冰糖黑芝麻糊
I was being stubborn today and wanted to make 芝麻糊 by hand. So I pounded away at the black sesame seeds over and over again until they were worn into a fine paste. Unfortunately, it was too much strain for the poor marble pestle I was holding. It broke in two.
I was defeated, so we dug out the old family blender and an AC transformer. Although it was old and of a strange design, it worked well enough to turn out a good pudding. This soup is best served hot, perhaps with sweet little 湯圓 floating in it. Although it is just as good served plain.
冰糖黑芝麻糊 (Black sesame soup)
Ingredients
- 100g black sesame seeds
- 1L water
- 30g yellow rock sugar
- 15mL soya sauce
- 45mL corn starch
- Wash the sesame seeds and strain them through a sieve. Then, over low heat, toast the sesame until it smells fragrant and sweet.
- Get out your blender and dump the sesame into it. Add about 250mL of water and start whizzing. You want as fine a purée as you can get, because it is unpleasant to eat something with the consistency of gritty mud. If the mixture starts getting too thick for the blender to handle, add more of the water.
- Put a saucepan over low heat and combine the rest of the water with the sesame purée and the soya sauce.
- Dissolve the sugar into the simmering sesame soup. You will want it slightly sweet, without masking the flavour of the sesame.
- Make a slurry of the cornstarch and some cold water. Stir this slowly into the simmering mixture to thicken the soup until it coats the back of your spoon. Once this happens, cook for another minute before turning off the heat. You may not need all of the cornstarch, so do not add it all at once.
Serves 6.