Cooking Classes- Tangyuan or Sweet Dumplings

Learning how to cook a few "authentic" Chinese dishes has been on my list of things to do while I live here in Shanghai. A couple of weeks ago, I spotted an ad for a cooking class and so I sent off an e-mail and received a prompt reply.

The classes are geared towards expatriate ladies who love food and cooking and want to meet other like minded women, is very reasonably priced and is within a short walking distance of the apartment. All the criteria that I needed for encouragement. I signed up for the January session and loved it enough to recommend it to friends of mine and they all joined me for the session we had today. The session is a demonstration of two dishes. When the chef has finished making the second dish, the ladies adjourn to the restaurant, eat the two dishes, as well as about ten other dishes prepared just for us. Armed with the recipes, we go home ostensibly to reproduce them now that we have an insight to how they are prepared as well as are now familiar with the ingredients (they bring the containers so that we can recognize them the next time we are at the supermarket).

Yesterday was the final day of the Chinese Spring Festival, or New Year celebration. The fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar is marked by the lighting of very festive lanterns and letting off the last of the fireworks ( or at least I hope so- it was super loud all the way to midnight last night). It is also tradition to eat sweet dumplings (tangyuan) that are served for good luck.


So to acknowledge the new year, today's class was a demonstration, as well as a hands on session. The chef made the dough, and the filling came ready made. Then she showed us how to make the balls, to flatten them, fill them, and seal them. It looked very easy, but was not. Despite having seen that very demonstration on the local television about one hour before the class, my dumplings were still substandard. I will say, in my defense, that although they turned out a tad large, they were still mostly sealed. We all went home with our dumplings. I did not boil them up for desert tonight- maybe tomorrow- I'm not sure how they will hold up in the boiling water. The good news, because I really like these since they remind me of mochi, is that they are cheaply available at any grocery store. In fact, I have some in the freezer.

In case you are interested in producing these yourself, here is the recipe. Happy cooking!

TANGYUAN

250 grams of glutinous rice flour
Lukewarm water to mix with the flour
Black sesame 250 grams
Sugar 100 grams
Sesame Oil 50 grams

Stir fry the black sesame seeds until they are fragrant, grind them into a powder (in blender or food processor). Mix in oil until it forms a thick paste- make into small balls for later use (or if you live here- you can skip this part and get the paste at the store)

Add lukewarm water to glutinous rice flour, gradually. Mix with hands and gradually add more water until it forms into dough. Knead until soft- warning: this dough dries out quickly. Divide dough into small portions.

Roll the portions into small balls. Make an indentation and gradually shape it to hold the sesame paste. Seal the ball and roll it so that it regains a perfect ball shape. Set aside. If the dough becomes too dry to work with, add water to your hands.

Drop the prepared balls into boiling water. As the water regains a boil, let it boil for a moment or two, the add cold water to the pot, and return to a boil. Do this once more for perfectly cooked dumplings. Stir carefully when adding them to the water to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Serve in small bowls with the "soup" - don't eat that part.



Happy Year of the Ox!!

(by the way - my regrets for being skimpy on the postings in the last few months- I have struggled with the photos in my camera and have lacked some enthusiasm for posting- I think that may be over now)