Taro and mini Tang Yuan in Ginger infused Syrup

You may have noticed I eat taro often recently. Exactly, autumn and winter is the season of root vegetable. Though taro is available almost year round, it’s particularly creamy, starchy and sweet in autumn and winter. Taro is commonly seen in many Asian cuisines and it can be braised, steamed, in soup, and in dessert. In this winter tongsui recipe, I would use mini taro, which is silkier and less starchy. Sweet soup is as important as savoury soup in Cantonese cooking. Just like savoury soups, Cantonese cook tong-sui according to the season and body condition. In cold days, Cantonese like to use more ginger in soup and season with red sugar, instead of rock sugar. It’s believe that ginger and red sugar can provide more ‘heat’ to the body.

Read more of my taro recipes – Autumn snack – savoury taro pancake, Early Autumn seasonal food – How to cook braised duck and taro, Taro and Purple Glutinous Rice Pudding, Handmade Taro Balls.

Read more about my seasonal tongsui/Cantonese dessert recipes – Classic Cantonese dessert – Healthy Black Sesame Sweet Soup with Small Tangyuen, Autumn Tong-sui, snow fungus, pear and sea coconut Cantonese sweet soup.

Ingredients – for 4 serving
 Small taro, 500g, if you can’t obtain small taro, then big ones would be good as well;
 Ginger, 50g, peeled;
 Glutinous rice flour, 1 cup;
 Sweet osmanthus, 1tbsp. It’s usually packed in a jar, just like jam. Try to obtain it in your local good Chinese grocery store. If not, maple syrup, or any syrup you like, or just sugar;
 Red sugar, 4tbsp, or brown sugar;
 Water, 800ml.

How to do –
1. Taro peeled, and cut into big chunks, ginger also;
2. Put them in a soup pot, put in 800ml of water, lid on, bring to boil in high heat then simmer for 30 minutes; then you could remove the ginger;

3. When the soup is simmering, let’s make the mini sweet dumplings. 1 cup of glutinous rice flour, 1 tbsp of sweet osmanthus, add about half cup of water gradually and stir with a chopstick till flaky; knead the dough till smooth; divide it into small portions; roll to thumb nail size small balls;
4. Bring a pot of water to boil, put in the mini tangyuen, cook till float on water top;

5. The taro should be cooked to tender now. Remove the ginger; season the soup with about 4-5tbsp of red sugar; mini tangyuen drained and transferred to the soup; bring to boil then it’s good to serve;
6. Garnish with a little shredded cooked ginger.