Sweet red bean soup is one of those dishes that brings me nostalgia and memories of my childhood. It’s a dish my mom cooks every summer. According to Chinese medicine, red bean broth has the benefit of cooling the body during the hot summer and keeping a person energized.
Red Bean Soup – Summer vs Winter Versions
My mom’s red bean soup is slightly different from what’s shown in the pictures here. My mom usually uses more water to make a paler and thinner soup. Once done, she filters out the beans and lightly sweetens the soup with rock sugar. Then she transfers the soup to the fridge until chilled. During the hot summer, she would pour me a glass of the cold, sweet red bean soup the moment I got home from school. With a few gulps of sweet bean soup in my belly, I would immediately feel like the hot weather had gone away.
Lately I’ve been thinking of red bean soup again. Maybe because I’ve eaten too much Western food during the holiday season. Maybe because Chinese New Year is around the corner. Now I crave comfort food. Dishes such as Seafood Congee, Tofu with Century Eggs, Braised Pork Feet, and Egg Fried Rice. These simple and plain-looking foods represent the Northern Chinese food I ate growing up.
Even though I love my mom’s summer red bean soup, I decided to do it slightly differently, so it suits the cold weather. I left the red beans in the soup, added more sugar, added sticky rice cakes, and served the soup hot. It makes a hearty snack and a dessert that I eat in the afternoon and after dinner.
Cooking notes
The red bean soup is so easy to make. All you need to do is soak the beans a day ahead, simmer them in the water, and add some sugar to sweeten it. If you’re new to Asian desserts, here is the information on the ingredients.
1. How to prep and cook with red beans
Also called Azuki beans in Japanese, red beans (红豆) are a common ingredient in Asian desserts. For example, you can make them into a sweet paste and use the paste as a filling in sticky rice cakes, Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), and mooncakes.
To cook with red beans on the stovetop, you should pre-soak the beans overnight so they take less time to cook and they get cooked evenly. However, you can use a pressure cooker or an Instant Pot to skip the soaking process and shorten the cooking time. To took with a pressure cooker, simply combine the beans and water, cook at high pressure for 20 minutes, then allow the pressure to release naturally.
2. Rock sugar
Rock sugar (冰糖, bing tang) or rock candy is crystallized cane sugar. It has a transparent color and looks like a mineral crystal. It tastes milder and slightly fruitier than granular sugar. It is commonly used in Chinese drinks, desserts, and savory dishes as a sweetener. You might need to visit an Asian market to get it, or you can find it on Amazon.
That being said, you can replace it with granulated sugar if you don’t have rock sugar on hand.
3. Optional items to add to the soup
A lot of southern Chinese desserts use sago (small tapioca pearls) in red bean soup. Tapioca pearls are almost tasteless but add a smooth, chewy texture to the soup. If you want to use them, simply cook 1 to 2 tablespoons of sago according to the instructions on the package, and fold them to the soup at the end.
Personally, my favorite add-on for this soup is sticky rice cakes. Once heated through, they have a crunchy, chewy texture and a mild rice fragrance, which tastes so good with the sweet soup. It also gives the soup a more interesting appearance. You can find sticky rice cakes in the refrigerated or freezer section of an Asian market.
More Asian dessert recipes
- Mango Sticky Rice
- 4-Ingredient No-Churn Black Sesame Ice Cream
- Almond Tofu (Almond Pudding, 杏仁豆腐)
- Ginger Creme Brulee
- Chinese Banana Fritters
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
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Red Bean Soup (红豆汤)
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried red beans azuki beans
- 1/4 cup dried lotus seeds or raw peanuts (optional)
- 8 cups water
- 1 piece dried tangerine peel 5g (optional) (*Footnote 1)
- 1/4 cup rock sugar 50g (or granulated sugar) , or to taste
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Rinse the beans with tap water and drain. Transfer the red beans to a large bowl and add 3 cups of water. Soak overnight. (*Footnote 2)
- Drain the red beans and transfer them to a pot. Pour in 8 cups of water and add the tangerine peel. If using peanuts instead of lotus seeds, add them now. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium-low heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Simmer with the pot partially covered (*Footnote 3) for 1 hour.
- Add the lotus seeds, if using, along with the sugar and salt. Simmer for another 40 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the beans from sticking to the bottom, until the beans are very tender and some have started to break apart.
- Taste the soup and adjust the sweetness if needed.
- Serve the soup hot or chilled.
Notes
- Dried tangerine peel, or chenpi, is a traditional addition to Chinese red bean soup. In Chinese food culture and traditional Chinese medicine, it is valued for its citrus aroma and is traditionally believed to aid digestion and balance the richness of sweet dishes. I consider it completely optional here—the red bean soup is delicious without it. If you use it, don't be tempted to add extra, since too much tangerine peel can make the soup bitter.
- Alternatively, you can skip the soaking and use a pressure cooker (or Instant Pot) to cook the red beans. Simply combine 1 cup red beans and 6 cups of water and cook at high pressure for 30 minutes, then allow the pressure to release naturally.
- Simmer with the lid partially open to prevent the soup from boiling over. If your pot lid has a steam vent, you can fully cover the pot.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
I’d love to hear how it turned out for you! Please take a moment to leave a 5-star rating ⭐️ and share your thoughts in the comments further down the page. It really helps others discover the recipe too.
susan
I don’t have Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker. Beans was soaked for few days and cooked in slow cooker over night. Beans was still hard. Is there any ways to cook the beans?
K
But are those actually stikcy rice cakes? I think they are made of normal rice flour? Because the texture is not as chewy as mochi and all those square mochi ones cost a fortune and these are more affordable
Maggie
They are rice cakes that are made from rice flour. It’s less sticky and chewier than the mochi made with glutinous rice flour.