Happy Chinese New Year!
With the holiday in mind, I thought this was an opportune time to post another entry under Chinese dessert "soups." There are many varieties of Asian dessert soups (called "tong shui") and this is probably the easiest one I know how to make.
With the holiday in mind, I thought this was an opportune time to post another entry under Chinese dessert "soups." There are many varieties of Asian dessert soups (called "tong shui") and this is probably the easiest one I know how to make.
I'll tell you something. As a kid, I always associated Chinese New Year with obligatory visits to distant, far-flung relatives. It was like we had a hit-list that needed to be checked off before we could breath a sigh of relief, slump back on the couch, and say, "we're done!" It's not really like that for me now. It's been simplified; we focus on our near and dear, and have yet another excuse to get together and...eat! There are family meals (I should say, feasts) with tons of savory foods and sweets lying around to usher in a sweet New Year. My mother has this covered flower-shaped candy holder with compartments in it that she'd take out during the New Year to fill with candies and edible seeds (yes, like red melon seeds to symbolize good things like growth and life). Along with boxes of chocolates we'd give and receive as gifts during the New Year, that candy holder was the part I looked forward to most as a child and I always lobbied (successfully) for more chocolates in the box.
But back to dessert soups. There are so many, including the kind with little round glutinous rice balls swimming in their sweet soup for Chinese New Year. I wish I knew how to make more of them since I can think of a dozen right off the top of my head that I've enjoyed. My sister used to take us to Chinese dessert houses to have them. I have her to thank for teaching me how to make the taro tapioca dessert soup that I love and my husband is forever grateful I learned to make his favorite, mango sago dessert, this past summer (we'll be making plenty of that cold treat throughout the summer). But this sweet potato dessert soup is seriously easy to put together; I don't even remember being taught how to make it. It takes just four ingredients (including the water!) and cooks up in less than half an hour. It's sweet but balanced by some spice from fresh ginger.
But back to dessert soups. There are so many, including the kind with little round glutinous rice balls swimming in their sweet soup for Chinese New Year. I wish I knew how to make more of them since I can think of a dozen right off the top of my head that I've enjoyed. My sister used to take us to Chinese dessert houses to have them. I have her to thank for teaching me how to make the taro tapioca dessert soup that I love and my husband is forever grateful I learned to make his favorite, mango sago dessert, this past summer (we'll be making plenty of that cold treat throughout the summer). But this sweet potato dessert soup is seriously easy to put together; I don't even remember being taught how to make it. It takes just four ingredients (including the water!) and cooks up in less than half an hour. It's sweet but balanced by some spice from fresh ginger.
In the wintertime, this hot soup takes part in my comfort food lineup, without the need for a special holiday to enjoy them. My favorite part is the soup itself and I like plenty of ginger to give it some pep. I wish I could get the little one more interested in these Asian desserts but thus far, he is far more into things with frosting. I convinced him to have a bit of this since he likes sweet potatoes. He complied and ate some but wasn't exactly chomping for more. I'm hoping he'll come around to appreciate these types of things when he's older.
