Rice Snacks · FFET10192
Qingtuan
Jade-green glutinous rice dumplings colored with mugwort or other greens, filled with sweet bean paste or a salty filling, steamed and eaten around Qingming.
A white porcelain plate holds steamed jade-green glutinous rice dumplings colored with fresh mugwort, some cut open to reveal reddish-brown bean paste filling, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
Cakes and snacks made from rice and rice flour.
Qingtuan are jade-green glutinous rice dumplings eaten around Qingming, made by kneading mugwort or other green juice into glutinous rice flour, filling the dough with sweet bean paste or a salty filling, and steaming it. They are common in Jiangnan, meaning Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, and similar green rice cakes are made in Taiwan and in Minnan and Hakka areas. The custom is linked to the Cold Food festival tradition of forbidding fires; no dated original text was found for this entry.
What
Qingtuan is a jade-green glutinous rice dumpling colored with mugwort or similar greens, often filled with sweet bean paste or sometimes a salty filling, and eaten steamed.1,2,3,4
When
Qingtuan are eaten around Qingming, a custom linked to the Cold Food festival tradition of forbidding fires for cooking. An April 7, 2026 article still discusses eating qingtuan at Qingming. No dated original text was found for this entry.2,5
Where
Qingtuan are common in Jiangnan, meaning Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, and similar green rice cakes are made in Taiwan and in Minnan and Hakka areas. Shanghai markets sell qingtuan around Qingming.1,3
How
The 2 recipes blanch mugwort and blend it into a puree, knead it into a dough of glutinous rice flour with a little wheat starch and lard, wrap red bean paste in it and steam the dumplings for about 10 minutes. A salty filling can use pork floss, salted egg yolk and mayonnaise.3,4
Why
Qingtuan is food for sweeping graves and going on outings at Qingming; its role as an offering has faded, and many people now eat it as a seasonal treat.1,2
Impact and influence
Shanghai markets sell qingtuan just for a few weeks around Qingming.3
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the Jiangnan qingtuan I make at home, filled with red bean paste. I looked at two published recipes by two different authors, one in cups and one in grams. The dough amounts follow the gram-measure recipe, steaming for about 10 minutes is what both recipes do, and blanching the mugwort for about 30 seconds comes from the cup-measure recipe. When mugwort is hard to find, the gram-measure recipe says spinach can take its place. The handling is my own choice at home.
Ingredients
- Fresh mugwort (or spinach) 150 g, washed
- Water, for blending the greens 150 ml
- Wheat starch 45 g
- Boiling water, to scald the wheat starch about 100 ml
- Glutinous rice flour 150 g
- Sugar 30 g
- Lard 15 g
- Red bean paste 360 g, divided into 12 portions of about 30 g and rolled into balls
- Parchment paper 12 small squares, to set under each dumpling
Steps
- Drop the mugwort (or spinach) into boiling water for about 30 seconds, the blanching time of the cup-measure recipe. Lift it out, rinse it in cold water, squeeze it dry and blend it with 150 ml of water into a smooth green puree.
- Put the wheat starch in a bowl, pour in about 100 ml of boiling water and stir quickly into a clear paste.
- Put the glutinous rice flour and sugar in a large bowl, add the scalded starch and the lard, and pour in the green puree a little at a time while kneading, until the dough is smooth, soft and no longer sticks to your hands. If it is too sticky I add a little rice flour, and if it is too dry a little water; I do not always use all the puree.
- Divide the dough into 12 pieces, press each into a round, wrap a portion of bean paste inside, pinch the seam shut, roll into a ball and set it on a small square of parchment.
- Bring the water in the steamer to a boil, set in the qingtuan and steam over high heat for about 10 minutes, the time both recipes give. They are done when the surface looks glossy and no dry flour shows.
- Let them cool a little before eating; they are nicest while still soft and chewy.
Tips
- I rub a little oil on my hands before kneading and filling, so the dough does not stick; this is my own habit.
- Qingtuan turn firm once cold, so when I eat them the next day I steam them again for a few minutes until they are hot through and soft again; this is how I do it at home.
Allergens: wheat