Whenever winter hits in Canada, I find myself craving red bean soup. Not only is it medicinal and warming  — it's all of the food memories in Asia. We love them stuffed into milk buns and mooncakes, served over ginger sweet tofu in winter, and heaping bowls of shaved ice in summer. It’s a  signature ingredient for desserts across Asia.

My western friends either love it or hate it. I don’t blame them.  As many have suffered the shock of mistaking red bean paste for chocolate when biting into a dessert. For me — this red bean soup is a go-to classic. It’s high in iron, fiber and gives you a good boost in spirits. 

Red Bean Soup

Ingredients 

• 2 cups dried adzuki beans

• 8 cups water*

• ½ cup sugar

• 2 tablespoons tapioca pearls (optional)

• 1/4 medium-sized taro (200 grams), peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes (optional)*

Instructions

• Rinse the adzuki beans with cold water. Then, soak the beans in water for 6–8 hours, preferably overnight.

• Drain the beans, give them a rinse and transfer to a medium-sized pot. Add 6 of the 8 cups of water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour. Add the remaining 2 cups of water, around the halfway mark.

• Cook until the beans are softened and broken down. In Chinese cooking terminology: cook until beans are sandy and grainy “出沙’’. You can test this by taking a red bean and smushing it between your fingers, it should give way easily. Depending on how long the beans have been soaked, you may need more or less cooking time to achieve consistency. When the beans are done, add the sugar and stir.

• Add the taro and tapioca pearls (optional). Cook for 20–30 mins until the tapioca pearls become translucent and the taro is soft. Some recipes recommend cooking the pearls and taro separately to prevent coloring from the adzuki beans, but this method works just fine. Serve hot with a spoonful of coconut cream or milk of preference. Red bean soup also tastes great chilled but is best served warm in the wintertime.

Cooking notes:

The amount of water to add at the start should be 4 times the amount of adzuki beans (eg: 2 cups adzuki = add 8 cups water)

Traditionally, mandarin zest is added to red bean soup. I opted out because it’s never something I have in my pantry.

Adding sugar at the last stage will ensure that the beans soften. Sugar and salt will cause beans to seize and harden during the cooking process. 

I used frozen leftover taro from my Taro Coconut Sago, which was super handy to have on hand.