Glutinous rice balls tang yuan is the traditional treat eaten to celebrate the Lantern Festival -- the culminating day of the Lunar New Year . It represents harmony and togetherness because their name sounds like the word “reunion” in Chinese and its round shape symbolizes unity.

In this Kitchen Class, you’ll learn the basics of making tang yuan with red bean and black sesame fillings, while we discuss the cultural significance of this holiday treat. Ye Ye will be cooking from her own kitchen at her home, with Yin (Think!Chinatown) and Lauren (Essex Market) will be following along from Essex Market Kitchen.

For ingredients and kitchenware to prep, visit Think!Chinatown's website

All T!C virtual event programming is free/pay-as-you-wish to the public but donations will go directly toward supporting our nonprofit’s core mission to build a stronger, more resilient Chinatown. Please consider purchasing our Tuan Yuan 團圓 Homecoming Box, which includes the ingredients for this class, materials for T!C's virtual Lunar New Year events, and additional goodies from our partners. Available through Pearl River Mart for a limited time.

This event is part of Think!Chinatown's series: New Year Activities from Chinatown. Everyone is welcome to join the event. If you'd like to attend but you cannot donate, please send an email to hello@thinkchinatown.org to register at least a day in advance of the event. Donations

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Think!Chinatown, a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Manhattan’s Chinatown, is here to listen, to respond, and to build Chinatown's capacities as a strong & vibrant immigrant neighborhood of NYC. Our mission is to foster inter-generational community through neighborhood engagement, storytelling & the arts. We believe the process of listening, reflecting & celebrating develops the community cohesion and trust necessary to take on larger neighborhood issues. Our aim is to overcome barriers of community organizing where socio-economic factors, language, and cultural barriers create challenges for immigrant communities’ autonomy to make decisions in their own neighborhood. We’ve built Think!Chinatown to push from within our neighborhood to shape better policies and programs that define our public spaces, to celebrate our cultural heritage, and to innovate how our collective memories are represented.

Ye Ye is a New York-based culinary instructor who was born and raised in Suzhou, a beautiful city in eastern China. She currently hosts virtual cooking events and specializes in authentic Chinese recipes from her hometown and spicy dishes from the Sichuan region.

Essex Market is a public marketplace proudly located on Manhattan's Lower East Side since 1940. The newest iteration of our historic market is located on the ground floor of 88 Essex Street, with over 30 small business owners offering everything from fresh produce, meat and fish, to specialty items like cheese and coffee, as well as an international array of prepared food vendors. Essex Kitchen, a state-of-the-art demonstration kitchen and event space, offers a wide array of food education programming open to the whole community.

Tang Yuan 湯圓 Kitchen Class

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