Whisky Tang Yuan Jello Shots
Whisky Tangyuan Jello Shots. Beautiful fruit tang yuan in au naturale colors, poised in sweet whisky jello. A delicious cool tang yuan dessert perfect for the Lantern Festival (元宵) and Winter Solstice (冬至) on this sunny island!
Servings: 10 shot glasses
Ingredients
Tang yuan dough
- 40 g tapioca flour
- 80 ml water
Tang yuan filling
- Blueberries, grapes and gooseberries (~ 15 to 20 pieces)
Whisky Jello
- Aiyu jelly powder 1x100g sachet
- 420 ml water
- 1 kaffir lime
- Whisky shots (add to taste according to size of shot glass)
Other decor
- Dragonfruit
- Fresh mint
Instructions
Tang Yuan Dough
- Bring 80ml water to a boil. Add in half of the tapioca flour and stir briskly immediately until it forms a sticky gooey mess. Switch off heat. Add the remaining flour and stir quickly until a dough forms.
- Transfer onto a rolling mat and knead immediately whilst the dough is hot. This is a sticky dough so flour as required. Knead until the dough is soft and stretchy but not sticky (~ 5 min). Wrap in cling film when not in use so that the dough does not dry out.
Assembling the Fruit Tang Yuan
- Roll the dough into a rough cylinder and cut into small inch size portions. Taking one inch size dough, using thumb, press into the centre of the dough and form a small bowl shape.
- Following the bowl shape, form dough into a rough circle. Place in the fruit and seal seams (see note on choice of fruit). Pinch off excess dough and roll gently into a ball. If the dough becomes sticky, flour a little or as required. This recipe makes ~ 15-20 fruit tang yuan.
- Cook the fruit tang yuan in boiling water. Once cooked, the tang yuan will float to the top. Scoop out the fruit tang yuan and soak immediately in ice water, to prevent it from sticking together.
Whisky Jello & Final Assembly
- Dissolve the Aiyu jelly powder in 420ml water. *Optional - Add in the juice of one kaffir lime. Put it on low heat until it boils briskly. Sieve the jelly liquid to remove any pulp and it is ready for the final assembly.
- Assemble the jello and fruit tang yuan in 2 layers for a floaty effect. Layer in 1/3 of the liquid jello in the shot glasses and pop in one fruit tang yuan into each glass. Add in two whisky dropshots (or add according to preference) to this first jello layer and freeze for 10min to set.
- Once the first layer is set, repeat and do the 2nd layer. Add in some dragonfruit (or other cut fruits like strawberry or melon) for variety and lastly mint leaf for a dash of green. Freeze for another 10 min to set. Remove from freezer and chill in the fridge until Whisky Tang Yuan Jello Shots are ready to serve. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
If you like this recipe tutorial and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here 😊
I also had the pleasure of collaborating once more with Channel 8 Mediacorp to demonstrate a non alcoholic version of this delicious fruit tang yuan on Hello Spore <狮城有约>. Check it out here.
#1 Work quickly with the tang yuan dough
Whilst traditional tang yuan is usually made with glutinous rice flour, I decided to use tapioca flour (木薯粉) instead for this recipe. Dough made with tapioca flour has a dreamy translucent texture when cooked which allows a lovely see through to the fruits, giving colorful au naturale fruit tang yuan.
However, tapioca flour needs hot/boiling water to form a dough. Therefore stir briskly & work quickly once it is added to the boiling water to work it into a dough. Watch the recipe tutorial @ 0:40 min to see how this is done.
I found that different brands of tapioca flour absorbs water differently, so experiment with yours. Adjust if necessary. If the dough feels dry during kneading, add a bit more room temperature water. If it feels too wet, add a little more flour. For the brand of tapioca flour I used, check here.
The finished dough should be quite smooth and soft but not sticky. If you are not using the dough straightaway, wrap it with cling film to avoid drying out.
#2 Why Fruit Tang Yuan?
One might ask - why not use traditional tang yuan? Traditional tang yuan is usually served hot. However if they are chilled, the filling which typically has butter or oil content becomes hard and has an unpleasant doughy texture when served cold. Therefore I substituted with fruit which is a natural complement to jello and tastes just as delicious, chilled.
#3 Choice of fruit
The tang yuan dough gets sticky when it comes into contact with water. Therefore choose small round fruits which do not require peeling or cutting so that the juice is all contained within and makes for easy assembling. For this Whisky Tang Yuan Jello Shots, I used green grapes, red grapes, blueberries and gooseberries for a variety of colors.
I also added cut red and white dragonfruit and some mint leaf in the jello layers for more shape and color variety. You can easily substitute these with cut strawberries, watermelon or other fruit as preferred. These will add to the taste, look and color of the jello shot making it look even more festive!
#4 Choice of alcohol
When it comes to the choice of alcohol, choose whatever you love! You can go with vodka, rum, gin, even brandy or champagne. The sweetness of the jello will balance out the taste of alcohol on the palate and yet deliver a nice boozy kick on the shot (assuming enough is added 😄)
#5 Choice of jelly and amount of water
I used Aiyu jelly as it is not too sweet and has a light color which nicely showcased the colorful fruit tang yuan. I wanted a more gloopy/bouncy jello and hence used less water (420ml) instead of 500ml per the instructions. Depending on the brand of jello you use, adjust as appropriate to get the preferred jello texture.
#6 Make ahead & storage
The fruit tang yuan can be made ahead and kept frozen for ~ 1 to 2 weeks. When ready to serve, cook them frozen in boiling water and assemble them in the jello shots.
These Whisky Tang Yuan Jello Shots are best consumed on the day it is made. Always keep them chilled and consume within two days (note: if kept longer, the jello still keeps well but the tang yuan dough will harden in the fridge and the fruit tang yuan will start to taste doughy).