Sweet Soup Variants

This is the basic recipe for a sweet dessert soup, to which a number
of things may be added as variations.

**Soup Base:

5-8 slices ginger (use more for a spicier soup)
1-2 chunks of rock sugar (a form of raw sugar that looks like clear
light brown rocks)
water

**Variant A: Soup with Balls ("Tong Yuen")

1 packet frozen "Tong Yuen" (= Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls filled with
a) black sesame paste; b) peanut paste; or c) red bean paste)

**Variant B: Soup with Tofu Skin ("Foo Juk") and Egg Flower ("Daan Fah")

1 egg, beaten
3-4 large pieces of dried tofu skin (looks like paper, but brittle,
yellow, and shiny)

1. Put ginger and rock sugar into a pot with 3 cups of water, and
bring to a boil.
2. Boil for 5 minutes, then lower heat to simmer.
3. Leave to simmer for anything up to 2-3 hours, depending on how
spicy you want the soup to be. [**This is perfect for a cook who's
multitasking: put the soup on, and cook the rest of your meal while
it simmers in the background. In fact, keep it simmering until you
are ready for dessert; just add a little water if you need to.]

**Variant A:
4. Boil lots of water in a separate pot. Put the frozen balls into
it, and follow the directions on the packet. They should be done
when they've been floating for a couple of minutes.
5. Fish them out with a slotted spoon into individual serving bowls,
and pour the sweet soup over them. Serve!

**Variant B:
5. With the heat back to medium and water bubbling, pour the egg into
the pot with one hand, and stir with the other; the egg should turn
into "flowery" threads.
6. Break pieces of tofu skin into the soup. Stir, and simmer for
about 3 minutes.
7. Spoon into individual serving bowls.

[**Variant B can also be served cold, in which case you should put
more sugar into the soup, since things taste less sweet at cooler
temperatures.]