12/21/2011 Dongzhi

Traditionally, the Dongzhi (Winter Solstice) Festival in Taiwan is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get together is the making and eating of Tangyuan or balls of glutinous rice, which symbolize reunion.  Since I don’t have my whole family with me in Peitou and to make myself feel festive, I MUST have those sticky rice ball soups!

Down the hill at a corner of the night market, a family owns a soup stand selling red beans and peanuts soups.  For a special occasion such as Dongzhi, the business for this small stand increases ten times.  To stew the red bean and peanut until they are soft takes time and has to pre-cooked for the night, however, to maintain the chewy texture of tangyan, it cannot be over cooked and has to do it on spot then add to the red bean or peanut soup.  In this Winter Solstice night, I join in a group of twenty in front of a 10×10 stand to order my must-have tangyua soups.  The women in charge of the soup are sisters, one takes care of soups, another takes care of tangyua, and their father keeps the supply coming.  To order your soup, you say it loud and NEVER repeat the order. The soup Nazi groups her customers’ order according to the flavor and total quantity. She takes care of all the orders by ears, counts how many she needs to put in the pot and cook them together, next group of customers have to wait for a new batch.  The soup ladies get very upset when the total tangyua number is not match the total order (which means there will be another wait for some costumers or waste some over cooked rice ball).  Nobody mess up with soup ladies and It is better you don’t specialize your order to avoid long wait.

I ordered my soups, waited with my group, and got it.  The warm red bean and peanut tangyua soups are for Jim and my brother.  The sweet soups have full body of flavor and the tangyua taste just right.   Happy Dongzhi!