A: Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of VOV 24/7’s“Food delight”. We are …. and ……, and we are very happy to be here to share with you our recipes

B: Hello, you guys. Hello, A. Well, which food shall we introduce to our listeners today?

A: Summer is coming. And I’m thinking of preparing a traditional dessert: “Longan stuffed with lotus seed sweet soup”. The sweetness and fragrant of this dish will definitely slake our thirst.

B: Wow, this soup is a great combination of longan, stewed lotus seed, and rock sugar.  It’s believed that eating this dessert frequently will calm your nerves, reduce your stress as well as improve the quality of sleep.

This royal sweet soup requires not just high-quality ingredients, but also much patience and skills (Source: hocnauanngon.net)

A: There are many benefits, right? So let’s get started. Preparing the dessert is not very difficult, but it requires plenty of care and patience. Let’s meet Nguyen Phuong Hai -Culinary expert of the Quan An Ngon chain, to find out more this traditional dessert. “Choosing fresh ingredients when cooking is always important. You have to select Long longan, which has thick pulp and a sweet taste. The lotus seeds should be from Hanoi’s West Lake lotus, called “hundred-petal lotus”. It has a special fragrance that lotus from other places can’t match. The key ingredient in this recipe is the rock sugar, which gives the soup a distinct sweetness”

A: Yes, we must be careful in choosing the best ingredients for traditional sweet soups. The Long longan from Hung Yen province has larger fruit, smaller seeds, and a sweeter taste than others. The lotus seeds of Hanoi’s West Lake lotus are widely acknowledged as the best. And the rock sugar, well, I must say that using this sugar is the best way to enhance the natural flavor of sweet soup.

B: I agree. Use a needle or a toothpick to remove the green bitter tasting germ from the lotus seeds before cooking. If you use dried lotus seeds, you should soak them in hot water to soften them before cooking. This royal sweet soup requires not just high-quality ingredients, but also much patience and skills. Hai again:“In the past, this kind of sweet soup was only served to the King and high-ranking court officials. The cook must carefully balance the fragrant lotus seeds and the flavorful longan. The most important part is peeling and deseeding the longan. This needs to be done gently, in order to avoid tearing the longan’s flesh. Then you have to carefully fill the longans with lotus seeds before cooking.”

In the past, this kind of sweet soup was only served to the King and high-ranking court officials (Source: yeutre.vn)

A: Peeling the longans and replacing their seeds with lotus seeds seems to be the hardest skill. 

B: I totally agree. That’s why we should practise more and more. I can hardly do it. My success rate is only 20.

A: Mine is 90 percent. I have a tip for you. Use the tip of the knife and squeeze gently, so the seeds pop out easily. Let’s hear Hai describe how to cook the sugar water. “It takes time and meticulous effort to make this dessert. Unlike with other typical sweet soups, the reserved lotus-seed cooking water should be carefully filtered twice, until it becomes transparent. Then slowly add the rock sugar and cook until it is completely melted. We simmer the filled longans in this sugar water at low heat while stirring gently. Remove the longans and let them cool. Wait 15 minutes for the sugar water to cool down before pouring it over the longans. If you cook the longans on high heat, they could turn brown and become mushy and medible.”

A: Many people enjoy this dessert cold with ice and a few drops of grapefruit flower oil, but it’s also delicious served warm or at room temperature.  

B: You’ll fall in love with the thick juicy longan, the soft, aromatic lotus seeds and the wonderfully refreshing sweet soup. People in Southern Vietnam tend to make this dessert with dried longan as the dried fruit can be found all year round. 

A: Isn’t it amazing how such few, modest ingredients can create such a rich and flavorful dessert? Good bye. Join us next time on VOV24/7’s Food Delight.