Sweet Red Bean and Taro Soup 紅豆芋頭甜湯

Every time I go to this local shabu shabu place, towards the end of the meal they'll always bring up sweet red bean soup for dessert. Mostly cold, but sometimes they'll serve the hot version instead during winter months.

That's the kind of sweet ending I would enjoyed. So I was like why not making it at home too? I don't have to wait to snack on this Taiwanese sweet red bean plus taro soup only when having a shabu meal. Plus it's not hard to make at all.

Sweet red bean and taro soup 紅豆芋頭甜湯 - 

Ingredients?

• 190 grams to 200 grams red beans
• 100 grams taro
• 8 to 10 cups water
• 1/2 cup crystal sugar
• Small pinch salt

How?

Rinse then soak the red beans the night before. I actually stored that in the fridge instead.

When ready to cook, drain out the water. Start a pot of fresh water instead then add in the soaked red beans. Use 8 to 10 cups of water for this recipe. If you prefer more "soup" like me, I actually used 9 cups of water here.

Switch to medium high heat and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to keep it at a light bubbling stage. Continue to cook till the red beans almost reach 2/3 of your preferred texture, like 70% done. If start counting the time from the beginning, mine took about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and cube the taro, about the same or slightly larger than the red beans. After red beans are almost finished cooking, add in the taro cubes.

Continue to cook till the taro can be smashed down easily with the force of your tongue, that's about 40 more minutes for mine.

Only flavor with crystal sugar or any other types of sugar towards the end. I used 1/2 cup of crystal sugar, plus a small pinch of salt.

The sweet soup is ready when the sugar has been fully melted within. You can serve it hot or chill in the fridge till cold.

Because the red beans will continue to absorb a little bit of soup overtime, so if you know the whole pot of sweet red bean soup won't be finished at once, I would suggest to go with the "soupy" route.

Also if it's hard to buy just 100 grams of taro, don't worry and just get more taro instead. You can always peel and chunk the unused taro, store them in a Ziploc bag or a container then keep in the freezer. Frozen taro can last for quite some time.

However, do remember when ready to use the frozen taro again, do not defrost. The texture can turn a little "fluffy" once defrosted.