汤圆 Plain Glutinous Rice Balls

Ingredients (glutinous rice balls):
*300g glutinous rice flour
*½ cup of boiling water
*1 cup of water (room temperature)
*Food coloring (optional)

Ingredients (syrup):
*Rock sugar to taste
*3-4 slices fresh ginger (optional)
*4 pcs screwpine leaves /pandan leaves  (optional)

Methods:
01. Take ⅓ of the flour and put in a big bowl. Add in ½ cup of boiling water.

02. Using a wooden spoon, mix the dough till smooth. Slowly add the ⅔ of the flour and keep adding some water (room temperature) till you get a dough that doesn’t stick to your hands. Add flour or water to get the right consistency.

03. Once the dough is pliable, divide the dough into half. Add half portion with a few drops of red food coloring. Knead until the color is well balanced.

04. Pinch a piece of dough off and shape into a tiny balls. Do the rest the same way until you finished all the dough (both white and pink).

05. To prepare the syrup: Add in the amount of water you want to make the syrup. When boiling, add in the ginger, screwpine leaves (pandan leaves) and rock sugar and boil for 10-15 minutes with medium heat. When sugar dissolved, do a taste test. If not sweet enough, add more rock sugar. If too sweet, add more water. Until it reaches the sweetness you want. Turn it off and set aside.

06. To boil the glutinous rice balls: Heat up another pot of boiling water. Drop in the balls into the hot boiling water.

07. The glutinous rice balls will sink to the bottom initially.
08. When the glutinous rice balls are cooked, they will float to the top. Turn off heat. Transfer glutinous rice balls into the syrup. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note:

01. If you cannot finish the glutinous rice balls, you can store the glutinous rice balls soaking in syrup in the fridge overnight. The glutinous rice balls remain soft if you use the ⅓ flour with boiling water as mentioned above.
02. The normal glutinous rice balls are plain rice balls made from flour and water. However there are also the larger ones where red bean paste, ground black sesame seed paste or chopped peanuts and sugars are filled in the rice balls.