Black Sesame Soup With Mochi - Easy Chinese Dessert

Recipe: Black Sesame Soup With Mochi Recipe »

This warming black sesame soup with mochi is rich, nutty and comforting. Made with chewy tang yuan and black sesame paste, this easy Chinese dessert recipe takes less than 10 minutes to make and is naturally vegan too!

About This Black Sesame Soup With Mochi

Black sesame soup (or zhi ma hu) is a delicious Chinese sweet soup that warms you up from the inside. It is made with just a few ingredients and is fantastic dessert for a Chinese banquet. It originates from Southern China and is one of the most popular Tong Siu (Cantonese sweet soups). It is also found in other countries like Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Why You'll Love This Black Sesame Soup

Black sesame soup is sweet and nutty. I always think that if you love tahini or peanut butter, you'll love black sesame soup.

This is the ultimate comfort soup, even if you didn't grow up eating sweet soups. I know a lot of non Chinese/Asian people find them odd at first but grow to love them (all of my friends and Mr NQN as an example!).

This soup has two sizes of tang yuan or black sesame mochi for extra mochi goodness!

Black sesame is so good for you! A lot of people on HairTok recommend eating them for great hair and skin. Black sesame seeds also are said to support bone strength, cardiovascular health and digestion. And this soup is very rich in black sesame seeds!

If you've got a cold or are feeling cold, this black sesame soup really helps!

This soup only has a few ingredients, takes less than 10 minutes to make and is also plant based and vegan.

Video How To Make Black Sesame Soup With Mochi

Video: How to Make Black Sesame Soup With Mochi

Ingredients For Black Sesame Soup With Mochi

Black Sesame Paste - I recommend this black sesame paste as it is very finely ground and smooth.

Sugar - White or caster/superfine sugar.

Glutinous rice flour - Usually glutinous rice is used in black sesame soup but I wanted to make a quicker, easier but no less delicious version so I use glutinous rice flour aka mochiko flour. We mix it into a slurry with 1 tablespoon water. Rice flour can also be used.

Black sesame mochi balls - You can buy these frozen at Asian grocery stores in small and large sizes. You can also make your own tang yuan using my recipe here.

Tips For Making Black Sesame Soup With Mochi

1 - Homemade black sesame paste won't achieve the intensity of flavour and smoothness of a commercial one so I recommend buying it.

2 - The mochi balls will tell you they are ready by floating to the top. Fill the saucepan with at least 3 inches of water to allow them to do this.

3 - I love this served warm and I think it is best that way. But this can also be served cold too!

If you're planning a Chinese dinner party, some other Chinese sweets to consider are: Mango Pancakes, Mango Sago Sweet Soup (which is best cold) or Black Sesame Ice Cream (No Churn!).

Black Sesame Soup With Mochi Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients Needed

• 150g/5ozs black sesame paste
• 1.5 cups/375ml/13fl oz water
• 70g/2.8oz white sugar
• 2 teaspoons glutinous rice flour mixed with 1 tablespoon water
• 4 large 4 small black sesame mochi
• Pinch white sesame seeds (optional)

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 SOUP - Whisk the black sesame paste with the water and sugar in a medium saucepan and place on low to medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Whisk the rice flour and water and add this slurry to the black sesame mix and stir to thicken for a few minutes. Set aside.

Step 2 MOCHI - Meanwhile while the soup is cooking, cook the mochi balls. Fill a small saucepan with 3 inches of water and once boiling, add the frozen mochi balls. After 3-4 minutes of rapid boiling they should float to the top. Strain and divide among soup bowls. Sprinkle with white sesame seeds (optional).

Personal Note

As I mentioned, we grew up on eating these sweet soups as dessert. There were very few cakes in my childhood. I think my mother made a lemon cheesecake once and it was delicious but it was a one-off. She would sometimes steam a yum cha cake but that was the closest we would come to a cake regularly.

Our dessert world was full of jellies and sweet soups. I don't think I've told you this story before but once my father promised my sister and I that he was going to make our favourite dessert. Blythe and I love peanut soup (similar to this, using ground peanuts).

That afternoon we watched him prep it. We were a bit confused because we couldn't see any peanuts and nothing was cooking on the stove. We were kids but we had an idea how it was made. He was busy mixing things on the counter that was too tall for us to see but the smell was not hitting. But he continued to tell us how much we would enjoy this once it was done and to be patient. Our mouths were watering in anticipation.

A few hours later it was time for dessert. And my father unveiled his dessert. He set down the container on the dining table and lifted the lid.

It was not peanut soup. It was almond jelly!

Our screams of disappointment could be heard by neighbours. "Almond jelly! Yuck!!" we both exclaimed. I don't know how the miscommuncation occured but all of that effort from him was completely unappreciated by us. And to this day, we dislike almond jelly but adore peanut soup!

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever had black sesame soup? Do you like sweet dessert soups?