Who? 芝麻糊 - Black Sesame Soup

While going through my pantry, I found a packet of black sesame seeds.  To be honest, I can't really remember why I bought it in the first place.  Perhaps I'll stick a post-it next time with my idea onto the food packets so that I'll remember! LOL!

Anyhow, I was talking to my grandmother the weekend before and she mentioned that 芝麻糊 was very easy to make and considering the ingredients, dirt cheap.  As with A LOT of recipes from the older folks, there aren't any precise measurements, just proportions.  

So I used one of those Chinese soup bowls as my measuring container.  I figured it would be just nice.  Afterall, it was a nice size.  Right.  The brain didn't think properly and I didn't add up ALL the bowls.  Ah well.  We had a whole pot full of 芝麻糊 which could feed a party of 10 or more. LOL!

Black sesame is supposed to be good for black hair (As with a lot of Chinese food believes, you treat like with like) and neutral for the body.  Scientifically, it has a tonne of vitamins and minerals along with some fibre.  Sounds like something that everyone can enjoy!

Black sesame paste 芝麻糊

Ingredients

1 cup of black sesame seeds

1 cup of jasmine rice

1 cup of yellow rock sugar

9 cups of water

Method

1. Soak the jasmine rice in some water after washing for 1 hour.
2. Toast the black sesame seeds in the oven at 160 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.
3. Grind the sesame seeds to a fine powder in the food processor.
4. Strain the rice and grind that to a fine meal as well.
5. Add the sesame meal and rice meal to 9 cups of water.
6. Bring the pot to a simmer, stirring every now and then, ensuring that the rice doesn't stay at the bottom of the pot and burn.
7. Add the rock sugar and stir until it melts.
8. Using a food processing wand, blend the soup into a smooth creamy consistency.
9. Can be eaten cold or warm.

Note

1. The above gives you about 10 bowls of soup.  Cut down as necessary.
2. You can use plain rice flour instead of jasmine rice - this saves you 1 step.
3. This soup is best eaten fresh as the rice starch tends to congeal and may separate after some time.  If that happens, I'd heat up the soup and add a bowl of boiling water and blend again.