Tong Sui — Hong Kong Red Bean Soup

The classic Cantonese sweet red bean soup (紅豆沙) that Uncle Boon grew up with — silky smooth red bean in a lightly sweet, slightly thick soup. The secret is boiling the beans until almost disintegrated, then blending half for body. Serve hot or cold. Free recipe.

🥘 Ingredients

• 300g dried red beans (adzuki / hong dou) — soaked overnight
• 100-120g rock sugar (adjust to taste)
• 2-3 pieces dried tangerine peel (chen pi / 陳皮) — soaked in warm water 10 min, white pith scraped off
• 1.5L water
• Optional: 1 small piece dried lotus root

👨‍🍳 Steps

1. Step 1 — Soak: Rinse red beans and soak overnight in plenty of cold water. Drain and rinse.
2. Step 2 — Build the Soup: Place beans in a pot with 1.5L fresh water. Add softened tangerine peel (with white pith scraped off — pith makes it bitter) and lotus root if using. Bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Step 3 — Simmer: Skim off scum. Reduce to medium-low heat, cover partially. Simmer 60-75 minutes until beans are very tender and starting to burst open. Stir every 15 minutes.
4. Step 4 — Remove aromatics: Remove tangerine peel and lotus root.
5. Step 5 — Blend for Texture: Remove about 1.5 cups of cooked beans. Blend until completely smooth with a little soup liquid. Return to pot. This gives the soup its silky, slightly thick body while keeping whole beans for texture.
6. Step 6 — Sweeten: Add rock sugar. Stir until dissolved. Simmer another 10 minutes. Taste and adjust.
7. Step 7 — Serve: Hot version — serve immediately. Cold version — cool then refrigerate 2-3 hours. Add extra water when reheating as soup thickens when cold.

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