A few nights ago, I was having dinner with Zen at one of our local pubs, 3 Weeds. After a succulent steak sandwich and the comfort of a bowl of chips, my mind was set on dessert.
Oh, how I wanted the vanilla panna cotta with mango jelly, mango sorbet & coconut tapioca.
But Zen reminded me of my winning streak with the recent weight loss so I did the sensible thing and walked away...
(I know that a steak sandwich and chips may not sound very healthy but I assure you I've been eating super lean every other night)
So anyway, as we settled back home onto the couch, I said I was going to make some tea...
On my way to the kettle, I swung open the fridge and grabbed some ginger, walked past the potato box and picked up two sweet potatoes.
And within 15-20 minutes, I was back on the couch with a bowl of this delicious tong sui.
Tong sui (糖水) translates directly to 'sweet water' and is used to describe any Chinese sweet soup or custard that is served as dessert.
This recipe for sweet potato sweet soup (番薯糖水: Fān shǔ táng shuǐ) is extremely simple. So easy that I managed to whip it up even without the intentions to cook, which is why we ate out in the first place!
I love how the hotness of the ginger balances out the sweetness of the soup. It is delightful to eat warm and so refreshing to have chilled.
It also occurred to me that this was the first Chinese dessert I've ever made from scratch by myself. I'm sure there will be many more to come, especially if there are others as easy as this!
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes
1 slab Chinese brown sugar
1 small knob of ginger
3 cups of water
Method
Peel sweet potatoes and cut into bite-sized pieces.
Slice the ginger into 2 or 3 segments and bruise it and using a pestle and mortar.
Bring the water to boil and add all the ingredients.
Cover the pan with lid and boil for 15-20 minutes or until sweet potatoes are soft.
Serve immediately or chilled.
So I suppose the moral of this story is that nothing stops a girl from getting her dessert ;)
This looks great Jen, so delicious. And amazing job for cooking your first Chinese dessert from scratch
i love this dessert! can't believe you made it from scratch! will have to try it soon :)
I love the use of ginger in soups. Have never tried making a sweet Chinese soup before, this one looks easy and delicious.
That looks especially soothing for a rainy day indoors or perhaps when I'm feeling down and blue. Scratch that, any day.
love sweet potato tong sui! my old time favourite. :)
Oh my gosh! I remember that my mom used to make this all the time and I had NO idea how she did it! Thanks so much for providing a recipe, I'll try it out asap :)
This soup sound quite good. Thanks for the recipe.