Breakfast Dumplings?

[Qcash3]

Ok, this has been driving me mad for two years. When I was in Chengdu my host family gave me something like a dumpling for breakfast, except it was smaller and round. It looked like a marble, and came frozen in a package, then it was put into boiling water and served after letting it cook for about 5 minutes. It had a sweet, pasty, dark brown filling and was extremely delicious. I'm pretty sure it had tang in the name, and my Chinese teacher told me that you could get them in the US at a Chinese grocery store. I am leaving for Beijing in a few weeks, and I will at once embark upon a mission to find this food, but for now does any one know what it is called?

[roddy]

汤圆?

Not at all difficult to find. Can't stand the things myself, right up there with moon cakes. . .

[Qcash3]

Roddy, I love moon cakes.....maybe I just have different tastes than most people. Lol, whenever my teacher used to bring moon cakes to class no one would eat them, except me.

[Raye Zhang]

汤圆 is a special food for 元宵节, which is a traditional festival on 15 January of Chinese lunar year. Because that day is the first day of a new year with a round moon.So 汤圆 is round like a ping-pong ball. Now people can have it everyday.

it is my favourite and i like the ones with sesames.

[Gary Soup]

Also known simply as 圆子. Count my vote in the "no" column. It's not the sweet bean paste I dislike so much as the gummy texture of the sweet rice flour wrapper.

[gato]

I love tangyuan (seasame is the best). You can find frozen packages of them in the supermarket. Some brands are better than others, so it's best to buy several different brands and try them all out. There's one particular brand I liked. I forget the name now. Its packaging is orange in color.

I also love moon cakes (bean paste). Maybe these two go together. You either like them both or hate them.

[roddy]

I hate them both. I also find it worth noting that both of these foods are largely eaten on particular days - now ask yourself, if these things were genuinely the delicacy they were made out to be, would not we be eating them on a daily basis? Are China's truly delicious foods (Peking Duck, for example) restricted to a particular day? They are not. Ask yourself why, my friends, ask yourself why . . .

[adrianlondon]

That's like saying pancakes are rubbish because there's only one special day for them in the UK. Now you're gonna tell me you don't like pancakes.

I like mooncakes, especially the ones with eggs in them; although they're a bit rich to eat regularly.

[gato]

now ask yourself, if these things were genuinely the delicacy they were made out to be, would not we be eating them on a daily basis?

Hmm, wouldn't rice be the most delicious of all Chinese food by this logic?

[seesaw]

I hate them both. I also find it worth noting that both of these foods are largely eaten on particular days - now ask yourself, if these things were genuinely the delicacy they were made out to be, would not we be eating them on a daily basis? Are China's truly delicious foods (Peking Duck, for example) restricted to a particular day? They are not. Ask yourself why, my friends, ask yourself why . . .

哈哈。roddy, 我要谢谢你。我很久没有笑得这么久了。这是我最近读到的最经典的一段话。你的想法很有新意，我要跟身边的朋友讨论讨论这个问题。

[roddy]

I don't like pancakes. And rice is a staple. so it doesn't count.

The more I think about this, the more right I am. Why eat moon cakes only on one day? They're not particularly hard to make. They're not seasonal. They're not so big - like, say, a turkey - you need to get the whole family round to eat one. There's no sacrificial significance like there might be with a fatted calf or something. They could be sold as a snack on every street corner, but they're not. Why not? They don't taste nice, that's why. And they clog up your mouth.

汤圆 are more commonly eaten, I admit, but I'm not going to let that stop me . . .

Roddy

[Lu]

Pepernoten are only eaten for one special holiday in Holland, and they taste great. Even Chinese like them.

[adrianlondon]

(Why eat moon cakes only on one day? )i

I think it's because they're very very bad for you. Certainly the ones with egg yolkes in them are. They make me very spotty.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/09/07/2003066834

Although, having googled and found the above, even 500 calories no doubt compares well to a bigmac and fries.

[Xiao Kui]

Maybe this is way off - but I always got the impression that tangyuan is more a kids' food, since my kindergarten students were always excited abt them, but the Chinese teachers would have a disgusted expression on their faces. A lot of the bags have cartoons on them and the TV commercials have kids on them. Kind of like fruit loops in the West.

(I still love to eat Fruit loops though I'm over 30, but tangyuan aren't half as good - if you must eat them definitely go for the sesame though - only good when you're starving or after returning from one of those rural trips where all you get to eat are innards and greens. ) We definitely need a moon cake and tangyuan poll -we're long overdue for a poll.

[liuzhou]

Tangyuan and mooncakes are foul. Why only eat them one day? Let's limit their consumption to February 29th. 5:00 am till 5:10.

When I'm asleep.

(or on my way home)

[horas]

Raye Zhang

i like 汤圆

汤圆 is a special food for 元宵节

*

Are the yuan2 xiao1 dumplings served in warm/hot ginger sauce? Or have I gotten mixed up with another kind of food? Then which one?

-

[Qcash3]

After careful consideration i've decided that I would not eat Tangyuan everyday, but I would definitely like to have it at least once a week. That sweet pasty goodness is irresistible. As for mooncakes, they are a bit rich, but pretty good. When I am in Beijing, I will definitely keep some on hand as a sort of snack food.

[gato]

Are the yuan2 xiao1 dumplings served in warm/hot ginger sauce? Or have I gotten mixed up with another kind of food? Then which one?

Are you thinking of 小笼包?

[johnd]

I like tangyuan, particularly the oozing black sesame in the middle, but then I do like sweet stuff. Maybe worth trying them with some custard!

As for mooncake, I think you'll find a similar situation with Christmas cake - nobody likes it enough to eat all year round.

[andrewfz]

吃早饭的时候，我最喜欢油条和豆浆。。。