A Matter of Texture
Yum cha with the family was always on Sunday morning. Aunties would push carts stacked with bamboo steamers around the restaurant and call out their scrumptious goods. Har gao. Siew mai. Char siu bao. Chee chung fun. Lok bak gou. My eyes would always follow the dessert cart. There would be mango pudding, egg custard tarts, almond jelly with longan fruit, fried sesame balls, or honeydew sago.
Sometimes, they would serve mango and pomelo sago topped with an emoji-like cherry. Frog eggs, that’s what I used to call sago pearls. Those iridescent gummy balls swimming in and ruining an otherwise perfect dessert. I could never understand the inclusion. Them and the bitter pulp of pomelo. All I wanted was the cold creamy mango-coconut concoction and drink it like a decadent milkshake.
But food wastage was not something that was tolerated at the dinner table. Younger me had to finish the entire bowl – frog eggs and all. It was a matter of texture and mouthfeel. Sago pearls were too small to properly bite and if you did, there wasn’t any resistance. They dissipated like bubbles. And they were tasteless – simply the equivalent of shark’s fin in the world of Chinese desserts, or tong sui (糖水).
Yes, I’m also not a big fan of tapioca pearls in bubble tea. But that’s an entirely different story to tell another day. The chewiness of tang yuan (汤圆), more popularly known as mochi balls, is something I’m very fond of though. If I could put these three ingredients on a spectrum of Q-ness, tang yuan would be a nice middle.
On a culinary level, they are even more versatile than sago pearls. Fill them with a selection of nut butter, bean pastes, or even cubes of rock sugar. Deep-fry and roll them in toasted sesame seeds or peanut-sugar dust. Or grill them and then, dip the charred balls in a sweet soy caramel. They also appear in savoury dishes: the dumplings plump with a mix of minced pork, salted radish, and dried shiitake and are served in a hot clear broth. The possibilities are quite endless.
Making tang yuan is also a collaborative affair. Family gossip traded over trays of rolled dough. Teacups stained with powdery-white fingerprints. Pots of water in a full boil ready to embrace the little spheres. It’s something sago pearls cannot replicate. And also, why it makes sense for them to step away from a bowl of mango soup.
Not everyone would agree with me. There must be a reason why Mango Sago is a staple in many restaurants and dessert stores. I just cannot fathom why, but hey, that’s why Not Mango Sago exists. B
Not Mango Sago
Because it doesn’t have sago (tapioca pearls) or pomelo, I can’t call it by its name. This is me making my childhood dream come true. Golden chilled mango soup tinged with saffron and chewy glutinous rice balls, or tang yuan, bursting with a molten pistachio middle.
Serves 6 people
Notes
On glutinous rice flour: It’s important to choose the varietal that clearly states ‘glutinous rice’. It creates a sticky and chewy consistency that’s ideal for desserts.
On mangoes: If possible, it’s always better to use the actual fruit. Gently squeeze the fruit and if it gives slightly to pressure, it’s ripe. Depending on the varietal, mango season can go from May to September. If not, substitute with canned unsweetened mango pulp.
On storing tang yuan: Freeze uncooked tang yuan in an air-tight container. They do not need to be thawed when you want to cook them – just pop them into boiling water as you would with fresh ones. For already cooked balls, pop them into a bowl of room temperature water, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate.
Ingredients
For the mango soup
450g mango pulp, about 3 medium mangoes
100ml coconut milk
250ml unsweetened evaporated milk
A pinch of saffron (optional)
20g caster sugar (optional)
For the pistachio filling
85g raw unsalted pistachios, shelled
25g caster sugar
35g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
25g coconut oil, melted and cooled
¼ tsp caster salt
⅛ tsp ground cardamom
For the tang yuan
200g glutinous rice flour
150g hot water, about 70°C
To serve
Fresh mango fruit, cubed
Directions
Make the pistachio filling
Spread the pistachios evenly in a medium frying pan and toast over medium heat until fragrant. This will take 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently so the nuts brown on all sides.
Transfer the toasted pistachios into a food processor and add sugar, salt, and ground cardamom. Pulse on high speed until you get the consistency of coarse sand. Be careful not to let it become a nut butter.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the ground pistachio, butter, and coconut oil into a paste. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
The paste should harden and be easier to manipulate into balls now. Using the palms of your hands, create tiny balls weighing 8g each and place them on a lined baking sheet.
Cover with clingfilm and freeze them for at least an hour.
Make the mango soup
In a small saucepan, measure out 20g of coconut milk and the saffron. Depending on how sweet the mangoes are, add the sugar. Warm the mixture over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes, or until the sugar dissolves completely. If not using the saffron or sugar, you may skip this step.
Using a blender or immersion blender, combine the mango pulp, coconut milk, evaporated milk, and sugar mixture. Blend on high until you get a smooth texture.
Transfer the mango soup into a large bowl. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Make the tang yuan
Have a clean damp kitchen towel ready.
Add glutinous rice flour and hot water in a medium mixing bowl. Using your (clean!) fingers, gradually push the flour into the water and continue mixing until the dough comes together.
Knead the dough in the bowl for another 5 minutes – you should get a very pliable and smooth playdoh consistency. Your fingers and the sides of the bowl should also be clean from any dough remnants. If the dough is too wet or sticky, add more flour. If it’s dry and crumbly, sprinkle in a few drops of water.
Divide the dough into 15g pieces and let them sit on a plate or baking sheet dusted lightly with glutinous flour. Cover with the damp kitchen towel – this prevents the dough from drying up.
To form the tang yuan, roll one piece of dough gently between on palms and then flatten it by pressing your palms together. Using your thumb, flatten the middle further (but not too much) to help make the folding later easier.
Place the frozen pistachio filling in the indent and use your fingers to draw the sides up to close it. Roll it between your palms once more to even out the dough around the filling. Transfer it back under the damp kitchen towel.
Continue to do the same for the rest of the dough.
Cook the tang yuan
Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
Add half of the dumplings. This would lower the water temperature but once it gets into a rolling boil, bring it down to medium heat.
The dumplings are ready when they start to float on the surface – almost like coming up for air. Use a slotted spoon to scoop them out and transfer to a bowl of hot water.
Serve the Not Mango Sago
Pour the cold mango cream into individual soup bowls. Garnish with fresh mango cubes and an odd number of tang yuan.