Tangyuan are a traditional Chinese dessert made of glutinous rice shaped into balls that are served in a hot broth or syrup.

While it can be served in its simplest form as a plain white ball of glutinous rice, it can also be stuffed with either black sesame or other fillings such as crushed peanuts.

Unfilled tangyuan are served as part of a sweet dessert soup known in Cantonese cuisine as tong sui (literally: "sugar water").

[citation needed] The traditional filling for tangyuan is made from sesame, peanuts, sugar, and animal fat.

Tangyuan is traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first month of a lunar new year, which is the first full moon.

The only way to escape the disaster was to let "Yuanxiao Girl" make a lot of glutinous rice balls, which the God of Fire loved to eat, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and all the subjects would light lanterns and offer sacrifices to her.

During the Tang and Five Dynasties, people ate "noodle cocoons" and "round dumplings without corners" during the Lantern Festival.

Like tangyuan, yuanxiao are glutinous rice balls stuffed with filling that are eaten during the Lantern Festival and other important gatherings.

The filling is dipped into water then the dry glutinous rice flour repeatedly, until a round shape is achieved.

[citation needed] While tangyuan began as a traditional delicacy eaten during festivals, it has now evolved into a dessert that is consumed year-round.

[citation needed] Traditional fillings such as black sesame or red bean are not selling as well anymore because people don't want to eat similar flavors every year.

[citation needed] Several types of new fillings are starting to appear in stores and restaurants such as chocolate, matcha, taro, or coconut.

[citation needed] As the Chinese dessert spread to other regions of Asia, a variety of renditions emerged from different cultures.

They are made with glutinous rice flour that is fried and coated with sesame seeds to achieve a crisp, chewy texture.

They are especially popular during special occasions and Korean holidays In Indonesia, an adapted version called wedang ronde (Javanese: ꦮꦺꦢꦁ ꦫꦺꦴꦤ꧀ꦝꦺ, romanized: wédang rondhé, lit.

The round colored balls of glutinous rice can be filled with crushed peanuts and sugar, or left plain, and are served in a sweetened, mild ginger broth often boiled in fragrant pandan leaves.

The green pandan-colored ball is sprinkled with dry coconut shavings and filled with semi-liquefied sweet gula Melaka (lit.

[18] It is enjoyed throughout the tropical summer year and usually sold by Malay street hawkers and the Melaka straits-born Chinese community.

In Thailand, bua loi (บัวลอย) is a sweet glutinous rice flour balls in the coconut milk or ginger syrup.

In southern Vietnam, a similar dish called chè trôi nước, is served in a mild, sweet liquid flavored with grated ginger root.

The Hmong people in northern Vietnam also have a similar dessert called thắng dền, made with glutinous rice for the balls, mung beans, coconut meat, or sesame for the filling, served in hot grated ginger root soup, sometimes with roasted peanuts.