Soft balls of glutinous rice dough filled with a sweet paste of black sesame, sugar and lard, served in their hot cooking water.
What makes it ningbo tangyuan
A thin, soft skin of glutinous rice dough.
A filling of toasted black sesame, sugar and lard, which melts to a dark, runny centre.
Served in a bowl of the hot water they were boiled in, sometimes with sweet osmanthus.
Where it comes from
Tangyuan are eaten across China, above all at the Lantern Festival that ends the New Year, when their roundness is taken to stand for a family together. Ningbo's are the most famous, and its black sesame and lard filling is the one most people picture.
The dough is traditionally made from rice soaked and stone-ground with water, then drained, which gives a smoother, silkier ball than dry flour.
How it varies
Jiǔniàng tāngyuán
Small plain balls in a sweet soup of fermented rice.