Chè sâm bổ lượng is a sweet soup of lotus seeds, pearl barley, mung beans, dried longan, dried dates and seaweed, served in a glass over ice. Like other kinds of chè, it’s eaten to cool down when the weather turns hot. Most of its sweetness comes from the dried fruit, the lotus and the seaweed; palm sugar is added a little at a time as each ingredient cooks. Plan ahead: the mung beans, barley, longan and dates soak overnight, so start the day before. Ingredients 200 g lotus seeds, fresh or dried 40 g Chinese pearl barley (bo bo), sold at Asian markets 150 g mung beans, with their skins on 100 g dried longan 100 g dried jujubes (Chinese dates) 40 g seaweed 1 small lotus fruit 100 g jicama 150 g palm sugar Ice, to serve How to make chè sâm bổ lượng 1. Soak overnight Put the mung beans, pearl barley, dried longan and dried dates in separate bowls, cover each with water and leave them overnight. 2. Cook the lotus seeds and jicama The next day, bring a pot of water to the boil and add the lotus seeds. Cook until they are soft, then add 50 g of the palm sugar. Peel the jicama, cut it into small cubes and add it to the lotus seed pot. Cook for 15–20 minutes, until the jicama has absorbed the sugar, then turn off the heat. 3. Cook the barley and prepare the rest Cook the soaked barley in water until soft. Tip it into a sieve and rinse it quickly under cold water. Rinse the longan and dates well and leave them to drain. Peel the lotus fruit and slice it thinly, about 0.5 cm thick. 4. Cook the lotus fruit and mung beans In a small pot, simmer the lotus fruit in 2–3 bowls of water for 15–20 minutes. Add the mung beans and another 2–3 bowls of water and simmer until the beans are soft. Stir in another 50 g of palm sugar and cook for 10 minutes more so the beans take in the sugar. While that cooks, soak the seaweed in water for about 30 minutes. Rinse it several times and leave it to drain. 5. Bring everything together Heat 500 ml of water with 50 g of sugar. Add the lotus seeds and jicama. When it comes to the boil, add the barley, mung beans and lotus fruit. Then add the seaweed, longan and dates, bring it back to the boil and turn off the heat. Don’t cook it any longer at this stage, or the ingredients lose their crunch. 6. Serve Spoon a little of each ingredient (barley, seaweed, mung beans, lotus seeds, longan) into each glass and add ice. Share:
