Today is the fifteenth day of Chinese lunar calendar - a special festival day called Yuan-xiao Jie (Lantern Festival). It marks the last day of Spring Festival. There are various versions about the origin of the festival. If you want to know more, the website http://www.lantern-festival.com can tell you everything.
In Chinese tradition, people celebrate the day by lighting lanterns; playing guessing games such as answering conundrums, solving puzzles; and eating Yuan-xiao (also called Tang-yuan), referred to in English as glutinous rice ball because its main ingredient is flour made from “glutinous” or “sticky” rice. The fillings can vary. The very traditional one is stuffed with sweet black sesame paste.
When I was small, my mother used to make Yuan-xiao herself. She always made balls with several different fillings. There were balls with minced pork meat, or sweet peanut paste, or black and white sesame paste, or vegetables. What I like most was ones without filling.
This morning I made a special breakfast for the day: Yuan-xiao in egg and sweet fermented rice wine soup seasoned with dehydrated osmanthus flowers. A nostalgia taste!
In Chinese tradition, people celebrate the day by lighting lanterns; playing guessing games such as answering conundrums, solving puzzles; and eating Yuan-xiao (also called Tang-yuan), referred to in English as glutinous rice ball because its main ingredient is flour made from “glutinous” or “sticky” rice. The fillings can vary. The very traditional one is stuffed with sweet black sesame paste.
When I was small, my mother used to make Yuan-xiao herself. She always made balls with several different fillings. There were balls with minced pork meat, or sweet peanut paste, or black and white sesame paste, or vegetables. What I like most was ones without filling.
This morning I made a special breakfast for the day: Yuan-xiao in egg and sweet fermented rice wine soup seasoned with dehydrated osmanthus flowers. A nostalgia taste!
