin and other nutritional elements, "Compendium of Materia Medica" pointed out that glutinous rice taste sweet and warm, is tonic spleen and stomach, good for the lungs of the valley. Glutinous rice is also combined with its regular filling, and the nutritional value is even higher. For this reason, it is regarded by Chinese medicine as a thing that can replenish weakness, adjust blood, strengthen the spleen, and appetize, and modern nutritionists also respect the health care function of tangyuan. However, although the tangyuan is delicious, eating too much will also hurt the body. It is recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" that glutinous rice is sticky and difficult. It is also recorded in the "Materia Medica Fengyuan" that if glutinous rice is made into sticky cakes, it is difficult to transport sexually, and patients cannot eat. Therefore, for those with intestinal diseases, post-illness digestive weakness, the elderly and infants and young children, it is recommended to avoid eating tangyuan, and diabetics should also eat less tangyuan. In addition, tangyuan is a high-calorie and high-sugar food, eat it at the same time should not eat other foods with high sugar content, while reducing the intake of other staple foods. Eating tangyuan is best controlled at about five to six, and excessive amounts will cause a burden on the stomach and intestines.
Even if the people of Ala Ningbo speak with hard bones, they all love to eat this soft and sticky lard soup dumpling!
Edit: Some of the images from betty come from the internet