Cantonese Salty Rice Balls (咸丸)
A classic for the Winter Solstice, but universally fantastic in cooler weather.
If you’re familiar with Chinese sweets at all, there’s a good chance you know about Tangyuan (汤圆) – chewy sticky rice balls that could be loosely (emphasis: loosely) compared to Japanese Mochi. They’re usually stuffed with some sort of sweet filling – brown sugar, bean paste, or perhaps most classically black sesame – and eaten in a sugary soup much like this.
But come winter, in pockets throughout (but not limited to) the Pearl River Delta, you can start to see these sticky rice balls in… savory form. It’s one of those things that can sometimes seem a little odd to people from the North of China – sort of akin to someone formulating a savory ice cream and topping it with a hollandaise. But it works, and is a phenomenal introduction to Tangyuan if – like me – Chinese desserts weren’t quite love-at-first-bite for you.
Now, of all the towns in the Cantonese cultural sphere, probably the very most famous spot for savory Tangyuan is likely none other than Toishan. For the unaware, Toishan and the surrounding counties of Yanping, Hoiping, and Sunwui (collectively known as the Sze Yup or “four counties”), was perhaps the epicenter of Cantonese emigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. So given that there’s a good chunk of Chinese-American families that are Toishanese in ancestry – and that it’s such a classic dish to the region – if you poke around a bit, you should be able to find a few Toishanese Savory Tangyuan soup recipes in English online. Made with Lau has a recipe if you’re curious about that style, and over on our Patreon/Substack Subscriber Discord, the incredibly talented jeneric also shared her family’s recipe.
But Steph’s family also enjoyed making savory Tangyuan as well, especially for the winter solstice. Her paternal Grandmother hailed from Dongguan on the other side of the delta – a city that’s a bit of an agglomeration of important historical towns, but’s now primarily known for its manufacturing.
This is the Dongguan-style of savory Tangyuan soup that Steph grew up with.
Below, we’ll separate the recipes for the Tangyuan itself from the Dongguan-style soup, as (1) Steph prefers to cook the Tangyuan separately to control the thickness of the soup better and (2) filling-less Tangyuan can also be purchased frozen in the form of Nuomi Xiaowanzi (糯米小丸子) - not totally the same thing (they’re smaller in size), but would absolutely be a solid shortcut for the lazy.
Tangyuan
Ingredients:
Sticky Rice Flour (糯米粉), 400g
Salt, 1/4 tsp
Hot, boiled water, 280g. From the kettle, roughly 80 degrees Celsius.
Room temperature water, ~160g. You may need a little bit more or a little less. Refer to the process below.
Process:
In a mixing bowl, add the 1/4 tsp salt to the rice flour and mix. Then slowly and evenly drizzle in 280g hot, boiled water into the flour, forming scraggly little bits.
Then, toss the flour onto a large working surface and start pressing it into a rough dough. Once all the flour that can be pressed together is pressed together (you’ll likely have a good bit of dry flour bits about), start drizzling in cool water a tablespoon or two at a time… sticking the loose flour bits together and press that into the dough at first.
Continue to drizzle water into the dough, tablespoon or two at a time, all while pressing and folding the water in. Once the dough becomes pliable and feels a bit like your earlobe, it’s ready.
Then, smear a bit of oil onto your big plate to prevent sticking. Take a small piece of dough, roll into half inch thick logs, take an 1-inch section and roll into a ball. Because they form very easily, you can roll 2 or 3 balls at a time by placing them about half to one inch apart.
Once you’re done working through the dough, get a big pot of water ready. With the flame on medium high, gently slide the balls into your pot of simmering water. Once it comes to boil, add in half cup cool water, and let it come back up to a boil. Then, repeat: add in another half of cup water and bring to a boil boil once again.
All the balls should be floating at this stage. Scoop them out into some cool water, preferably an ice bath. Rinse the Tangyuan under running water to cool them down completely .
Hold the balls in cool water until they’re ready to go into the soup.
Dongguan-style Soup (Serves 4-5)
Ingredients:
Dried Shrimp (虾米), 20g
Dried Scallop (瑶柱), 15g
Dried Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇), 5 pcs
Dried Squid (鱿鱼干/土鱿), 30g
Lap Cheong Sausage (腊肠/广式腊肠), 1/2 stick
Chicken, bone-in, ~500-600g. Roughly a half a small bird, chopped into ~1 inch pieces. Use the best quality chicken you can find, Silkie Chicken would be nice if you can spring it.
