Wedang Ronde is not only pretty, but also tasty. If you are served with a bowl of Wedang Ronde, you can see colorful round balls, poured with a sweet ginger soup, sprinkled with peanuts, and a few small square cuts of white bread. It is rich in appearance and flavors. It has a sweet and slightly spicy flavor from the ginger broth, savory taste from the sticky rice ball’s fillings, and a crunchy texture from peanuts, served hot.
Wedang Ronde is originated from China, with different name, tangyuan. It is called Wedang Ronde in Javanese, in which wedang means something that is served hot, and ronde which means in a round shape, the shape of the glutinous rice balls. In Indonesia, the glutinous rice balls are colored with food coloring to make the dish more interesting in appearance and more appetizing.
Even though the original version has a few varieties of filling, sesame paste, red bean paste, or sugar cane candy, Indonesian version of Wedang Ronde filling is mostly mashed sweet peanuts. At first bite, you can feel the soft and chewy texture of the glutinous rice balls. The second you get to the filling, you can feel the crunchy and sweet taste of the peanuts inside the glutinous rice balls.
A Wedang Ronde peddler usually walks around a housing complex while clinking a bowl with a steel spoon to make their presence heard. Customers who want to buy it can call the peddler to stop by at their door. The dish can also be found on the menu of some restaurants or small food stalls by the side of the street.
Because it is always served with a hot or warm ginger soup, it is perfect to consume when the weather is cooler. On rainy days, or on cold nights for example. However, if you are craving some hot dish on a hot day, just go for it.
Join our Jakarta Food Tour with us, a best activity to do at afternoon through evening, where many kinds of street food peddler starting their business, and maybe you can find and enjoy a bowl of hot Wedang Ronde with us to warm your body when the night comes.