1STEP 1 | Soak red beans overnight until plumped; soak lotus seeds and dried lily bulbs until softened.
Aged Tangerine Peel Red Bean Sweet Soup with Lotus Seeds & Lily Bulbs
Traditional hand-filtered red bean paste sweet soup infused with aged tangerine peel, lotus seeds, and lily bulbs.
Aged Tangerine Peel Red Bean Sweet Soup with Lotus Seeds & Lily Bulbs is the supreme jewel of traditional Cantonese dessert soups. Aged tangerine peel is simmered first to yield its complex, fragrant oils, followed by overnight-soaked adzuki beans cooked until bursting. Hand-mashed through a fine sieve with soup liquid, the coarse skins are cast away to yield a velvety, pure bean paste texture. Slow-cooked with tender Xiang lotus seeds, dried lily bulbs, and crushed slab sugar, the chopped peel is reintroduced to perfume every comforting spoonful.
Time2h 15min
Suitable-
MethodBoil
OccasionHome dinner
SeasonAll seasons
The Ahistoric Grandpa Cooking Show (Sr.2)
Full Episode Video
Ingredients（Serves 2-3）
Quick Method
2STEP 2 | Soak aged tangerine peel until soft and scrape off white pith. Boil in water for 30 minutes to infuse the citrus fragrance.
3STEP 3 | Add soaked red beans into the tangerine peel water. Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium-low heat for ~45 mins until beans burst open.
4STEP 4 | Test tenderness of red beans. Scoop cooked beans onto a fine mesh sieve and press firmly with a spoon to mash into paste.
5STEP 5 | Ladle soup over the sieve while mashing to wash smooth bean paste back into the pot, filtering out rough skins.
6STEP 6 | Crush slab cane sugar into small pieces. Add soaked lotus seeds, lily bulbs, and crushed sugar into the red bean soup.
7STEP 7 | Scoop out the softened tangerine peel, chop finely, and return to the soup to intensify the aromatic orange flavor.
8STEP 8 | Cover and simmer gently for another 30 minutes. Turn off heat, let rest, test sweetness, and serve when lotus seeds are powdery soft.
Tips and Pitfalls
Scrape Tangerine Pith & Pre-Boil Base
Scrape off white pith from soaked peel to prevent bitterness. Boiling it first for 30 minutes builds a fragrant citrus base.
Sieve & Mash Beans to Purge Skins
Mash cooked beans through a fine strainer with soup liquid. This extracts silky bean paste while completely filtering out rough skins.
Crush Slab Cane Sugar Before Adding
Crush Cantonese slab sugar into fragments before cooking to speed up dissolution and achieve uniform, rich sweetness.
Chop Softened Peel & Return to Soup
Finely chop the boiled peel and return it to the soup so every spoonful delivers burst of authentic citrus aroma.
Overview
Aged Tangerine Peel Red Bean Sweet Soup with Lotus Seeds & Lily Bulbs is the supreme jewel of traditional Cantonese dessert soups. Aged tangerine peel is simmered first to yield its complex, fragrant oils, followed by overnight-soaked adzuki beans cooked until bursting. Hand-mashed through a fine sieve with soup liquid, the coarse skins are cast away to yield a velvety, pure bean paste texture. Slow-cooked with tender Xiang lotus seeds, dried lily bulbs, and crushed slab sugar, the chopped peel is reintroduced to perfume every comforting spoonful.
