MUZIChinese Matrix
Rice Snacks · FFET10157
Chengdu's Lai Tangyuan: glutinous rice balls with a black sesame filling, served in a lightly sweet soup.
Six smooth, round white glutinous rice balls float in a clear, lightly sweet syrup in a white porcelain bowl, one cut open to show a glossy jet-black sesame filling, with a white porcelain spoon resting in the bowl.
Cakes and snacks made from rice and rice flour.
Lai Tangyuan are Chengdu glutinous rice balls with a black sesame filling, served in a lightly sweet soup. Lai Yuanxin initially sold them from a shoulder pole and later opened a shop at the north end of Chunxi Road; the August 13, 2025 account and several English blogs give 1894 as the starting year, but lack primary-text support, so the year is only a retelling. A May 26, 2025 report from Sichuan mentions packaged products.
Lai Tangyuan are Chengdu glutinous rice balls with a black sesame filling, boiled and served in a lightly sweet soup. A bowl holds 4, with white skins that do not stick; black sesame is the traditional Sichuan filling and the trademark of Lai Tangyuan.2,3,5,6
Lai Tangyuan was founded by Lai Yuanxin, who initially sold from a shoulder pole in the streets and later opened a shop at the north end of Chunxi Road. The founding year is commonly given as 1894, but the August 13, 2025 account and several English blogs cite no primary text, while a 2014 travel introduction has an illegible year; the founding year remains unsettled and is given only as a retelling.1,2,3
Chengdu. Sales began from a shoulder pole in the streets, followed by a shop at the north end of Chunxi Road; there is also a shop on Zongfu Road.1
Glutinous rice with a little long-grain rice is soaked for 2 days and milled very fine for the skin. Toasted black sesame is mixed with sugar, lard and flour, then cut into small cubes for the filling. The balls are wrapped and boiled, cold water is added once they float, and they are served in sweet soup.3
Its popularity is attributed to finely milled rice and frequent water changes; this explanation is a retelling without primary-text support.3
A May 26, 2025 report from Sichuan mentions packaged products from Lai Tangyuan and other Chengdu snack brands, including Zhong Shuijiao and Long Chaoshou.4
One blog says the young Lai Yuanxin lost his job in a restaurant, borrowed money from his cousins and turned to selling tangyuan. He is said to have milled the rice very fine and changed the water often, and slowly won regular customers.
Told in: A Chengdu account, retold by an English-language blog that says it is adapted from Baidu Baike. No dated text was found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the simpler way I make it at home. It is an ordinary black sesame tangyuan, not the recipe of the Lai Tangyuan shop, and I do not know how the shop makes it. I looked at two published recipes: one is written in the style of Lai Yuanxin and soaks the rice for two days and mills it, and the other is an ordinary black sesame tangyuan made straight from glutinous rice flour. I use flour and skip the milling. The amounts for the dough and filling follow the second recipe, and the soup and timings are my own choices at home.
Allergens: sesame
