Cantonese Tong Sui: a snack, a dessert, a soup
Sweet Soup, or Tong Sui, is practically a cultural institution in Guangdong... though you can see similar things throughout coastal China, East Asia, and into Southeast Asia. We'll cover three different Tong Sui in this video:
0:00 - Why love sweet soup?
1:52 - Three Cantonese Tongsui
2:21 - Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup
5:05 - Red Bean Soup
8:01 - Water Chestnut and Egg Soup
10:08 - Are there more Cantonese Tong Sui?
SWEET POTATO AND GINGER SOUP
Makes 2 servings.
* Sweet Potato (红薯), ~2 small, 275g (or ~200g peeled)
* Ginger, ~1 inch, crushed
* Water, 3 cups
* Slab sugar (片糖) -or- dark brown sugar, 20g
Peel the sweet potato - also peeling the whiter outer bit, revealing the more-orange flesh below. Cut by rolling and cracking the sweet potato to get slightly irregular pieces, ~1 inch large. Set aside. Crush your ginger slice.
Toast the ginger in a dry pot over medium flame until fragrant, ~1 min. Add the sweet potato, toast together for ~2-3 minutes. Add the 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, covered.
Check to make sure the sweet potato is cooked, then add in the sugar. Let it dissolve into the soup.
RED BEAN SOUP
Makes 2-3 servings.
* Red Adzuki Beans (红豆), 100g
* Chen pi (陈皮), dried and aged tangerine peel, 5g
* Water, 5 cups
* Rock sugar (冰糖) -or- light brown sugar, 20g (can go up to 30g if you prefer it sweeter).
Rinse the beans, then soak with cool water for at least 12 hours and up to 24. Strain, then transfer over to the freezer. Freeze overnight. After frozen, soak with hot, boiled water for ~30 minutes to de-thaw. Strain.
Soak the chen pi tangerine peel in cool water for ~30 minutes to soften. Scrape off the bitter pith, then finely mince.
Add water and chen pi tangerine peel to a pot. Bring to a boil, add in the beans. Bring to a boil once again, skimming if you like. Swap the flame to medium-low, simmer for one hour with the lid cracked.
Shut off the heat, transfer the desired amount of beans to a mesh strainer (we did 80% of the beans, you can do less if you prefer it chunkier). Mash the beans in the strainer, then continuously scoop soup over the beans and continue to mash. This will leave only the shells remaining. Toss or compost the shells.
Continue to simmer the soup for ~30 minutes over medium-low - covered - to your desired consistency. Add the 20-30g of rock sugar. Once dissolved, the soup is done.
WATER CHESTNUT AND EGG SOUP
Makes 2 servings.
Sourcing notes:
Note that sometimes fresh water chestnut can be a bit of a challenge for some people to find in the west. For this recipe, frozen would be ok, but we would advise against canned.
For the water chestnut starch, it should be available at many Chinese supermarket. Weee! carries it but it is currently out of stock: https://www.sayweee.com/en/product/Double-Rings-Water-Cheastnut-Starch-250-g/49559
You can sub the water chestnut starch with potato, tapioca, or any root vegetable starch.
* Water chestnut (马蹄), 8
* Water chestnut starch (马蹄粉) -or- root vegetable starch of choice (e.g. potato starch), 2 tbsp; mixed with 2 tbsp water to make a slurry
* Water, 2 cups
* Rock sugar (冰糖) -or- white granulated sugar, 20g
* Egg, half an egg
Peel the water chestnut, then rinse. Take half and finely mince, take the other half, crush, and roughly chop the crushed water chestnut. Prepare the slurry.
Bring the water to a boil, then add in the sugar and dissolve. Add in the water chestnut, bring to a boil and boil for about one minute. Meanwhile, thoroughly whisk your egg.
Over a medium flame now, drizzle the starch slurry into your soup bit by bit, stirring periodically. Once thickened, pour the egg into the soup in a thin stream, rapidly stirring constantly with chopsticks. Heat off, fin.
