Rose and red bean sweet soup
Red beans simmered with tangerine peel until they break down, then infused with dried roses at the end — sweet but light, warming and uplifting.
- 1 hr 30 min
- Serves 4
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: With shorter days and longer nights, qi-stagnant types can feel low as winter begins. Rose soothes the liver and lifts the mood with its fragrance, tangerine peel moves qi, and a creamy red bean soup warms the stomach — it needn't be very sweet to feel comforting.
Method
Prep 10 min · Cook 80 min- 1Rinse the red beans and soak for 4 hours or overnight. Soak the tangerine peel until soft and scrape off the white pith.
- 2Bring the water to the boil, add the beans and peel, boil for 10 minutes, then simmer half-covered over low heat for 1 hour until the beans break down, stirring now and then.
- 3Add the slab sugar and simmer for 10 minutes more, mashing some of the beans against the pot to thicken the soup.
- 4Turn off the heat, add the rosebuds, cover and leave for 5 minutes. Lift out the petals or keep a few to garnish, and eat hot.
Cautions
- Rose moves blood — have less if pregnant or with heavy periods; people with diabetes should cut the sugar.
Chef's tips
- Add the roses last and let them steep off the heat; boiled for long, they turn bitter.
The TCM view
Rose is sweet, slightly bitter and warm, soothing the liver, relieving stagnation and harmonising blood; tangerine peel is pungent, bitter and warm, moving qi and strengthening the spleen; red beans are sweet and neutral, strengthening the spleen and draining water. It moves qi without drying — good for easing low moods in early winter.
