Finished dish photo of Five-Colored Tangyuan

Five-Colored Tangyuan

This is a tangyuan recipe that makes full use of purple sweet potatoes, using them both for the filling and the dough. Some are steamed for filling, some are boiled for the dough, and the leftover boiled water can even magically change colors to create colorful dough wrappers. The water from boiling purple sweet potatoes turns bluish-green. When acidic lemon juice is added, it turns pink, and when mixed with alkaline baking soda, it turns green. This is due to the unique properties of anthocyanins, making the process both beautiful and magical. Aside from adding a little walnut, no sugar or oil was added, resulting in low fat content, low sugar content, high vitamin content (B vitamins, vitamin C), high mineral content (potassium, calcium, iron, manganese, etc.), high dietary fiber, and high anthocyanin levels. These attributes greatly benefit health. I call this a Five-High Two-Low Nutritional Tangyuan. What do you say? Give it a try!

Ingredients

Purple sweet potatoto taste
Pumpkinto taste
Glutinous rice flourto taste
Walnut piecesto taste
Black sesame fillingto taste
Lemon juiceto taste
Edible alkalior baking soda

Steps

1

Cut purple sweet potatoes and pumpkin into slices.

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2

Steam until soft and mash into a paste while hot.

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3

Cut another portion of purple sweet potatoes into chunks, add a little water and boil until soft. Scoop out the chunks and mash them into a paste.

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4

Separate the boiled purple sweet potato water into two portions.

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5

Add lemon juice to one portion and a tiny amount of edible alkali to the other.

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6

The water will turn pink and green respectively.

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7

Mix steamed purple sweet potato paste with walnut pieces to form the filling.

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8

Shape the filling into small balls of about 10 grams each.

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9

Add pumpkin paste, boiled purple sweet potato paste, pink water, green water, and plain water respectively to glutinous rice flour to knead into a soft dough.

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10

Take about 10 grams of dough and wrap it around a filling ball.

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11

Seal and roll into a round tangyuan shape.

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12

Boil water in a pot, add the prepared tangyuan and cook until they float to the surface.

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Cooking Tips

1. If steaming the pumpkin in a steamer, it will release a lot of water. Be sure to squeeze out most of the water (you can use a clean cloth), otherwise it will be difficult to form the dough. Steamed purple sweet potatoes are drier, making them suitable for filling, while boiled purple sweet potato paste is good for forming dough due to its moisture. 2. Black sesame filling can be made by grinding black sesame seeds into a paste and adding some sugar or honey. 3. For purple sweet potato paste filling, I didn’t add sugar since the natural sweetness is sufficient. Add sugar if you prefer. 4. Since the filling is already cooked, the tangyuan cooks quickly. Remove them once they float. 5. The ratio of glutinous rice flour to water is typically 10:6. 6. When making dough with pumpkin paste or purple sweet potato paste, the water content may vary, so adjust water accordingly. Pumpkin paste usually has more water, while purple sweet potato paste is drier. 7. Adding edible alkali to one portion of water is for anthocyanin color change. Normally, avoid adding alkali as it can destroy vitamins.