Tang Yuan
-Recipe from Diana's Desserts - www.dianasdesserts.com

Ingredients: Glutinous Rice Balls
8 ounce glutinous rice flour
Water
½ - ¾ ounce sugar (orange type)
Food coloring (pink, yellow)

Ingredients: Syrup
10 ounces water
4-5 pandan leaves, washed and tied in a knot*
2 inch knob ginger, crushed (add more if a stronger ginger taste is desired)
3 ½ ounces sugar (orange type)

*If you cannot find pandan leaves, you may substitute with pandan extract or essence to flavor the syrup. Pandan extract or essence may be found in Asian food stores in the US

Ingredients: Red Beans
200 grams adzuki or lighter color pinkish type beans
20 ounces hot water
3 ½ ounces sugar (orange type)
A few pieces of chen pi (pieces of dried mandarin orange skin)

Directions:
For the glutinous rice balls, add sufficient water to flour and knead into dough. Divide dough into 2 parts. Add food coloring to one part. Knead each dough well. Make balls from the dough. Bring water to boil in a big pot and drop in dough balls to cook. When cooked, balls will rise to the surface. Drain balls and put in a big bowl. Add about 15-20 grams of sugar to mix with the balls. Set aside.

For the syrup, bring water to boil in a pot with the pandan leaves and ginger. Add sugar and cook until sugar dissolves. Discard pandan leaves and ginger.

Simmer beans and chen pi in hot water in the slow cooker for 2-3 hours. Add sugar when beans are cooked. Keep warm until served. These pinkish color beans won’t break into bits when cooked.

To serve, put cooked glutinous rice balls into individual bowls. Add cooked beans and hot syrup as desired. Makes 4 to 5 servings.

 
Tang Yuan story:

Tang Yuan and Yuan Xiao are a traditional food for the Lantern Festival. They are glutinous rice balls made of glutinous rice flour rolled round with varieties of sweet fillings such as black sesame paste, peanut paste, red bean paste or lotus paste. These sweet dumplings are often cooked in a red bean dessert or slab sugar with a piece of ginger to make a soup. These round shaped Tang Yuan or sometimes called  Yuan Xiao (sweet dumplings) symbolize family unity, completeness and happiness to mark the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.