RED BEAN SOUP 紅豆沙

My Aunt May cooked Red Bean Soup for me today. She called me yesterday to tell me that she'd be preparing this dessert or tong sui (literally translated to mean sugar water) or sweet soup and that I must stop by at her place when I reached Ipoh to drink it. It is believed that this is a warmng yang dish. It is supposed to help enrich the blood. In China this soup is of often cooked and eaten with tangyuan and lotus seeds.

Red Bean Soup ( 紅豆沙 :hóng dòu shā) is made with red azuki beans. Interested to cook it? Try the recipe below:

Ingredients:
1 cup red beans
6 - 8 cups water (more if you want it more watery)
1 strip dried tangerine peel or fresh orange peel (optional)
1/4 - 1/2 cup dried lotus seeds
6 - 8 tablespoons brown sugar or 1 cup of rock sugar, as desired

Dried Longan

Pandan leaves

Preparation:

1. Soak the red beans in water overnight to soften. Drain.
2. About 2 hours before making the soup, place the dried lotus seeds in a bowl with enough water to cover.
3. In a pot, bring the 6 cups of water with the tangerine peel and pandanus leaves to a boil. (The soup can be thicker or thinner as desired. Add more boiling water).
4. Turn the heat down, add the red beans, dried longan and lotus seeds and simmer, partially covered, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the beans are softened to the point where they are just beginning to break apart.
5. Add the brown sugar or rock sugar and stir until dissolved. Taste and add more sugar if desired. If you want it, thin the soup by adding boiling water. Remove the dried tangerine peel before serving. Serve the red bean soup hot or cold. Serves 6 - 8.