Red Bean Soup

Adzuki beans simmered until they collapse of their own accord, with the sugar kept out until they have.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 300 g dried adzuki beans
• 2.5 litres water
• 2 pieces dried tangerine peel
• 150 g rock sugar, or to taste
• a pinch of salt
• 60 g lotus seeds, optional

Method

1. THE SUGAR GOES IN AT THE END AND NOT A MOMENT EARLIER. Sugar firms the skins of a bean and stops it taking up water: beans put on to simmer in sweetened water will sit there for three hours and stay whole and chalky, and no amount of further cooking rescues them once they have set. Cook them plain until they burst, and sweeten after.
2. AND THEY ARE NOT BLENDED. The thickness comes from the beans breaking down and their starch going into the water -- some whole, some collapsed, and a cloudy liquid around them. Blended, it becomes a smooth purée, which is a different thing and much duller to eat.
3. Beans rinsed and soaked 4 hours or overnight. Drained. The soaking water is thrown away.
4. Into a large pan with the fresh water and the tangerine peel. Brought to the boil, then down to a steady low simmer.
5. The first 20 minutes will throw up grey foam; skim it off and discard it.
6. Simmered 90 minutes with the lid ajar. Topped up with boiling water if it drops below the beans.
7. Check at 90 minutes: a bean should squash to nothing between finger and thumb. If any resist, keep going -- some batches take two hours and there is no telling in advance.
8. WHEN ABOUT HALF THE BEANS HAVE BURST and the liquid has gone cloudy and slightly thick, add the lotus seeds if using and cook 20 minutes more.
9. Now the rock sugar and the pinch of salt. Stirred until dissolved and simmered 10 minutes more so the sweetness goes into the beans rather than sitting around them.
10. Tasted and adjusted. The salt is not tasted as salt; it stops the whole thing being flatly sweet.
11. Served hot in winter or chilled in summer. It thickens considerably in the fridge and is loosened with a little boiling water.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under China · All recipes