Stonhenge, tourist, Salisbury, pagan, winter solstice
A Nyonya in UK, Chinese New Year, Culture, Lunch, Snack, Sweets and Puddings, Vegetarian, Vegan

When Does the Preparation For Chinese New Year Begin?

nyonya, recipe, easy, Chinese, Straits born

tangyuan, Chinese, winter solstice
Colourful Ee or tangyuan in syrup.

Good question.

I think it varies with different families.

Tang Yuan.For our family, it begins after winter solstice. Winter solstice is on 22nd December. It is a very important day in the Chinese lunar calendar. It is the shortest day of the year. After that day, one can notice that the sun rises earlier. This can be noticed easily over here, but not so in the tropics.

I will definitely try and wake up early from now on – following the sun!

Here is the close up of the peanut filling.

For winter solstice we always make glutinous rice balls to celebrate the occasion.  Click on glutinous rice recipe to get the basic recipe.

I have written many posts on this, and I think I have exhausted my ideas. So here are some of them.

If you are a bit more adventurous, check out this recipe for some variations.

Click here for the recipe. Peanut Tang Yuan

A bowl of savoury Tang Yuan with beansprouts, chicken, vegetables and seasoning.
Tang Yuan in a savoury soup. It has fish cake, chicken, bean sprouts and all the seasoning. Tastes good, like a noodle soup.

You do not have a sweet tooth? Fear not. This one is for those who are sweet enough and do not need to add extra sweetness to their food,

Check this recipe out. Savoury Tang Yuan

 

Fancy something different? Need to quench your thirst? Try Mango Smoothie Tang Yuan.

You can get the recipe here, Mango smoothie Tang Yuan

You can get the recipe here. My Kuih Eee has morphed!

This year, I will be at the Market Bosworth’s  Farmers Market on 22nd. It is the last event for the year and it is close to Christmas. I will be having my cookies for the Chinese New Year as well. These are peanut cookies, chocolate and cranberry cookies. Some favourite snacks includes Dragon balls and Sio Baos.

I have 2 lovely cakes which are my take on the English. The carrot cake has 5-spice powder instead of just cinnamon. It has star anise as well, which is Christmassy and is also one of my favourite spice. Carrot goes well with aniseed flavour, so it is a good combination. And There is added chopped fresh ginger for the extra kick.

Mango smoothie tang yuan served in glasses, decorated with mint leaves, lime slices and pink and yellow balls.
Mango smoothie with tang yuan. The mango balls stayed at the bottom.

Ahh…My chocolate cake is super soft and moist. It is vegan, chocolatey and to die for.

Savouries.. my take on the English, again.

Chigan, Leek and Potato pasty have vegan chicken pieces cooked in a creamy sauce, seasoned with bay leaf and nutmeg. The rough puff pastry is hand-made. I have great feedback on this.

Festive Pie. My daughter came out with this recipe in her head. It  has a short-crust pastry shell, again hand-made, and it filled with layers of potato with sage, chestnut puree, pumpkin with 5-spice, chestnut and button mushroom saute with onions and flavoured with rosemary, and cranberry sauce, too.

So come over to Nyonya Recipe stall this Sunday.

I would like to highlight the peanut cookies which is absolutely peanut heaven if you like peanuts. You can pre-order online and get yourself a discount code. You can also purchase it on the day. In the stall, you can get the small packs, while online, it is packed in a jar and it has almost double the content . You can email me if you have any queries.  Pick up is free at the stall.

Green, red and green Tang Yuan that have morphed into a nyonya kuih called onde-ondeh.

To get your discount code, and start shopping, simply click here to shop.

See you on Sunday,

Penang Lassie

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