HOMECOOKED RED BEAN SOUP WITH LOTUS SEED

Cooking something sweet for dessert is surely more economical than buying from those available outside? unless you are too lazy to cook. LOL! As for me, I would almost always love to cook mine at home as it would give me the freedom to add in more ingredients to pep up the richness in the dessert.

Today, I?m going to share one of my HOMEMADE RED BEAN SOUP WITH LOTUS SEED recipes, which is beneficial to the general health. The red beans or commonly known as the azuki bean, are a good source of magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc copper, manganese and B vitamins. These beans act as a natural diuretic and help in reducing blood pressure.

When combined with some grains, the concoction would supply high quality protein and this would be a great alternative to meat protein. The rich soluble fiber which can also be found in any other beans would help in stool management and also in the elimination of toxins and cholesterol in the body. That?s the reason they are widely used by the Asians to treat problems such as urinary dysfunction, bladder infections and as a diet for post cancer patients (with some other beans such as green beans minus the sugar of course).

INGREDIENTS:

300gms red bean (azuki bean/??)

50gms lotus seed (?? ? peel into halves)

50gms Chinese lily bulb (pak hup/baihe/??)

25gms rice grain/glutinous rice

Sun dried Mandarin orange peel (one orange)

200gms sugar (add more to adjust to your own sweetness level)

5 pandan leaves (screwpine leaves ? bundle up)

Water

OPTIONAL:

Alkaline dumpling (kee zhang ? diced to bite size)

Glutinous rice ball

Chinese New Year cake (thnee koay/nian gao)

White fungus

Dried longan

Sago

PREPARATION:

1. Get a 5L pot and fill up 3/5 of the pot with water.

2. Wash the beans and rice grains thoroughly to clear any unwanted substance. Pour both the ingredients plus the mildly washed orange peel into the pot.

3. Set the water to boil at high. When boil, turn the fire to medium and cook for 45 minutes (or until you see a small tear on the skin). Add in more boiling water if required. Note: Some beans, especially those older or frozen ones might need a little more cooking time. Just watch out for the tear on the skin if so.

4. Pour in the washed lotus seed and boil for another 15 minutes. Add in more boiling water if required.

5. Pour in the lily bulbs and boil for another 30 minutes.

6. Fill up the pot with more boiling water (4/5 pot) and add in the bundled pandan leaves. 7. Slowly stir in the sugar and let it boil for another 10-15 minutes.

8. Scoop to serve either hot or chilled.

(Serves: 8-10)

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