Authentic Black Sesame Soup Recipe Guangdong, China

This traditional Chinese dessert is especially popular in the southern provinces, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and is characterized by its sweet and nutty flavor. It consists only of black sesame seeds, rice flour, sugar (rock sugar), and water but can be prepared a myriad of different ways. Usually, rice is soaked overnight, and the sesame seeds are toasted, but some recipes start with soaking both the rice and the sesame seeds overnight and then grinding them the following day into a powder which is mixed with water and sugar and cooked until thickened slightly. Others toast the rice flour and sesame seeds and once cooled and ground, cook them with water and sugar. Sometimes rock sugar is used instead of granulated sugar, and the soup may also include additional ingredients like jujube, Chinese rice dumplings filled with sesame paste called tang yuan, peanuts, or walnuts. Black sesame soup is served hot or warm, after a meal, as an afternoon snack, and with dim sum.