Healthy black sesame soup (黑芝麻糊)
This is an old fashioned Chinese dessert—black sesame soup or black sesame paste. Black sesame is considered to be healthy especially for hair and kidney. However the most precious memory for me was waiting my grandmother to buy some black sesame soup powder from the vendor who was hawking outside. This healthy soup is perfect for breakfast or booting afternoon.
There are two version of black sesame soup, popular now. One is the traditional water milled (we use high speed blender now) and boiled version and the other one is instant version directly make from black sesame powder (黑芝麻粉). If you plan to serve it as a soup or side dish, make the boiled version directly with a kitchen blender. Black sesame power version can be used as an instant breakfast.
Cook’s Note
Sticky rice usually is added along with black sesame soup in order to add the consistency of the soup. But it will turn the black sesame soup light grey. If you want to keep a pure black color, black or purple sticky rice might be a better option.
Blender version
Pre-soak the sticky rice overnight. Place toasted black sesame seeds, soaked sticky rice and water. Blender until very smoothie.
My blender has a heating function. If your blender do not have the function, transfer out mixture out to a sauce pot. Bring to a boiling and then add sugar to taste.
Instant version (黑芝麻粉版本)
Ground toasted black sesame into powders. Then mix in sticky rice flour. Keep in air-tight container for next serving.
To serve : Pour around 6 times boiling hot water of the powder mixture, add sugar and cover with lid for around 2 to 3 minutes. Mix well and serve hot! Surely you can adjust the amount of water according to personal preference.
- 150 g black sesame seeds
- 70 g glutinous rice or glutinous rice flour
- sugar , to taste
- 4 to 5 cups of water , you can adjust the water amount accordingly
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In a small pan, stir fry black sesame seeds over slow fire until fragrant. Keep stirring the seeds. Remove from heat and cool down.
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Soak sticky rice overnight. Place black sesame seeds, sticky rice and water into a blender. Blend until really smooth.
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Boil the mixture and add sugar to taste.
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In a small pan, stir fry the glutinous rice flour over slow fire until slightly brown. Keep stirring the flour. Remove from heat and cool down.
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Pour the black sesame seeds to a grinder and grind into powder. Mix with glutinous rice flour. If you plan to make a larger amount at one time, keep the mixture in an air-tight container.
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To serve: pour around 6 times boiling hot water of the powder mixture, add sugar and cover with lid for around 2 to 3 minutes. Mix well and serve hot! Surely you can adjust the amount of water according to personal preference.
Hi! Do you happen to have a recipe for red bean paste (红豆沙)?
Hi Jiayinv,
Check the recipe here https://chinasichuanfood.com/sweet-red-bean-paste/. I made red bean paste at home frequently.
I like to use rice instead of using rice powder to make this! Like your photos!
hi, Thanks for your recipe. So Yummy
Can you teach me how to do glutinous rice flour. Thanks much
Hi Nadine,
Do you mean homemade glutinous rice flour? We did not make homemade version for years. We bought it directly from supermarket. But if you prefer, soak the glutinous rice with clean water for at least 24 hours until well softened. And then blend the rice with water until smoothie and fine. Pour the mixture to a gauze bag and hang in the air. Wait for another 24 hours and then sun dry the left mixture. That’s our traditional way of making sticky rice flour. We began with this step when I was still a child to make sticky rice ball, rice cake and other yummy Chinese sticky rice desserts.
Hi, thank you Elaine,
You are the most welcome! Nadine.
Hi, i was wondering how do you grind the sesame seeds? Do just use the blender or a mortar bowl? Thanks 🙂
Kelly,
I just use my electric kitchen grinder to grind the sesame seeds after pan-frying. But a small amount once.
Is this black sesame soup good for reversing gray hair? It seems you have a beautiful black hair. Do you take this BS Soup just on daily basis or 3 times a day? I have gray hairs and I learned from the Internet that Chinese use black sesame to reverse gray hair to its original color. How true is this? Thank you!
Hi Gem,
I believe lasting black sesame intake may help to keep the hair black and healthy. But it cannot directly change the color of the hair. Anyway, it is definitely healthy. We usually eat it as breakfast, one time in a day.
Can i use white sesame seeds for this? I know the traditional recipe calls for black sesame (I’m chinese too! :D) but I just have a lot of white sesame seeds that need to be used up. Hehe
Hi Daphne,
That’s a lovely idea. I never thought of using sesame seeds to make sesame paste. But I cannot give out the exact answer because I never tried white sesame seeds.
What happen to the sugar? I’ve read the instructions Twice can’t find it..
I love black sesame paste soup hasn’t been able to buy any good ones lately..
Hi Mae,
Sugar should be dissolved when pouring the hot water.
Thanks for recipe.
Just curious… does glutinous rice flour give better result (taste-wise) than regular rice flour for
this recipe? What is the taste difference in end result between the two types of rice flour? Smoother?
Glutinous rice flour is much better than regular rice flour because it helps to make the soup much thicker and stickier.
Thanks for reply. I just bought some glutinous rice flour today and will give this recipe a try.
Please advise on my issues
I did similar thing as above, but my mixture turn grey not black….
Please help
If it turns gray, the most possible reason is too much sticky rice is added. I will re-check the recipe soon tomorrow.
Hello! What is the difference between using glutinous rice, and glutinous rice flour? Will it give a different taste or texture?
how about using black sticky rice?
thank you!
Irene,
No big difference in taste and texture. You can use either type for convenience. Black sticky rice is perfect for this soup, since it can help to remain a pure black color.
For the Peanut or the Walnut version do I just replace the sesame?
Yes,replace 1/3 sesame with peanuts or walnuts.