Chinese Black Sesame Soup (or Paste)
Black sesame soup or paste is a popular Chinese sweet soup made from black sesame seeds and rice. This nutty, fragrant, and healthy soup is the perfect ending to a meal.
Can't find black sesame powder? Don't worry, below we share how to make your own black sesame powder to use in this dessert.
I find that the older I get, the more I am drawn to the foods that my parents like to eat.
Am I catching up with the older generation? Most likely.
For instance, as a kid, I didn't really care for Chinese ingredients such as lotus paste, salted egg yolk, or even black sesame.
But now that I have kids, and the strands of hair on my head are turning grey (!!), I'm thinking about how I can help slow the inevitable --
And of course, I think to my Mom's Black Sesame Soup.
Black sesame has often been touted by the Chinese as a healthy food to consume in order to retain black hair colour. It is high in minerals and has a host of other health benefits.
What Is Black Sesame Soup (or Paste)?
Black sesame soup (sometimes called black sesame paste) is a sweet, Chinese dessert made with black sesame seeds, sugar, rice flour, and water.
The consistency can be thick (like a pudding) or thin (more watery) depending on preference.
Sometimes, during Chinese New Year, "tang yuan" or glutinous rice balls are added to the soup.
Health Benefits of Black Sesame
Black sesame has a rich, nutty flavour and is very aromatic, similar to its cousin tahini, which is made of white sesame seeds.
Black sesame seeds are rich in nutrition and contain many minerals and vitamins.
In Chinese medicine, black sesame helps to detoxify the body, regulate urinary system, nourish hair, and acts as a laxative.
To make this soup a little more healthy, my Mom's recipe calls for honey as a natural sweetener. I've tried it with both honey and granulated cane sugar, and both work equally well.
Where Can You Find Black Sesame Soup?
Black sesame soup is sometimes served as a dessert at the end of the meal in many Chinese restaurants. It is usually served warm or hot.
In Cantonese cuisine, "dessert" is known as "tong sui" which literally means "sweet water." Another common "tong sui" is Red Bean Soup.
In Asian supermarkets, you can find instant black sesame soup in powdered form. Just dump the packet into a bowl, add hot boiling water, stir, and you've got black sesame soup.
However, it's just as easy to make black sesame soup from scratch, without the chemicals and preservatives commonly found in the packaged form.
How To Make Black Sesame Powder
All-natural (not instant) black sesame powder may be hard to find. If you have it, you can easily make this soup with the powder. But, if not, it's very easy to make black sesame powder.
All you'll need are black sesame seeds and a spice grinder.
Pulse the black sesame seeds until powdery, but just shy of releasing their natural oils. And voila, you have black sesame powder.
Dump the black sesame powder into a bowl and set aside.
Rice Flour vs Glutinous Rice Flour
This recipe calls for both rice flour and glutinous rice flour. These flours are commonly available in Asian grocery stores, but there is a difference between the two flours.
Rice flour is made from long grain rice, while glutinous rice flour is made from long or short-grained sweet rice.
Glutinous rice flour gives a stickier texture that is commonly associated with foods like tang yuan or mochi.
If you're not able to find the rice flours, you can omit it, but the soup will be lighter in texture.
This black sesame soup is not only healthy, but it is tasty and nutritious.
Nutty, fragrant, and not too sweet, it's the perfect ending to any meal. It will warm your body and delight your taste buds.
Try this recipe out and find out why this soup is on constant rotation in my home.
If you're looking for other ways to use black sesame, check out my recipe for Refined Sugar-Free Black Sesame Mochi.
Chinese Black Sesame Soup
Black sesame soup or paste is a popular Chinese sweet soup made from black sesame seeds and rice. This nutty, fragrant, and healthy soup is the perfect ending to a meal.
Ingredients
- ½ c black sesame seeds OR ¼ c black sesame powder
- 1 ½ c water (more according to your preference)
- 2 tablespoon rice flour
- 2 tablespoon glutinous rice flour
- 2 tablespoon honey (or granulated cane sugar)
Instructions
To Make Black Sesame Powder
- Place the black sesame seeds into a clean spice grinder. Pulse intermittently until a powder consistency is attained. Be sure not to over-grind or it will turn into a paste (like tahini).
