Shancheng Tangyuan (Sweet Rice Balls)

Shancheng tangyuan are a traditional Chongqing sweet: glutinous rice is ground into flour for the skin, wrapped around sweet fillings of sesame, sugar, walnut, and lard, then rolled into pearl-like little balls and boiled, thin-skinned and generously filled, sweet and soft, white as jade with the filling faintly showing through.

These small tangyuan are among Chongqing's old-school sweets, inheriting the Jiangnan rice-ball tradition but distinguished in the city by their small size, thin skin, and ample filling; once common at time-honored sweet shops and street stalls, they are a traditional sweetness in local memory.

The balls are served in their sweet cooking water and eaten hot in small bites, the glutinous skin smooth and soft, the filling oozing; small in size, they are often a dessert or late-night snack beyond the main meal.

A fine version calls for skin thin yet unbroken, a full and fragrant sweet filling, and a soft, glutinous bite that does not stick to the teeth.