Sweet Black Sesame Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice (long grain or short grain)
• 1 cup black sesame seeds
• 7 cups water
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar, or to taste
• Boiling water as needed, depending on how thick or thin you want the soup

Preparation:

1. Soak the rice in cold water for at least 1 hour.
2. Toast the black sesame seeds in a frying pan on medium low heat for 1 – 2 minutes, until they are fragrant and the pan begins to smoke. Remove and cool.
3. Drain the rice and add to a blender with 3 cups water. Blend until smooth. Remove and clean out the blender.
4. Grind the sesame seeds in the blender until they are fully ground and the sesame smell is very fragrant. Add 1/2 cup water and grind briefly until the mixture forms a grayish paste.
5. Add the blended rice/water mixture to the sesame paste and blend.
6. In a large saucepan, bring the mixture to a boil with 3 1/2 cups water and the sugar. As soon as it starts to boil, turn the heat down to low and cook until the mixture thickens, stirring constantly (5 – 8 minutes). Note: Be sure to stir constantly or there will be splattering and the pot may burn. Add boiling water to the soup as desired, depending on how thick or thin you want the soup. Serve warm.

Homemade Sesame Paste

There is no sugar in my homemade sesame paste as I use it more often in savory than in sweet dishes.

Lately, I blended the paste with a few more seasonings for serving with cold noodles, a meatless style. Do not get me wrong that I do not like this paste to go with meats. I like Hand-pulled Chicken, another popular Chinese dish to serve with sesame dressing. I have to admit, however, most of the time I like to make dressings from this paste for more simple treats, like with vegetables (usually spinach), beans (as what you’ll see here), and even tofu (pan fried).

Thank you Helena, my reader, for asking me how this paste was prepared, and I’m happy to do it again and have it posted here. I make my paste from scratch, meaning, I fry the white sesame seeds in pan before grinding them with oil. You may certainly choose to buy the roasted ones and skip the step.

Roasting white sesame seeds in a pan is easy, at least easier than the black ones. You may actually see them turning from pearl white to golden brown. But you need no oil in the pan for frying (the same way – white wok – as we prepared for the peppercorn salt and shrimp roe).

If you want to serve a portion of this sesame paste like a peanut butter, simply stir in some honey plus a pinch of salt to your taste.

• Ingredients
• 200g white sesame seeds
• 5-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

You may or may not need to pick through and wash your white sesame seeds, but in case you have doubt if there is any dirts or impurities, clean it. That is, wash the seeds thoroughly in a fine sieve under running water. Or, nest the sieve in a large bowl, and wash seeds thoroughly in several changes of water.

Drain sesame seeds until no more water drips off or dry completely (frying very wet sesame seeds takes more efforts and time).

Heat a large heavy-bottomed pan over low to medium flame, without any oil (this is what we called ‘white wok’); put in sesame seeds, stirring constantly. As their color turns from pearl white to golden brown, about 10 minutes (when you shall also hear some crackling sound). Remove from heat, and let cool.

Put roasted sesame seeds in a food processor with two table spoons of olive oil. Process on medium speed, stopping the machine to scrap down the paste from the side in about 15 seconds. Add another spoon of oil and process again. You may again need to stop the processor every 5 to 10 seconds until it reaches your desired consistency (add 1 or 2 more spoons of oil if required), about a minute.

Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator . It should last a couple of months.

Another Recent Dish with Sesame Dressing
Boiled with some salt and oil, the beans are then served with a dressing as one with the cold noodles, vinegar excluded.

Enjoy!

You Might also Like

• • Homemade Sweet Red (Azuki) Bean Paste, Chunky and Smooth
  • Chinese Mochi with Black Sesame Seeds
  • Homemade Red Curry Paste with Cashews

How To Make Black Sesame Paste

Black Sesame Paste Recipe

 

• 1 part of roasted black sesame seeds (1 Tbsp.)
• 1 part of honey* (1 Tbsp.)

Instructions:

1. Grind the black sesame seeds by mortar and pestle or in food processor. It takes some time for sesame seeds to secrete oil, but be patient.

1. When the sesame seeds are finely ground and become moist from natural sesame oil, add honey and mix all together.

Notes

*If you want to use black sesame paste for savory dishes, you can add a little bit of sesame oil instead of honey.

 

Black Sesame Congee

During my period of Chinese postpartum confinement (坐月子, zuo yuezi) I ate lots of sesame seeds.  Mostly it was in the form of sesame oil, included in liberal amounts in soups and stir-fries.  But one sweet treat was black sesame congee (芝麻糊, zhimahu).

Every afternoon at around 3.00pm, my confinement nanny — or yuepo — Mrs Yang, would cook me a bowl of sweet congee.  Usually it wasn’t as sweet as I would have liked, and she cautioned that it would be difficult to lose weight if I kept eating sugar laden food.  Doh!  But rock sugar and black sugar can be eaten in moderation during zuo yuezi, especially in the first few weeks after childbirth when a woman’s energy level is low.

I love black sesame.  Although black sesame sweets are uniquely Asian, they somehow remind me of European-style marzipan.  I guess it the combination of pulverized seeds and sugar is similar to the almond-sugar mixture in marzipan.  It is easy enough to buy pre-prepared black sesame congees, but it tastes so much better if you make it yourself.   The dry-roasting brings out the sesame flavour, and when I lifted the top of the blender the smell that wafted out was just divine.

I modified this recipe to make it more palatable for Western taste buds.  Add less sugar if you prefer, although I think this amount is just right.

Ingredients

1/2 cup black sesame seeds
1/3 cup corn flour
1/3 cup rock sugar
2 tablespoons Taiwanese black sugar (brown sugar)
5 cups cold water

Method

1. In a dry wok or heavy saucepan (I used my cast iron fry pan), dry fry the sesame seeds until they begin to smoke.  Watch them carefully and stir as you do it; it should take no longer than a minute but the seeds can burn quickly if you are not careful.
   

   Dry roasting the sesame seeds in a heavy frypan

2. Remove from the heat and transfer into a blender, food processor or coffee grinder.  Process for a few minutes until powdery (but do not over process).  Add the sugars and continue to pulverize.
   

   Processing the toasted black sesame seeds with sugar

3. Combine the corn flour with the corn flour in a large saucepan.  Stir until combined, and then add the remainder of the water.  Heat on the stove top for a few minutes until the mixture begins to warm.
   

   Adding water to the corn flour

4. Add the sesame seed/sugar mixture to the cornflour mixture one spoonful at a time and stir until combined.  Continue to stir for several minutes, until the mixture thickens to almost the consistency of cream.
   

   Stirring the mixture until it thickens — do not boil

5. Ladle into bowls and serve.  Can be reheated.