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Sweet Red Bean Soup

in Diana's Recipe Book

Average Rating: 
(total ratings: 3)
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Servings: 8
 
Comments:
A "sweet" dessert soup for Chinese New Year.

The vibrant color of red signifies happiness and luck. For this reason, it is always present at special celebrations such as weddings, birthdays, and most of all the Chinese New Year. The dessert soup is made of red azuki beans, which are small, dried sweet-flavored beans. The dried lotus seeds, with a slight nutty flavor, are added to create a dramatic contrast in color and texture. The soup may be served hot, at room temperature, or chilled.

Ingredients:
1 cup dried red azuki beans, soaked 4 hours or overnight, drained
1/4 cup dried lotus seeds, soaked for 12 hours, or overnight, drained
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup sugar

Instructions:
Combine beans and 7 cups water in large pot. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook uncovered until beans are tender and the liquid has reduced by 3 cups, about 2 hours. Add the lotus seeds and cook until almost tender, about 20 minutes longer. Divide soup among 8 soup bowls and serve.

Makes 8 servings.

Tips:
1) Adding a piece of dried orange peel (half an orange) gives the soup a lovely tangy flavour. You can make this peel by saving all those peels from the abundant mandarin oranges eaten during the period. Scrape off all the white piths with a knife and sun for several days. Then keep them in the freezer and it will last indefinitely.

2) Also one can add a handful of sago pearls towards the last 10 minutes of boiling. It gives an interesting texture (slightly chewy).

Source: Choo Teck Poh, Guest of Diana's Desserts website.

Recipe for Sweet Red Bean Soup by: Corinne Trang.

Nutrition Facts
Serves 8
Facts per Serving
Calories: 119
Fat: 0g
Carbohydrates: 24g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 3mg
Protein: 6g
Fiber: 4g
% Cal. from Fat: 0%
% Cal. from Carbs: 81%

Source: Cooking.com
Date: January 18, 2003

Reviews

Reviewer: Poh Kheng
Rating: 
Review:
Great. it's delicious. i saw this recipe in tv show and everyone loves this dessert. great.

 
Reviewer: Lyana
Rating: 
Review:
I love this classic dessert too. Maybe to add, one can use pressure cooker to reduce cooking time to about half or one-third. Another lovely addition I personally like would be the lily bulbs instead of lotus seeds.

 
Reviewer: Lyana
Rating: 
Review:
I love this classic dessert too. Maybe to add, one can use pressure cooker to reduce cooking time to about half or one-third. A must for such soups is the favourite Asian ingredient, PANDAN leaves. I usually make cuts to the sides of the leaves (release the juices) before adding or to amp up the flavour, pound with 'batu lesung'/mortar & pestle to make it slightly "paste-like". Another lovely addition I personally like would be the lily bulbs instead of lotus seeds.

 

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