Sweet almond soup, or sweet almond tea, is my favourite Chinese dessert. It’s made of sweet and bitter apricot kernels, rice, and rock sugar. It’s very simple but difficult to perfect. Nothing can compare to the version made by my awesome grandma, she’s a great cook. When I was little, I love helping in the kitchen, I know my grandma enjoyed the company of her little helper too, as she’s still telling others how I made my perfect tangyuans :). I still ask her for cooking advice these days, via FaceTime, of course.
I haven’t made sweet almond soup in a long time because it’s very fiddly, and without the right tool, it’s not going to taste as good, and I’d rather not eat it. Since I got my Thermomix late last year, I’ve been trying to convert grandma’s recipe to a Thermie one. I’ve made this 6 times, I’m still not 100% happy with the recipe, but it’s very close.
And here’s the recipe…
Ingredients:
- 100g sweet apricot kernels (the best quality kernels I could get were from the Chinese herbs place, Hong Ninh, in Northbridge. They’re massive and full of flavour!)
- 10g bitter apricot kernels
- 15-20g white rice
- 70g rock sugar
- 700g warm water
Method:
- Soak rice and kernels for at least 4 hours
- Place drained sweet and bitter apricot kernels, rice, and 300g water into TM bowl and blend for 2 minute on speed 8. Scrap down side of bowl and blend for another 1 minute on speed 8.
- Add remaining water and sugar and cook for 12 minutes at 90°c on speed 2.
- Boil for a further 2 minutes at 100°c on speed 2. You have to watch the TMX at this stage as it might start to boil.
- Strain and serve warm or cold (some people prefer their soup strained, some don’t, personal preference)
Edit: We don’t use almonds in this recipe. We refer to apricot seeds as almonds, it would sound very strange if I don’t call it almond soup 🙂
//icecjan/ 