Chinese Dessert Recipes

Red Bean Soup (Hoong Tao Sar)

There are different varieties to this Chinese traditional food. The first version I had was Red Bean Soup cooked in coconut milk and filled with sago pearls. Now that is my mother's specialty. It was very rich, thick and delicious.

She later progressed to another version - minus coconut milk but she adds longan flesh. So you will much to chew about. It was a very filling dessert soup but the longan flavour enhances the dessert soup well.

Then the third version was just simply red beans, sugar and water. This recipe is a piece of cake, so to speak. I usually add pandan (screwpine) leaves for the added aroma.

The fourth version comes from my mother in law, similar to the third variety but she adds mandarin peels which gives the dessert soup that extra bittersweet taste. Refreshingly sweet yes!

So, here comes the fifth version with both longan flesh and mandarin peels. Do give this dessert recipe a try. This is one of the Oriental recipes that you can happily make for yourself or your family.


Ingredients

300 g			        	Red Beans
250 g			        	Rock Sugar
3 stalks				Pandan (Screwpine) Leaves; knotted
1 litre			        	Water
1 1/2 cups		        	Longan Flesh
1 piece				Mandarin Peel; dried		

Wash and soak red beans for 2 hours. Rinse well.

In a cooking pot, boil red beans in rapidly boiling water. Add in rock sugar, pandan leaves and mandarin peel. Add water if insufficient while boiling and beans are not tender yet. Boil until the beans start to break apart with the skin peeling away from the beans.

Now add longan flesh and boil for another 5 to 8 minutes.

Once the dessert soup is ready, turn off heat and remove pandan leaves. Wait 10 minutes for soup to cool awhile before serving.

Tip: If you want the beans to cook quicker, place a clean metal spoon at the bottom of the cooking pot. The spoon acts as a heat conductor during boiling.

Add longan flesh last when the dessert soup is almost ready to maintain the flavour of the longan. The longan will lose its taste when boiled too long.

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