冬至快乐: tang yuan in peanut soup (5 粒: $3 each)!
A winter solstice (Dongzhi) treat: glutinous rice balls in a warm, nutty peanut soup. 5 pieces, $3 each.
冬至快乐! Happy Dongzhi! 😋 We marked the winter solstice with BB the traditional way, over bowls of tang yuan in peanut soup, 5 pieces at $3 each.
What we had ($6 for two):
- Tang yuan (汤圆) in a warm peanut soup, with a pink glutinous rice ball in each bowl
Dongzhi, the winter solstice, is one of those gentle Chinese festivals built entirely around a bowl of food: families gather to eat tang yuan, whose round shape symbolises togetherness and completeness. Eating them feels like a small, cosy ritual.
This bowl paired them with a peanut soup, which I love. The soup is peanuts simmered slow and long until they go soft and the broth turns nutty, milky and lightly sweet, almost like a thin, warm peanut porridge. Bobbing in it was a soft, chewy tang yuan with that lovely pull as you bite into it.
It is humble, warming and quietly comforting, the kind of sweet soup that tastes like home and tradition. Sharing it on Dongzhi, even just the two of us, made an ordinary evening feel a little special.
Overall: 4.8 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Soft, chewy tang yuan in a nutty, comforting peanut soup, a lovely Dongzhi tradition. Would re-do every year.
