Their mission at the Pasir Ris Elias Community Club: To form the largest national flag put together with glutinous rice balls.

Divided into 44 tables of 10 persons each, they rolled up their sleeves and shaped tang yuan, a popular Chinese delicacy of rice flour mixed with a small amount of water to form balls.

Tang yuan, usually served during the Mid-Autumn Festival, symbolise the strength of family bonds.

The ad hoc tang yuan 'factory' churned out 44,000 rice balls in the two hours given for the task, of which 10,000 went into forming the national flag ahead of this year's 44th National Day celebrations in August.

The rest of the tang yuan were cooked and served to those at the event, which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and his wife. DPM Teo is one of the Members of Parliament for the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

Mr Ong Eng Huat certified the feat as the largest flag made of tang yuan in his capacity as President of the Singapore Book of Records, which has a database of over 10,000 records.

At the event, a cooking contest drew 10 three-generation family teams, each whipping up a 'favourite family recipe'.

Mr Gary Ong, 30, was there with his mother and grandmother to cook a Thai-style curry chicken.

The sales manager said such activities provided an ideal occasion to get together with his family.