Red Bean Soup with Tangerine Peel

Red bean soup, or hong dou sha, is the dessert soup of Cantonese childhoods, sweet adzuki beans simmered until they collapse into a velvet purée. A strip of dried tangerine peel lends a quiet citrus note, and lotus seeds add a gentle nuttiness. Served warm in winter and chilled in summer, it is the taste of tong sui shops and grandmothers’ kitchens alike, and the traditional ending to a banquet meal. Soak the beans overnight to shorten the simmer.

Velvety, sweet, and gently perfumed

The beans should cook down until the soup is thick and silky, with a few whole beans left for texture, sweetened with rock sugar rather than plain sugar for a cleaner finish. The tangerine peel is subtle — just enough to make you wonder what that brightness is. A swirl of coconut milk or a scoop of sago makes it a proper dessert, and a bowl of it, warm or cold, always lands like a comfort.

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