Marinade for the Chicken:
Salt, 1/8 tsp
White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), 1/8 tsp
Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), 1 tsp
Pork shoulder, a.k.a. Boston Butt, 160g. We're calling for the shoulder for the purpose of international replicability, as it’s the most flavorful cut when it comes to mass-produced pork. If in China or somewhere with higher quality pork, use the loin (里脊肉/瘦肉).
Marinade for the Pork:
Salt, 1/8 tsp
White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), 1/8 tsp
Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), 1 tsp
Fishballs (鱼蛋/鱼丸), 160g. You can also use fresh fish (see note below)
Napa Cabbage (娃娃菜/黄芽白), 200g
Daikon (萝卜), 200g
Green Garlic (蒜苗) -or- Chinese Celery (香芹), preferably -or- Scallion, 30g. If using Green Garlic or Scallion, separate the whites from the greens, cutting both into one inch pieces. The whites will be fried as an aromatic and the greens will finish the dish. If using Chinese celery, separate in a similar way - the stem will be used as the aromatic, and the leaves will finish the dish.
Ginger (姜), 1 inch. Cut into slices.
Oil, ~2-3 tbsp. For use while stir-frying.
Reserved soaking liquid from the dried shrimp, scallop, and shiitake. Will likely be about 1 cup total.
Water, 7 cups
Sugar, 1 tsp
Final Seasoning. Or, to taste.
Salt, 1/4 tsp
Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), 1/2 tsp
MSG (味精), 1/4 tsp
Soy sauce (生抽), 2 tsp
White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), 1/2 tsp
Toasted Sesame Oil (麻油), 1 tsp
Note on Fish Choices: You can also use fish fillet. Slice the fish into about ~1 inch cubes, and pan fry in about ~2 tbsp of oil over a medium flame. Once golden, remove. Add back into the soup once there’s about five minutes remaining.
Note on Nuomi Xiaowanzi: You can also use store bought frozen sticky rice balls that’s without a filling. Those are about 1/3 the size of homemade balls but it can also work if you don’t feel like making all the balls by yourself. Cook them according to the package like we did in the video. Just remember, no need to thaw.
Process:
To prepare the Dried Ingredients. The night before cooking, reconstitute all the dry ingredients except the sausage. Next day, reserve the soaking liquid and discard any sediment.
Quickly rinse the dry shrimp and scallop, gently wash the mushroom ridges, cut the squid open if it’s a whole “cone”, take out any possible remaining bones and organs. (Note that most of the squid you get at Cantonese dried good section are quite clean already, but give it a wash nonetheless in case there’s sand.)
Cut off the mushroom stems and slice them up, and cut the squid into same length strips. Also slice and cut the Lap Cheong into matchstick size strips, about an inch and a half in length.
To prepare the Fresh meats and Vegetables. Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces if you’re working from a whole. Marinate with 1/8 tsp each of salt and white pepper, plus 1 teaspoon Liaojiu aka Shaoxing wine.
Slice the pork into half centimeter thick pieces, same marinate as the chicken.
If you’re using fresh fish fillet, then give it the same marinate as the chicken. If you’re using fish ball or similar fish products, then just cut them in half.
Cut both the napa cabbage into 1-inch pieces. Peel the daikon, slice then cut into 1 and half inch long pieces that’re about the thickness of one thick chopstick.
Separate the white and the green of green garlic (or scallion), reserve the white as aromatic and cut the green into 1 inch sections.
To prepare the soup. To a hot wok, add in 1 tbsp of oil, and fry the ginger until it’s fragrant. Then, add in the chicken, fry it until shrinks a bit and the color’s changed. Take everything out and reserve on the side.
No need to wash the wok, add in another tbsp oil. Heat on medium high, add in the green garlic/scallion whites, and fry until fragrant.
Add in the scallop and shrimp, quick fry till fragrant, then toss in the mushroom and sausage. Fry for another 2 minutes, then add in the daikon, quick fry, and swirl in some liaojiu aka Shaoxing wine. Fry for another 2-3 minutes.
Next, scoop everything to the side, add in another ~1.5 tbsp oil. Add in and fry the pork in until its color’s changed, then drizzle in the ~1 cup of soaking liquid to deglaze. Add in 7 cups of cool water, cover and bring to a boil. Boil on medium low for 10 minutes.
Add in the chicken, napa cabbage, and fish balls. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
Then, add in the rice balls and the seasoning. Sprinkle the green garlic on top, finish with the drizzle of toasted sesame oil. Serve directly into each person’s own eating bowl.