Oooohhh! Its the time of the year again – 冬至 (Winter Solistice). On this day, to celebrate winter, one of the customs include boiling rice balls (made from glutinious rice flour) and eating them with sweetened soup.
These glutinious rice balls are known as ‘Tang Yuan’ 湯圓 and in the Chinese custom, its where families come together to enjoy these tang yuan and the ball symbolises reunion.
I could not resist but made my tang yuan balls cute! I hope you like find my tang yuan kawaii. I made them into Kiioritori characters!!
This recipe is following the Japanese dango balls recipe. Inspired by Junko’s book, I used the glutinous rice flour and added tofu to make the basic dough and created these Kiioritori tang yuan rice balls!
Here is the recipe and step by step recipe, I hope you like it.
Ingredients (makes 8 Kiioritori)
40g of Japanese glutinous rice flour
42~48g of silken tofu
Red food coloring
Yellow food coloring
Dark brown food coloring
Method
1. Mix 42g of tofu to the flour, use your hands to knead.
2. The dough should come together to form a smooth ball that does not stick to your hands. The texture is like your ear lobe feels like (sorry for this vivid description :P) If it is dry and show cracks, add a little tofu at a time until the texture is right.Â
3. Separate the flour into 2 balls, one large (about 90%) and one smaller (10%). Mix food coloring and knead until the colour is even. The large dough is yellow and the smaller one is orange.Â
Tip: While you are creating the designs, keep the dough in cling wrap to prevent them from drying out. E.g. while you are working on the yellow dough, be sure to wrap other dough. In the event if it drys up, you will find that it cracks when you are shaping it. (Dont worry), add just a little tiny square of tofu to the dough, reknead and you should be good to go again :)
4. Create the 8 flat round dough and add the orange mouth for kiioritori. I use straw to measure out the amounts for the mouth. Then using a toothpick, create marks where the eyes, feet and nostrils of the kiioritori characters. Use a small tiny brush, add the dark brown food coloring to complete the facial and feet features.Â
5. Boil the rice balls in hot water until they bowl. Remove and place them in a bowl of (iced water is preferred) water.Â
6. Serve with your favorite sweetened soup. If not, you can also pair it with ice-cream and some anko paste (bean paste).Â
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June 26, 2014
Also, I see some recipes that use just the flour and water. I personally went out and got the silken tofu like you did ^_^ but the tofu is in place of the water? Do you find it makes a difference in taste?
June 27, 2014
Hello :) I have tried the flour and water versions. In terms of taste after cooking, the one made from silken tofu feels more chewy and the flour and water only one is softer. However, for making character design, I recommend shiratamako flour and tofu as somehow the dough does not dry up that easily when you are making the designs. The one with flour and water I have to often still dab some water and re-knead the dough while I am working as it will dry up and start cracking and its harder to shape them into the smaller details. The other tip is to cover your unused dough in cling wrap while you are working on the designs. Eg in this case while you are working on the body (yellow dough), you should keep the other orange dough in cling wrap.
June 26, 2014
The dark food coloring won’t disappear into the water when you boil them, right?
June 27, 2014
:) The dark colors for like the eyes are feet will just lighten slightly but not significant enough to affect your design :) To prevent too much loss of the dark parts, I usually make indentation. E.g. for the eyes part, I will use a toothpick or skewer like object to make two shallow indentations, but fill in the colors for the eyes. The dough however will darken just a tad, so in this case you can see that the yellow will become slightly stronger in color tone after boiling.
December 22, 2013
This is so cute! Thanks for sharing, I can’t wait to try this and to experiment with different designs!
December 31, 2013
Awww thank you so much! Have fun and look forward to seeing your creations!!
December 22, 2013
Yummy!!! So kawaii ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡
December 31, 2013
Hehh thank you!! :) glad you like it!!