The Chinese Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival, called Yuan Xiao Jie in Chinese, is celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar month.  This year, in 2012, it will be on February 7th.  The fifteenth day is the first full moon of the new year and marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations.  The word Yuan means the first month, xiao is the ancient word for "night," and Jie means "day."  Along with decorating the house with lanterns, the Chinese also enjoy the traditional food  ( of course) of this festival - small glutinous rice balls filled with sweetened peanut paste, ground black sesame seeds or red bean paste.  These delicious rice balls, about the size of small ping pong balls, are called Yuan Xiao.

Few Chinese makes these at home anymore due to busy schedules and because you can easily purchase excellent frozen Yuan Xiao in most any Asian market.

Frozen Glutinous Rice Balls (Yuan Xiao)

Frozen rice balls before cooking

I like the ones filled with ground peanuts or black sesame seeds.  They are very easy to prepare, but do keep them frozen until you are ready to cook or they will stick together.

When done the rice balls will float to the surface.

Simply drop frozen rice balls into a pot of boiling water and gently stir to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.  When the water returns to a boil, reduce the heat to maintain a nice, steady boil that's not too vigorous. Stir occasionally to keep them from sticking.  When they float, they are ready.

  I like to let them boil for an extra 30 seconds to one minute after they pop up to the surface.  Serve them with a little of the hot water in a bowl.  They will be hot, so don't put a whole rice ball into your mouth at once.  Pick one up with a spoon and take a small bite.  The filling will begin to ooze out and cool a little, whereupon you can nibble some more or take a larger bite.

Yuan Xiao with sweet peanut paste filling.

Complete your enjoyment of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations by serving these deliciously addictive sweets on February 7th, the Lantern Festival Day.  The sticky glutinous rice balls symbolize the sticking together of friends and family and the sweet fillings represent a sweet year ahead.

Happy Lantern Festival!