Hong dou tang () is a popular Chinese dish served in

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater Chin ...

, and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

. It is categorized as a ''

tang shui ''Tong sui'' (; ), also known as ''tim tong'', is a collective term for any sweet, warm soup or custard served as a dessert at the end of a meal in Cantonese cuisine. ''Tong sui'' are a Cantonese specialty and many varieties are rarely foun ...

'' 糖水 (pinyin: táng shuǐ) (literally translated as sugar water) or sweet soup. It is often served cold during the summer, and hot in the winter. Leftover red bean soup can also be frozen to make

ice pop An ice pop is a liquid-based frozen snack on a stick. Unlike ice cream or sorbet, which are whipped while freezing to prevent ice crystal formation, an ice pop is "quiescently" frozen—frozen while at rest—and becomes a solid block of ice. T ...

s and is a popular dessert. A similar dessert 紅豆沙 in Hong Kong is commonly mistaken by people outside Hong Kong as the same dessert, of which the latter one has a very different texture. In Cantonese cuisine, a red bean soup made from rock sugar, sun-dried tangerine peels, and

lotus seeds A lotus seed or lotus nut is the seed of plants in the genus ''Nelumbo'', particularly the species ''Nelumbo nucifera''. The seeds are used in Asian cuisine and traditional medicine. Mostly sold in dried, shelled form, the seeds contain rich con ...

is commonly served as a dessert at the end of a restaurant or banquet meal. Common variations include the addition of ingredients such as sago (西米, pinyin: xī mi), tapioca, coconut milk, ice cream, glutinous rice balls, or

purple rice Black rice, also known as purple rice, is a range of rice types of the species '' Oryza sativa'', some of which are glutinous rice. There are several varieties of black rice available today. These include Indonesian black rice, Philippine he ...

. The two types of sugar used interchangeably are

rock sugar Rock candy or sugar candy, also called rock sugar, or crystal sugar, is a type of confection composed of relatively large sugar crystals. This candy is formed by allowing a supersaturated solution of sugar and water to crystallize onto a ...

and sliced sugar ().

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red bean porridge ''Patjuk'' ( ko, 팥죽 ) is a type of Korean juk consisting of red beans and rice. It is commonly eaten during the winter season in Korea, and is associated to '' dongji'' (winter solstice), * as people used to believe that the red color of ''p ...

made with red beans and rice is eaten across China and East Asia. Japan has a similar variant called Shiruko. It is called ''hóngdòuzhōu'' () in Chinese, '' patjuk'' () in Korean, and ''azukigayu'' () in Japanese.

Vietnamese cuisine Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages of Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes ( vi, ngũ vị, links=no, label=none): sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish refle ...

also has a similar dish, called '' chè đỗ đen''. It contains added

coconut milk Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food i ...

and sugar. It is served cold.

References

{{Soups Bean soups Cantonese cuisine Chinese desserts Chinese soups Cold soups Legume dishes Taiwanese soups

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References