______________
And check out our Patreon if you'd like to support the project!
http://www.patreon.com/ChineseCookingDemystified
Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel): https://youtu.be/GHaL5H-VYRg
0:00 - Why love sweet soup?
1:52 - Three Cantonese Tongsui
2:21 - Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup
5:05 - Red Bean Soup
8:01 - Water Chestnut and Egg Soup
10:08 - Are there more Cantonese Tong Sui?
SWEET POTATO AND GINGER SOUP
Makes 2 servings.
* Sweet Potato (红薯), ~2 small, 275g (or ~200g peeled)
* Ginger, ~1 inch, crushed
* Water, 3 cups
* Slab sugar (片糖) -or- dark brown sugar, 20g
Peel the sweet potato - also peeling the whiter outer bit, revealing the more-orange flesh below. Cut by rolling and cracking the sweet potato to get slightly irregular pieces, ~1 inch large. Set aside. Crush your ginger slice.
Toast the ginger in a dry pot over medium flame until fragrant, ~1 min. Add the sweet potato, toast together for ~2-3 minutes. Add the 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, covered.
Check to make sure the sweet potato is cooked, then add in the sugar. Let it dissolve into the soup.
RED BEAN SOUP
Makes 2-3 servings.
* Red Adzuki Beans (红豆), 100g
* Chen pi (陈皮), dried and aged tangerine peel, 5g
* Water, 5 cups
* Rock sugar (冰糖) -or- light brown sugar, 20g (can go up to 30g if you prefer it sweeter).
Rinse the beans, then soak with cool water for at least 12 hours and up to 24. Strain, then transfer over to the freezer. Freeze overnight. After frozen, soak with hot, boiled water for ~30 minutes to de-thaw. Strain.
Soak the chen pi tangerine peel in cool water for ~30 minutes to soften. Scrape off the bitter pith, then finely mince.
Add water and chen pi tangerine peel to a pot. Bring to a boil, add in the beans. Bring to a boil once again, skimming if you like. Swap the flame to medium-low, simmer for one hour with the lid cracked.
Shut off the heat, transfer the desired amount of beans to a mesh strainer (we did 80% of the beans, you can do less if you prefer it chunkier). Mash the beans in the strainer, then continuously scoop soup over the beans and continue to mash. This will leave only the shells remaining. Toss or compost the shells.
Continue to simmer the soup for ~30 minutes over medium-low - covered - to your desired consistency. Add the 20-30g of rock sugar. Once dissolved, the soup is done.
WATER CHESTNUT AND EGG SOUP
Makes 2 servings.
Sourcing notes:
Note that sometimes fresh water chestnut can be a bit of a challenge for some people to find in the west. For this recipe, frozen would be ok, but we would advise against canned.
For the water chestnut starch, it should be available at many Chinese supermarket. Weee! carries it but it is currently out of stock: https://www.sayweee.com/en/product/Double-Rings-Water-Cheastnut-Starch-250-g/49559
You can sub the water chestnut starch with potato, tapioca, or any root vegetable starch.
* Water chestnut (马蹄), 8
* Water chestnut starch (马蹄粉) -or- root vegetable starch of choice (e.g. potato starch), 2 tbsp; mixed with 2 tbsp water to make a slurry
* Water, 2 cups
* Rock sugar (冰糖) -or- white granulated sugar, 20g
* Egg, half an egg
Peel the water chestnut, then rinse. Take half and finely mince, take the other half, crush, and roughly chop the crushed water chestnut. Prepare the slurry.
Bring the water to a boil, then add in the sugar and dissolve. Add in the water chestnut, bring to a boil and boil for about one minute. Meanwhile, thoroughly whisk your egg.
Over a medium flame now, drizzle the starch slurry into your soup bit by bit, stirring periodically. Once thickened, pour the egg into the soup in a thin stream, rapidly stirring constantly with chopsticks. Heat off, fin.
______________
And check out our Patreon if you'd like to support the project!
http://www.patreon.com/ChineseCookingDemystified
Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel): https://youtu.be/GHaL5H-VYRg
