Just in time for New Year
celebrations is a showstopper that is perfect for cold weather.
This is a soup unlike
anything you've probably ever tried because it's thick and creamy, slightly
sweet, smooth as silk, and deliciously aromatic from lots of toasted sesame. And if that
and the impossibly beautiful design aren't enough to convince you, how about
this: it's super easy!
Yes, there are a lot of steps to this, but that is mainly to make each part of the recipe clear. Read it through a couple of times and you will see how deceptively simple this really is.
Yes, there are a lot of steps to this, but that is mainly to make each part of the recipe clear. Read it through a couple of times and you will see how deceptively simple this really is.
Northern and eastern China
possess a nice selection of creamy sweet soups made out of an assortment of
nuts or seeds, thickened with toasted rice, and sweetened with a light hand.
Served for breakfast, they warm the toes and ready the soul for a day at the
office. In the afternoon, they wake you up and make you - if not deliriously
happy to go back - at least energized enough to resume work. And after a huge
dinner, the soup as a dessert trickles down and nestles in between the food in
your stomach, providing a last bit of heat to help the digestion. Or so is my
belief.
The Chinese name for this
is Taiji hu because taiji describes this type of
yin-yang pattern, while hu is
a thick, sweet soup. One thing you should always notice - and this is a detail
that even some Chinese folks get wrong - is the direction of the paisleys: they
should go in a counter-clockwise direction, as in the Buddhist swastikas (卍, pronounced wàn) that adorn temples and decorate things like tiles and often
appear as fretwork. You can also call this Yinyang hu because this is all about good old yin and yang coming together to form something perfect.
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| Raw sticky rice |
Yin yang sweet sesame soup
Tàijí hú 太極糊 or Yīnyáng hú 陰陽糊
Jiangsu
Serves 12 or more
Tàijí hú 太極糊 or Yīnyáng hú 陰陽糊
Jiangsu
Serves 12 or more
½ cup raw sticky (or
glutinous or sweet) rice
¾ cup raw white sesame seeds (see note below)
¾ cup raw black sesame seeds
3 egg-sized pieces of rock sugar, or white sugar to taste
8 cups filtered water
¼ teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water
¼ cup cream or half-and-half (or unflavored soy or coconut creamer)
¾ cup raw white sesame seeds (see note below)
¾ cup raw black sesame seeds
3 egg-sized pieces of rock sugar, or white sugar to taste
8 cups filtered water
¼ teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water
¼ cup cream or half-and-half (or unflavored soy or coconut creamer)
1. You can start this
recipe up to three days ahead of time, as the two soups can be cooked and then
rest in the refrigerator up to the last minute.
2. Everything needs to be
toasted first, so get out your wok but don't add any oil. The rice and sesame
seeds will all need to be dry-fried separately and will need three small dry
bowls to hold them.
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| Toasting up the rice |
3. Place your wok over
medium-high heat until a drop of water immediate evaporates with a sizzle as
soon as it hits the pan. Dry-fry the rice by putting the unwashed, uncooked
rice in the wok (again, no oil should be added), and then stir the rice while
it cooks. As soon as it turns an opaque white and then a light gold, remove the
rice to one of the bowls.
4. Do the same thing next with the white sesame seeds, cooking them until they start to pop, smell delicious, and are a light gold, and then removing them to another bowl. Finally, dry-fry the black sesame seeds in the same way until they start to pop and smell good, and place them in the third bowl.
4. Do the same thing next with the white sesame seeds, cooking them until they start to pop, smell delicious, and are a light gold, and then removing them to another bowl. Finally, dry-fry the black sesame seeds in the same way until they start to pop and smell good, and place them in the third bowl.
5. If you're using rock
sugar (and you should, since it doesn't leave a sour aftertaste), boil 2 cups
of the water and dissolve the sugar in it. If not dissolve about ¼ cup of sugar
in 2 cups of boiling water; you can add more sugar to taste later on. Prepare
two 1-quart, heatproof, covered containers.
6. Place half of the
toasted rice and all of the white sesame seeds in a blender with 3 cups of the
water. Blend on high speed until you're left with a thin, silky batter. Pour
the batter into a quart saucepan and stir it over medium-high heat until it starts
to bubble and thicken.
7. Add half of the sugar water, ⅛ teaspoon salt, and half of the cornstarch slurry to the white sesame soup, continue to stir it over the medium-high heat until it bubbles around the edge, and then lower the heat to medium and stir the soup until it turns glossy and there's no taste of cornstarch left; add all of the cream and pour the soup into one of the containers. Taste again and add more sugar if desired. Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate.
7. Add half of the sugar water, ⅛ teaspoon salt, and half of the cornstarch slurry to the white sesame soup, continue to stir it over the medium-high heat until it bubbles around the edge, and then lower the heat to medium and stir the soup until it turns glossy and there's no taste of cornstarch left; add all of the cream and pour the soup into one of the containers. Taste again and add more sugar if desired. Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate.
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| Thickening up nicely |
9. Repeat this step with
the black sesame seeds, using the rest of the sugar water, salt, and cornstarch
slurry; don't add any cream to the black sesame soup, though, as it will turn
the soup a disappointing gray.
10. While the soup is
chilling, select a 1- to 2-quart serving bowl (use the larger size, of course,
if you're serving more than 6 people); it needs to have fairly straight sides,
as it will be hard to fit the mold in later on if the sides are sloped. Tear
off about a foot of heavy foil and fold it up twice width-wise so that you have
a firm 3-inch wide strip of foil. Look at the picture at the top of this post
and make a reverse S shape with the foil, folding it and cutting it as
needed so that it fits pretty snugly into the top 3 inches of your serving
bowl.
11. Before you make your
final serving preparations, place a small bowl and soup spoon on the dining
table for each of your guests so that you can serve them later on. Go into the
kitchen and close the door so that you can keep your secrets, well, secret.
12. Heat each soup up
separately on the stove or in the microwave. They will be thick, so take care
that they don't boil over or scorch. Put a ladle in each container and place
them next to your serving bowl. Ladle in a bit of each soup in the bottom third
of the bowl; it doesn't matter if they run together at this point, and no one
will see them.
13. Hold the S form
in the bowl with one hand and start gently ladling in white sesame soup on one
side and black sesame soup on the other. Alternate this on each side so that
the levels remain equal and the soup isn't tempted to run around. When you
reach about an inch from the top of the bowl, smoothly pull the S form
out; the soups will stay magically in place because they are of equal
thickness. Place about a tablespoon of the white soup in the thickest part of
the black paisley and a tablespoon of the black soup in the thickest part of
the white paisley, and smooth out each dot into a nice little circle.
14. Gently carry the soup
to the dining table with as much flourish as you can muster. Allow your guests
to admire your handiwork, take photos, pose with with the soup, etc., before
you serve them.
Note: Quality sesame
seeds are really important here. Taste them, if you can, before you buy them,
as old sesame seeds will carry their stale flavor over into the soup. Also,
cheap seeds will often have bits of gravel or sand in them, so spend a little
more and buy either a good Japanese brand or the best that your health food has
to offer. If you can only buy them already toasted, that's all right. Just
toast the seeds lightly again to bring out their flavor, but keep a close eye on
them so that they don't burn.
