Chinese Desserts

Chinese Desserts are not the same as the American or European desserts which are served separately after a meal. They consist of sweet dishes which are eaten with tea as a snack or are served along with a meal. Owing to the long history of China and presence of numerous cultures, a wide variety of Chinese Desserts can be found in China.

A wide variety of ingredients that are used in the East Asian cuisine such as glutinous rice and sweet bean pastes are used in preparing these desserts. Candies or sweets which are called "tang" in Chinese are popular desserts which are usually prepared with honey, malt sugar and cane sugar. A famous Dessert from the Chinese cuisine is rice cake which is referred to as "guo" or "gao" in Chinese. Rice cakes are generally chewy and soft rice balls which are sweet in flavor. Rice cakes are sweet rice balls which are chewy and soft. Jellies collectively known as "ices" in Chinese are also eaten as desserts. Chinese jellies are generally fruit flavored gelatin products. Another popular Chinese Dessert is "tongsui" or "tiantang", as called in Cantonese, which are basically hot soups with a sweet flavor.

Desserts Food

Wheat flour baked confections which are prepared by baking and are called "bing" in Chinese are also served as desserts in the Chinese cuisine. Though desserts forms an integral part of the Chinese cuisine, still Chinese cuisine is known for its spicy main course dishes rather than its desserts all over the world.

Chinese Desserts

For added information on Chinese recipes and other global cuisines please look at the ifood community at Chinese Recipes. Those interested in Chinese Dessert food can take a look at Chinese Dessert Food

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Chinese Dessert - Red Beans and Barley With Milk Dessert

Red beans and barley dessert is a famous Chinese dessert ("tang sui" or "tong sui" in Chinese) which basically consist of red beans, barley, sugar and milk. This dessert can be served hot or cold. Although it is relatively easy to cook, it will take some time for it to boil till soft.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup red beans (soaked in cold water overnight)
1 panda nus leaf /skrewpine leaf (tie into a knot)
1/4 cup barley
2 cups water
4 cups milk

Method:

1. Add 2 cups of water, 1 cup of red beans, 1/4 cup of barley and 1 pandanus leaf in a pot. Bring them to a boil. You may want to soak the red bean and barley overnight if you want it to be cook(soften) faster.

2. Reduce heat to simmer. Cook until the mixture of red beans and barley are tender for about 2 hours.

3. Add 2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup of sugar into the pot. Stir well until the sugar dissolves. You remove the heat from the pot and leave it to cool down for about 10 minutes.

4. You may serve it hot or cold depending on your preferences. If you prefer to serve it cold, leave it to cool down for another 15 minutes and then put it in the refrigerator. The additional 15 minutes cooling time is required so that the heat does not spoil other items stored in the refrigerator.

Optional:

Replace white sugar with brown sugar. It will taste better.

If you are not able to find pandanus leaf, you may replace it with dried orange peel. This dry orange peel is easily found in any Chinese herbal/medicine shops.

If you do not like milk or lactose intolerant, just replace it with plain water.

For more cooking tips, recipes and pictures of the dessert, visit the author's Asian recipe blog

The author has 30 years of cooking experience. She specializes in asian food recipes and emphasises on easy to cook recipes with added health benefits. View her recipe collections in her website here: http://www.asianfoodandrecipes.blogspot.com

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