Chinese Sweet Red Bean Soup Food

CHINESE SWEET RED BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Combine water and beans in a large pot, bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to simmer, cook uncovered till beans are tender (about 2 hours?).
• Add lotus seed and sugar (plus tapioca and rice balls if you choose to), cook until soup thickens a little and lotus seeds are tender, but not mushy (20 minutes).
• Add vanilla, serve hot for a perfect winter dessert, or you can let the soup cool down, then add ice.
• With this basic recipe, you can take out all the beans, increase the amount of lotus seeds and have a lotus seeds sweet soup instead.

SWEET RED BEAN SOUP (紅豆沙)

Steps:

• Wash the red beans with clean water, pour out the water, and repeat once more. After the second rinse, soak them in clean water, enough to submerge the red beans, for at least an hour, up to overnight.
• In a large pot, add water, salt, the soaked beans, and the dried mandarin peel. Turn the heat all the way up to bring the water to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down. Simmer on the lowest heat for half an hour.
• Once you're happy with the texture of the beans, sweeten the soup by adding rock sugar and brown sugar. Stir to dissolve.