This is obviously very embarrassing – not just for the one of me. Of our entire lives and my entire 27 years of life we’ve never made “tong yuen” before. It’s not really surprising because sis and i am pracitcally useless in the kitchen but imagine my surprise when i found out mom never made it before either.
All the while i thought my parents’ generation knows the way with all sorts of stuff like “tong yuen” and things like “bachang”…
Mom being helpless in this makes me guiltily satisfied *evil grin*
Me kneading hard
So anyways, sis and i were suddenly in the mood to make “tong yuen”. Probably because we saw the instant “tong yuen” for sale in the frozen food section a few days back in Jusco .
So i was fantasizing and day dreaming about me making the best, shiny glutinous rice balls and everyone giving me a standing ovation and rushing up to pat my back; secretly orders for next year’as Winter Solstice. Oh the fame and the glory!
Peanut grind
Mom bought us the ingredients and the ready made dough from some ah sam at the pasar… ermmm it wasn’t my idea to get the ready made dough ok. I really wanted to make it from flour and everything but since mom bought it i couldn’t just bin it right?
Can see my Ferero or not?
Actually i want to sue the ah sam who sold us that dough lor. I think she didn’t used the correct type of flour so the dough was super dry and cracked easily. We tried kneading it but the more we knead the worst it gets. When all fails we tried adding a little water before kneading but it cracks too.
Mom’s huge creation
Making “tong yuen” with fillings isn’t as easy as it sounds too. Mom prepared the peanuts grind with sugar and we tried to put the stuffing then roll it into a ball but ermm… it the dough keep on cracking LOL.
Mom made the first “tong yuen” but the whole thing fell apart so she simply roll the mess up into a ball which turned out to be the largest one i’ve seen (almost the size of an eyeball) .
It was then that i asked her whether she had never made “tong yuen” before to which she answered me with a cheeky “Yeah, i never made before but so what??”.
Square tong yuen
Sis was making really tiny ones but in the end she got fed up and the “tong yuen” got bigger and bigger.
“Make bigger faster done ma!”
She even made square shaped ones just to entertain herself.
I got fed up because i can’t get the dough to wrap the peanuts grind properly so i just made the balls and drop in to the bowl of peanuts. I call my creation the “tong yuen” ala Ferero Rocher.
The end result wasn’t as bad as expected. The rice balls was a little soft and not as chewy but it was edible lor.
I’m so proud of myself. Next time i’m going to make a pot-full of rainbow colored “tong yuen” and the boyfriend have to finished the whole pot or else. Blek!
These are so special. I wanna try it too. :p