Spring Tomb Sweeping Day mugwort sticky pounded rice dumpling with tofu floss
15 minutes to prep
8 minutes to cook
4 servings
Description
In Spring, eat it on Tomb Sweeping Day (Chingming Jie 清明节) when you spend time with family cleaning ancestral tombs.
Unlike some rice dumplings, these are made without animal lard or butter and wheat starch. Also, since you can find sweet rice dumplings in stores in the USA, here’s a recipe for a traditional savory one.
Herbs in this dish can boost your immunity. Before you eat anything with herbs, read the latest studies and precautions. Here are studies and precautions on mugwort.
Each sticky rice dumpling for each Chinese holiday has its own name. And all of them aren’t “mochi,” a Japanese word. This one is called qīng tuán 青团.
Where to get more affordable, bulk ingredients
You might be able to get ingredients below more affordably and without plastic packaging from bulk bins at places below. Also, it’s legal to put unpackaged food in your own containers at food providers, such as stores, restaurants, farmer’s markets, and food trucks (at least in California and Maine).
Tea or herb shops:
Natural food store:
If you can’t save money and be zero waste and find dried mugwort in bulk bins and put it in your own container at your local natural food store or apothecary, the only place I could find USA-grown, organic mugwort is from GirlGoneHerbal. It comes in a mostly metal tin, though it might not arrive in used or plastic-free shipping packaging unless you request it.
Ingredients
Dough:
Filling:
Instructions
Prepare mugwort:
Prepare dough:
Add filling:
Cook dumplings:
Leftovers
If you have leftover uncooked balls, freeze them in a container. Reboil until they float to the surface.
If you have leftover cooked dumplings, refrigerate and consume leftovers in general ideally within three days. Reboil for 5 minutes.
Updated August 20, 2026
This content is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) or AI training.
All rights reserved. Copyright © Jessian Choy 2022-present
15 minutes to prep
8 minutes to cook
4 servings
Description
In Spring, eat it on Tomb Sweeping Day (Chingming Jie 清明节) when you spend time with family cleaning ancestral tombs.
Unlike some rice dumplings, these are made without animal lard or butter and wheat starch. Also, since you can find sweet rice dumplings in stores in the USA, here’s a recipe for a traditional savory one.
Herbs in this dish can boost your immunity. Before you eat anything with herbs, read the latest studies and precautions. Here are studies and precautions on mugwort.
Each sticky rice dumpling for each Chinese holiday has its own name. And all of them aren’t “mochi,” a Japanese word. This one is called qīng tuán 青团.
Where to get more affordable, bulk ingredients
You might be able to get ingredients below more affordably and without plastic packaging from bulk bins at places below. Also, it’s legal to put unpackaged food in your own containers at food providers, such as stores, restaurants, farmer’s markets, and food trucks (at least in California and Maine).
Tea or herb shops:
- Dried mugwort
Natural food store:
- Glutinous rice flour
- Oil
- Salt (brands with the least microplastics and heavy metals)
If you can’t save money and be zero waste and find dried mugwort in bulk bins and put it in your own container at your local natural food store or apothecary, the only place I could find USA-grown, organic mugwort is from GirlGoneHerbal. It comes in a mostly metal tin, though it might not arrive in used or plastic-free shipping packaging unless you request it.
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1/2 cup fresh Chinese mugwort (ài tsǎo 艾草, artemisia argyi) or 1 teaspoon dried mugwort. There are many types of mugwort. This mugwort is not wormwood used to make absinthe. But you can eat fresh mugwort from your yard, such as (artemisia vulgaris), because it’s an invasive weed in North America.
- ½ cup water
- 1 cup glutinous rice flour
- 1/4 cup oil safe for medium to high heat, such as untoasted sesame oil (which is rich in polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acids)
- 2 tablespoons water
Filling:
- ½ cup soybean floss (sùshí zhǔyì zhě ròusōng素食主义者 肉松). I couldn’t find it without plastic packaging. But the only non-GMO brand with no palm oil that I could find online was at Heartland Natural Foods.
Instructions
Prepare mugwort:
- If you’re using fresh mugwort, clean it and save water by putting it in a bowl and adding water until the level is above it. Remove it with your hand or ladle strainer. Water plants with that water.
- Chop mugwort into two-inch pieces.
- Add chopped mugwort and clean water to a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
- Strain the mugwort mixture through a fine mesh sieve.
- If you’re using dried mugwort, steep it in boiling water for 3 minutes.
Prepare dough:
- In a mixing bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour, sugar, and oil. Mix well.
- Gradually add mugwort to dough, stirring constantly, until a dough forms. The dough should be smooth and slightly sticky.
- Divide dough into about 1.5 inch pieces.
- Flatten each piece of dough with your hands so that it’s about ¼ inch thick.
Add filling:
- Add a small spoonful of tofu floss in the middle.
- Seal dough around the floss by pinching dough together.
- Roll dough between your palms to form a smooth ball.
- Repeat steps last four steps until all of the dough has been used.
Cook dumplings:
- Bring a pot of four cups of water to a boil.
- Gently put balls into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes, or until they float to the surface.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove balls from water and put balls in a bowl of cold water.
- Drain balls and serve.
Leftovers
If you have leftover uncooked balls, freeze them in a container. Reboil until they float to the surface.
If you have leftover cooked dumplings, refrigerate and consume leftovers in general ideally within three days. Reboil for 5 minutes.
Updated August 20, 2026
This content is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) or AI training.
All rights reserved. Copyright © Jessian Choy 2022-present
