No matter how full we were, there was always room for dessert. We would eagerly wait as the waiter walked over to collect our empty plates and ask what we wanted for dessert – green bean soup, red bean soup, mixed beans soup? After a delicious meal of braised tofu, stirfried vegetables with salted egg, roasted pork, crab, you would think we would be too stuffed, but somehow I always managed to down a bowl of warm “糖水” (tong sui). Since the dessert is complimentary and made with beans, why not?”. I remember the relaxing car ride home as we turned out the parking lot of the restaurant to the main streets flooded with lights, and everyone around us was filled with cars honking and people chatting. Somehow the noise just made me feel even happier, because after all my tummy was filled and I just had a delicious dessert.
“糖水” (tong sui), which translates directly as “sugar water” is a classic Cantonese dessert. It is a warm soup or custard that is served at the end of a meal. The soup comes in many different flavors such as green bean, red bean, beancurd, almond, walnuts, peanuts, black sesame, pumpkin sago or even a blend of some of these flavors. It may not sound appetizing I mean beans or pumpkin for dessert? but think of it like drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate in a bowl and with lots of nutritious ingredients.
While you can go to dessert stores to eat it, a lot of families make it at home because it easy and you can make it healthier at home (by dialing down the sugar). My grandmother was an absolute expert at this and would make this every week for us in various forms. My favorite was always black sesame soup. Traditionally it is a thicker soup made of blended black sesame seeds, thickened with rice and sweetened with rock sugar. I miss this soo much. But the idea of blending rice in my apartment didn’t sound feasible, neither
So leveraging our creativity, we are back with another healthy/revised version of this classic dessert which ONLY TAKES 5-10 mins! This is a perfect snack for college students (or working people like me).
Instead of rice, we replaced it with oats which has more fibre and protein and cooks much faster! We sweeten this with stevia, but feel free to use cane sugar or coconut sugar as well (honey or maple could be used by has a distinct taste that isn’t quite authentic).
GUYS try this recipe – a little of asia right in your bowl. A perfect winter treat! Can’t wait to make it again soon!
- 3 tbsp ROASTED black sesame seeds
- 3 tbsp whole rolled oats
- 11/4 cup of water
- 3-4 tbsp of sweetener (or more if desired)
- Place black sesame, oats and 1 cup of water in a blender. Blitz until smooth (this can take up to a few minutes to make it dry smooth smooth. the longer you blend, the smoother it gets).
- Pour into a pot. Pour ¼ cup into the blender, swirl and pour into the pot. I like to do this make sure all the black sesame is in the pot.
- Add sweetener to taste and let it dissolve.
- Bring it to a boil and let it simmer until desired thickness. Stir continuously throughout to avoid burning.
- If it becomes too thick you can just add water to thin it out.
- Taste and adjust sweetness. Serve immediately. This soup is best served fresh, I would not recommend keep it overnight or letting it cool because consistency isn't as nice!
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