Winter Solstice – Savory Rice Ball
Savory Rice Ball Soup – What is Winter Solstice? A significant time for many cultures which been celebrated by festivals and customs. It marks the gradual lengthening of days and shorter days and vice versa. For many Asian cultures, the Winter Solstice is celebrated by having sweet rice ball soup. Mainly a dessert which consist of a sweet ginger soup base and glutinous rice ball filled with sesame paste or crushed peanuts or what other sweet filling that it popular at home. However, in my household – traditionally to celebrate the Solstice we would make it savory and as a meal. It’s one of the my favourite dishes that I grew up eating. It’s a time where I get to help my mom and grandma roll the rice balls to make the dish. The memories of warmth and family gathering around to make a dish together and eat it together is completely priceless. So what is savory rice ball? For my family – we would have either or both pork and chicken bones or meat as the soup base, dry shrimp and onion to start the soup off. Slow boil of the soup to release the flavour you would then add napa cabbage, daikon radish, preserved pork sausage, dry shitake mushrooms to elevate the flavours. As for the rice ball – there is no filling it. It’s just simply some glutinous flour with water. Mix it and roll it into 1 inch strains and start making 1 inch balls and dump it into boil water to cook till it floats and then quickly dump it into the cold water to stop the cooking process. Once that is done, you put in the rice balls into the soup. Done! The soup is simple but clean and sweet broth that pairs so well with the simple rice ball. If you like, you can add pork liver to push the soup to another level. You can also choose to dip the rice balls into some chili oil while you eat it. I love sticking with the basics so this is my all time dish that I look forward to eat every time. Click on the title savory riceball – it will direct you a recipe similar to what my family makes it at home. I prefer savory over sweet any day!
