‘Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. It’s not about nutrients and calories. It’s about sharing. It’s about honesty. It’s about identity.’ –Dutch scientist and Louise Fresco
I woke up early yesterday to make glutinous rice balls (tang yuan) with glutinous rice flour.
Yesterday was the Dongzhi Festival or Winter Solstice Festival, a special day for Chinese all over the world.
The festival is celebrated on the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year and the longest night. It typically falls on December 21, 22 or 23. This year, it was celebrated on December 21.
Besides reflecting the deep-rooted traditions in Chinese society, it also emphasises family togetherness.
My tang yuan were very simple; they were just white because I did not add any colouring to the dough.
I mixed the glutinous rice flour and water before kneading them until they became a soft ball of dough. I added a little water if the dough was too dry and a bit more flour if it was too sticky.
Then I boiled a pot of water, added pandan leaves to it. When the water was boiling, I added the tang yuan one by one. Then I waited until all the tang yuan floated to the top.
After that, I scooped some and and put them in a bowl of water which had been boiled with sugar.
Celebrants who were adventurous could make black sesame tang yuan or ground nut tang yuan.
I learnt to make tang yuan from an elderly aunty in Sibu when I was a teenager. It took me a while to master the art of making glutinous rice balls.
Indeed, when it comes to mastering an art, practice makes perfect. At first, the rice balls I made were anything but round.
My friends, do you know you can buy ready-made tang yuan from some of the stalls in the wet markets nowadays?
You can also buy glutinous rice flour dough from the stalls, especially on the day of the festival. All you have to do is to shape the dough into small balls, add the tang yuan to a pot of boiling water and wait for the balls to float to the top.
After that, you add them to boiled sugar water before enjoying them.
You can also buy frozen red bean or black sesame tang yuan from the supermarkets. Modernisation has made life easier for many consumers including celebrants of Dongzhi Festival.
I almost forgot that yesterday was the Dongzhi Festival. Luckily, my best friend reminded in the nick of time.
That’s the problem with Chinese people who are English-educated like me; if I don’t check the Internet or look at Chinese calendars, I don’t know when important Chinese festivals like the Dongzhi Festival are held.
When I was a young girl living in Sibu, everyone in the closely knit neighbourhood would know if a Chinese festival was round the corner. The elderly aunties and grandmothers would remind each other and everyone in the neighbourhood about it days in advance.
Traditional Chinese families then took the festivals seriously. During the Dongzhi Festival, every Chinese family would eat tang yuan. If a family did not know how to make them, those who could would happily present some to them.
Having lived in Kuching for decades, I really miss the friendly neighbourhoods in Sibu especially during the Chinese festivals.
I used to look forward to celebrating the Dongzhi Festival not only because I liked to eat tang yuan but also because I was told that the festival signified that the Chinese New Year was just a month away.
“It is celebrated just one month before the Chinese New Year,” one elderly aunty once told me.
This knowledge made me very happy because I loved the family reunion dinner and lion dances that came with the Lunar New Year.
My friends, do you know that there is also a belief, especially among the Chinese elders, that only those who eat the tang yuan will grow one year older?
Not so long ago, the unthinkable happened to me. I forgot to celebrate the Dongzhi Festival. I did not know it was time to celebrate the festival. So I went to work as usual. I only knew about it the next day but then, it was too late.
Because I failed to grow older by one year, I did not do well in my career the following year. I also faced a few challenges in my private life. All these made me all the more determined to remember celebrating the Dongzhi Festival every year after that.
Yesterday, because I had to work and because of my shift duties, I could not join my family members for a traditional Dongzhi Festival feast. I only had time to eat the tang yuan I made and prepare some simple food in my own house.
I come from a traditional family; my dear late father believed a festival was not a festival unless there was pipping hot festive food in the kitchen like rice, chicken and noodles.
Hence, yesterday I had to celebrate the Dongzhi Festival with tang yuan and freshly cooked food in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, my younger sister, who lived in Johor Bahru, made tang yuan with sugar water as well as Hakka Savoury Tang Yuan Soup which she learnt from her mother-in-law.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune.