To Make The Soup
- In a saucepan, add the water, rice flour, glutinous rice flour and black sesame powder. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Stir continuously. The mixture will start to thicken.
- Continue to stir for about 10 minutes. Add in the honey or sugar. Stir until dissolved. Taste the black sesame soup and adjust for sweetness.
- If the black sesame soup is too thick for your liking, add in a little more water and stir until homogeneous.
- Remove from heat and ladle into small bowls. Serve warm.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
¼ of recipeAmount Per Serving: Calories: 214
Michelle enjoys learning and discovering different foods from around the world and recreating them in her own kitchen. She is an avid matcha lover and believes that the best food is made from scratch. Michelle develops and photographs recipes at her blog SiftAndSimmer.com.
Can black sesame paste be used instead in his recipe?
Hi Yee. We haven't tried it with black sesame paste, but I would think it would work. You may need less water though, so I would start with less and add it slowly until you get a consistency you like. Let us know how it turns out for you!
First time making it. It went thick as iy heated but then as I continued cooking and added honey...went thin..no matter how long I cooked it. Mayb I shouldnt add thehoney while it's still cooking?
Hi Sharon. We haven't come across this problem before. Did you possibly add too much honey? Maybe try granulated sugar next time to see if the results are more to your liking.
Hi, can we use 4 spoons of glutinous flour instead if we have no rice flour?
Hi Kim. I would not substitute glutinous rice flour for rice flour, these have very different consistencies when cooked. You may be able to substitute all purpose flour or sorghum flour for the rice flour. But as we haven't tested this recipe with these substitutions, we can't speak for how well they will actually work.
We just tried this, both my daughter and I really liked it. I look forward to getting my back black hair, lol.
So glad you both enjoyed it Eva!
Delicious recipe! The second time I made it, I added 1/8 tsp of sea salt. That really brought out the flavor! I also used brown sugar for the sweetener. It really works well for this recipe.
It's a delicious and comforting dessert, and very light too! I love it! Thank you for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed it Marlena!
How do you get the flours not to form small chunks? I used a whisk but didn’t work!
Hi Janet. A lot of people will blend the soup in the blender after cooking to get it extra smooth. Depending on your sesame powder, it may have more chunks in the finished soup.
Didn’t know it was so easy to make this. Thanks for the recipe. However the taste is still slightly different from the one we tasted at one famous dim sum restaurant in Ipoh, Malaysia. Wondering why...
Hi Wendy. Variants in sesame seeds and ingredients can make it taste different. Unfortunately, without the actual recipe from the restaurant it's hard to tell what they do that's different.
@Sarah Ozimek,
I agree. Thanks for your reply. I am guessing Michelle is from Malaysia. Wondering from which town. Love from Malaysia
I tried this recipe with the greenmax black sesame powder. I doubled the recipe but only got about 2-3 bowls after straining. Is it supposed to be grainy and slightly bitter? I don’t really remember how it’s supposed to taste like in store but when I made it, that’s what it tasted like. I added more sugar syrup to counteract the slight bitterness and strained it to make it less grainy. I just wanted to know if I made it right? I followed the recipe exactly.
Hi Shali. The number of bowls you get will depend on how big your bowls are. The recipes intends small dessert bowls to be used. It shouldn't be grainy, possibly you didn't cook it long enough, or it could be the quality (or fineness) of the powder. It should be nutty, like tanihi and may have a slight bitterness (similar to tahini), but the sweetness should balance it out.
@Shali, after cooking the sesame soup on the stovetop, I like to move it to my blender for a final blitz. The end result is very smooth and also makes it more runny 🙂
Appreciate recipe greatly. Had bought black sesame powder with the intention of using it to make healthy drinks with it. Very disappointing to realize the powder didn’t dissolve and decided to check for black sesame tong sui which I’d assumed was hard to prepare. Pleasant surprise to be proven wrong!!
Glad you found us! Enjoy!
Just tried this and it's a great recipe!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Michelle, do you need to roast the black sesame seed before using it?
Hi Felicia. It is not necessary to roast the black sesame seeds before using. Roasting would give a bit of a nuttier flavor though. So if that is something you like, then go ahead!
I made a batch of the dry ingredients to make a bowl whenever the craving hits. All I need to do is add the water. Thank you!
Great idea! Thanks Lisa!