Sweet Red Bean and Taro Soup 紅豆芋頭甜湯

Every time I go to this local shabu shabu place, towards the end of the meal they'll always bring up sweet red bean soup for dessert. Mostly cold, but sometimes they'll serve the hot version instead during winter months.

That's the kind of sweet ending I would enjoyed. So I was like why not making it at home too? I don't have to wait to snack on this Taiwanese sweet red bean plus taro soup only when having a shabu meal. Plus it's not hard to make at all.

Sweet red bean and taro soup 紅豆芋頭甜湯 - 

Ingredients?

• 190 grams to 200 grams red beans
• 100 grams taro
• 8 to 10 cups water
• 1/2 cup crystal sugar
• Small pinch salt

How?

Rinse then soak the red beans the night before. I actually stored that in the fridge instead.

When ready to cook, drain out the water. Start a pot of fresh water instead then add in the soaked red beans. Use 8 to 10 cups of water for this recipe. If you prefer more "soup" like me, I actually used 9 cups of water here.

Switch to medium high heat and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to keep it at a light bubbling stage. Continue to cook till the red beans almost reach 2/3 of your preferred texture, like 70% done. If start counting the time from the beginning, mine took about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and cube the taro, about the same or slightly larger than the red beans. After red beans are almost finished cooking, add in the taro cubes.

Continue to cook till the taro can be smashed down easily with the force of your tongue, that's about 40 more minutes for mine.

Only flavor with crystal sugar or any other types of sugar towards the end. I used 1/2 cup of crystal sugar, plus a small pinch of salt.

The sweet soup is ready when the sugar has been fully melted within. You can serve it hot or chill in the fridge till cold.

Because the red beans will continue to absorb a little bit of soup overtime, so if you know the whole pot of sweet red bean soup won't be finished at once, I would suggest to go with the "soupy" route.

Also if it's hard to buy just 100 grams of taro, don't worry and just get more taro instead. You can always peel and chunk the unused taro, store them in a Ziploc bag or a container then keep in the freezer. Frozen taro can last for quite some time.

However, do remember when ready to use the frozen taro again, do not defrost. The texture can turn a little "fluffy" once defrosted. 

Shabu Pork Salad in Homemade Miso Dressing

There's a shortcut to this recipe. It shouldn't be too hard to find Japanese sesame dressing at the grocery store, you know the brownish-looking goma sauce. So if you just want to kick back and have a healthy but hassle-free meal, definitely go with the store-bought dressing. 

However if you feel a bit more adventurous and would like to make everything from scratch, come and give this homemade miso dressing a try.

Shabu pork salad in homemade miso dressing - 

Ingredients (about 4 to 6 portions)?

• 250 grams pork slices
• 100 grams mixed salad greens
• 16 cherry tomatoes
• 8 shiitake mushrooms
• 1 big sheet dried nori
• 1 small can/140 grams corn kernels
• 1 box/480 grams semi-firm tofu (I used sesame flavored tofu)
• 1 small bundle/1 cup loosely packed mitsuba leaves

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons white miso
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Some lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons light sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon grated young ginger
• 1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds

How?

Destem the shiitake mushrooms. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil then add in the shiitake mushrooms. Boil for about a minute then scoop out. Slice into quarters.

Slice the pork to shorter pieces if needed. Still using the same pot of water, add in the pork and wait till just turn fully cooked through. Scoop out and set aside. Need to make sure both the shiitake mushrooms and pork have been cooled down before mixing with other ingredients later on.

Prep the salad greens, let it be rinse, drain, or tear to smaller pieces. Once done, transfer the salad to a big mixing bowl. Use mitsuba leaves only, about 1 loosely packed cup, add that to the bowl too.

Halve the cherry tomatoes then add into the bowl. Drain the tofu and hand-tear to medium size chunks to the bowl. Drain the canned corn and add to the bowl. Once the shiitake mushroom and pork slices have been cooled off, add them to the bundle too.

Have another bowl or measuring cup ready, add in all the ingredients listed under the "dressing" section. Mix till the sugar has been dissolved. Pour that dressing to the big mixing bowl and gently fold the ingredients till evenly blended.

Scoop to serving plate. Hand-tear some dried nori sheet on top right before digging in, otherwise the nori/seaweed will turn soft and soggy soon after.

You know what, let it be the store-bought Japanese sesame dressing or this homemade miso dressing, there's also a greedier route by using both.

Yes, don't worry about over salty or that sort of thing. Just combine the two then you'll get this savory and nutty aroma packed dressing in the end. I mean if you'd like your salad on the heavier side, this is one way to go.

Other salad recipes:

• Chopped kale and chickpea salad with roasted chicken in red wine vinaigrette dressing
• White bean and tuna salad (insalata di tonno e faglioli)
• Japanese katsuo tataki salad with miso and ponzu dressing
• Persimmon salad with mozzarella and Jamón Ibérico