Sweet Red Bean Soup

Ingredients

 * ⅓ – ½ cup sugar
 * 1 cup red beans (soaked in cold water overnight)
 * ⅓ cup dried lotus seeds (at Asian grocery stores or health food stores, soaked in cold water overnight)
 * 1 tablespoon vanilla
 * ¼ cup pearl tapioca (optional)
 * ¼ cup glutinous rice balls (can be found at Asian grocery stores) (optional)
 * 7 cups water

Directions

 * 1) Combine water and beans in a large pot, bring to a boil.
 * 2) Reduce heat to simmer, cook uncovered till beans are tender (about 2 hours?).
 * 3) Add lotus seed and sugar (plus tapioca and rice balls if you choose to), cook until soup thickens a little and lotus seeds are tender, but not mushy (20 minutes).
 * 4) Add vanilla, serve hot for a perfect winter dessert, or you can let the soup cool down, then add ice.
 * 5) With this basic recipe, you can take out all the beans, increase the amount of lotus seeds and have a lotus seeds sweet soup instead.