How to Make Vietnamese Red Bean Sweet Soup
How to cook red bean sweet soup quickly and easily at home, ensuring the beans are soft but not mushy, using key ingredients like red beans, palm sugar, tapioca starch, tapioca pearls, and coconut milk.
The ingredient ratios and steps in this recipe will help you make a perfectly smooth and thick red bean sweet soup, with soft and tender beans.
Ingredients
- Red beans: 200g
- White sugar: 30g
- Palm sugar: 80g
- Tapioca pearls: 25g
- Tapioca starch: 10g
- Pandan leaves: 2 leaves
- Dried coconut flakes
- Fresh shredded coconut
- Coconut milk
- Black grass jelly
- Crushed roasted peanuts
Instructions
Prepare the Ingredients
Rinse the red beans thoroughly and soak them for at least 2-3 hours, or ideally for 4-6 hours if time allows. This is a key step to ensure the beans cook faster and become tender, so don't skip it.
There are two types of red beans: large and small. Choose the size that you prefer for your sweet soup.
Before cooking, soak the tapioca pearls in water to soften them. Tapioca pearls are often used in sweet soups to add texture and help thicken the dish.
Tapioca pearls are small white spheres that become translucent when cooked, similar to small boba pearls. They have a chewy, sticky, and mildly sweet texture. You can find tapioca pearls at stores that sell dried goods or sweet soup ingredients.
After soaking the tapioca pearls, drain them in a sieve and set them aside.
Cook the Red Bean Sweet Soup
After soaking, drain and rinse the red beans, then put them in a pot and boil them briefly. When the water boils for 30 seconds to 1 minute, drain the beans, rinse them, and discard the boiling water. This step helps reduce the natural bitterness of the beans and makes the sweet soup taste fresher.
Next, return the beans to the pot, add enough water to cover the beans (approximately 1.2 liters for 4 servings), and simmer for about 30-35 minutes until the beans are tender.
Once the beans are soft, pour the cooking liquid into a separate bowl, but leave the beans in the pot for sweetening.
Add 30g of white sugar and a pinch of salt to the beans and gently stir over low heat for about 5 minutes. This helps sweeten the beans while keeping them intact.
After 5 minutes, pour the reserved cooking liquid back into the pot. Increase the heat to bring the soup to a boil, then add pandan leaves, palm sugar, and the drained tapioca pearls. Stir well. Adjust the amount of sugar based on your preference for sweetness.
If pandan leaves are unavailable, you can use vanilla or banana extract instead. You can also substitute palm sugar with rock sugar if needed.
Lower the heat and cook for another 10 minutes until the tapioca pearls turn translucent. Dissolve 10g of tapioca starch in a little water, then gradually pour it into the pot while stirring. Cook for another 2 minutes until the sweet soup thickens to a smooth consistency. Turn off the heat and proceed to serve and garnish the dish.
If tapioca starch is unavailable, you can substitute it with arrowroot powder. If you prefer a thinner soup, reduce the amount of starch or omit it entirely. Some people enjoy the broth more than the beans, so adjust this step to suit your taste.
How to Enjoy
To make the red bean sweet soup more appealing, add toppings like coconut milk, dried coconut flakes, fresh shredded coconut, black grass jelly, and crushed roasted peanuts. You can also add black tapioca pearls for extra texture.
If adding tapioca pearls, here's how to prepare them: Boil water, and once boiling, add the tapioca pearls. Cook for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and let them sit for another 15 minutes. Afterward, transfer the pearls to a bowl of cold water mixed with a bit of sugar. Add them to the sweet soup when serving. Note: Do not refrigerate the cooked tapioca pearls, as they will harden. It's best to keep them in a cool place and use them within 8 hours.
Final Product Requirements
The red bean sweet soup has an attractive glossy reddish-brown color, with a smooth, thick syrup, and plump red beans that remain whole but are very tender. The dessert has a fragrant aroma from the beans, palm sugar, and pandan leaves. It can be enjoyed hot or cold, with ice.
Video
With just a few simple steps, you can make delicious red bean sweet soup at home. I hope you find success with Cookbeo's recipe shared here.
