IPOH: Glutinous rice balls served during Winter Solstice Festival may not only be in traditional syrup soup, but can also be fried, sour or savoury in taste!

The women’s wing of Perak Ku Kong Chow Association has come up with seven new flavours to savour the glutinous rice balls served during Winter Solstice Festival, also known as Dongzhi.

The women introduced fried glutinous rice balls, rice balls in chendol, rice balls in winter melon snow fungus longan soup, radish pork soup with tangerine peel, tom yam, chicken soup, and the Year of Dragon Family Soup.

Deputy chairman of the women’s wing Chen Su Wen spent three hours preparing the Family of Three Dragon glutinous rice balls comprising three giant rice balls representing the father, another three representing the mother, and six smaller balls representing baby dragons, in a soup known as the Year of Dragon Family Soup to usher in the Year of Dragon in 2024.

Perak Ku Kong Chow Association members gathered for an early Dongzhi festival celebration on Monday, with traditional Chinese dishes served during the dinner alongside innovative ways of enjoying glutinous rice balls.

Association president Datuk Yik Phooi Hong said apart from getting together, the association has been tasked with promoting traditional Chinese customs and culture.

Chinese Malaysians celebrate Dongzhi by enjoying family dinners with glutinous rice balls called tang yuan symbolising reunion.

The festival, the last for the year before Chinese New Year, falls on 22 December every year.