Celebrating Winter Solstice 冬至快乐！

In Malaysia, it is summer all year round; perhaps our 2 most distinct seasons are the dry and rainy season.

Notwithstanding the fact that we do not have the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, we celebrate winter solstice (冬至) every year by way of preparing and enjoying Tang Yuan (汤圆）.

Tang Yuan (汤圆)

I always like 冬至 since I was young.

Every year on the eve of 冬至, my mom never fail to prepare glutinous rice doughs dyed in different colours: red and white are the most common colours, sometimes with green (colour from pandan juice) and purple (colour from the extract of dried morning glory) doughs as well. After dinner, the parents and kids would gather and start our hours-long journey of rolling the doughs into small balls.

For the kids, it was more like playing with the dough, than the serious task of preparing an offering to the god.

My sisters and I would compete with each other to see who can roll the most number of rice balls on the palms without the balls sticking to each other.

Sometimes accidents happened, and the balls dropped to the floor. With these rejected balls, we would make them into the shape of snake, mouse, chicken etc and have fun with it. My favourite shape is the coiled snake, which sometimes was mistaken as "poo poo" due to its very artistic and crude finish.

Snake? Poo Poo?

In the morning of 冬至, mom always woke up early. She would prepare the salty version of the Tang Yuan (with pork and dried prawn soup) as our breakfast, and the common sweet version Tang Yuan as offering to god.

Sweet version - Tang Yuan in sugar syrup

Salty version - Tang Yuan in pork & dried prawn soup

Mom said each Tang Yuan represents 1 year of age, only after eating a Tang Yuan that we will be 1 year older. So when I was 12, I need to eat at least 12 rice balls for me to be a "true" 12 year-old; now that I am xx years old, I will have to eat A LOT of Tang Yuan to represent my current age. :)

Those were the time in kampung...

Now that my sisters and I are all grown up and are living in the city, only mom and dad are in kampung this year. Mom called last night, said this year she only made tang yuan with one colour - red, as offering to the god, and it took her more than an hour to finish rolling alone. I guess mom and dad must be feeling lonely during this festive season...I wonder when I can save enough money to buy them a house here and invite them to stay nearer with us...

This morning my sisters followed our old tradition of making the salty Tang Yuan as breakfast, and the sweet version for dessert. Hubby said he only want 1 rice ball, but I forced him to have 18 in the end. For myself, I had A LOT, more than my current age for sure! Thanks to my sisters that this year we can enjoy the yummy tang yuan with old time flavour.

I just love Tang Yuan! Don't you?