Tong sui is a Cantonese dessert soup made with coconut milk or water, sugar, and various fruits, nuts, and vegetables. It comes in many flavors and is served as a palate-cleansing treat. Some varieties include unusual ingredients like box turtle or fallopian tubes. Black sesame paste is a popular addition. Sweet soup stands and shops can be found in Chinese communities around the world.
Tong sui is a sweet and hot Cantonese dessert soup that comes in a range of flavors and textures. Literally meaning “fresh water” in Mandarin Chinese, this dessert is served as a palate-cleansing treat to cap off a meal. Just as many flavors of tong sui can be found as ice cream flavors – perhaps even more, when you consider varieties like red bean, black-eyed peas, glutinous rice, water chestnut, and even box turtle.
The base of tong sui is simple, made from coconut milk or water with added sugar to taste. After this mixture is brought to a boil, various chopped nuts, fruits and even vegetables such as chestnuts or water chestnuts are added. Then, the mixture simmers for about half an hour over low heat. Some ingredients will take more or less time to cook, so cooks will often add them to the simmering liquid in the order needed to cook. This minimizes the possibility of overcooked or undercooked components in the final dish.
Depending on the fruits and vegetables added, tong sui takes on a myriad of colors and appearances. Some make plain mango, pearl tapioca, or vanilla varieties that have a primary flavor; others combine different ingredients in coconut milk. A popular recipe combines Asian fruit longan with dates, nuts, beans and snow mushrooms for a diverse dining experience. Another is a medley of berries and citrus peel imparted with the soup’s inherent creaminess.
On an international scale, some varieties of tong sui are more palatable than others. The cornerstone of Hasma, for example, is the fallopian tubes. The Guilinggao tongo variety is made from box turtle. Many of the others, however, include ingredients more accepted by a worldwide audience.
A popular ingredient used in many tong sui recipes is black sesame paste – a distinctively sweet and nutty addition, which gives the soup a dark hue. Seasonal fruits, vegetables, and beans are customary, leading to an ever-evolving variety of dessert soups. While prevalent in the Cantonese regions of China, sweet soup stands and shops have sprung up in other parts of the world, including the United States and Europe, which boast heavy Chinese populations, particularly in major cities such as New York and San Francisco. These shops produce ton sui exclusively or include it among other menu items.
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