Vietnamese Lotus Seed Sweet Soup With Longan

Lotus seed sweet soup with longan (Che hat sen long nhan) is a delicious Vietnamese summer dessert. It has a pleasant aroma and sweetness, creating a relaxation effect.

Sweet soup (chè) is one of the most popular forms of dessert in Vietnam. Chè is often made from nuts, beans, root vegetables and fruits and you can enjoy it hot or cold.

This lotus seed sweet soup consists of soft, powdery lotus seeds and sweet dried longan. It is called chè hạt sen long nhãn (or chè hạt sen nhãn nhục) in Vietnamese. When enjoyed chilled/cold, it has a cooling and relaxation effect. It can also be eaten warm.

What Are Lotus Seeds

Lotus seeds (hạt sen) are the nuts of lotus flower plants. They have a round shape, mild flavor, and slightly sweet nutty scent. In Vietnamese cuisine, you can come across them in both savory as well as sweet dishes.

When using lotus seeds in cooking, we will need to remove the green germs in the center because they are very bitter. You can use a small toothpick to push the germs out of the seeds as in the video.

We use fresh seeds in this recipe (since it is very easy to buy them fresh here in Vietnam). Outside of Vietnam, I think you can only find dried lotus seeds at Asian grocery stores. It is fine to use the dried ones, just soak them before using and adjust cooking time.

What is Dried Longan

Dried longan (long nhãn or nhãn nhục) is simply dried fresh longan fruit that has been shelled and pitted. It has a deep brown color and a sweet taste, somewhat like dates.

This lotus seed dessert soup can actually be made with either fresh or dried longan. I personally prefer using dried one since it has a more distinct concentrated flavor.

You can find dried longan at Asian grocery stores.

Other Ingredients

In Vietnam, we love to infuse this soup with jasmine flowers which give it an incredibly sweet and relaxing fragrance. It is not easy to find jasmine flowers though, so you can use vanilla extract instead. Even without jasmine flowers or vanilla extract, the soup is still tasty and fragrant.

We will, of course, need sugar to sweeten the soup. I use rock sugar which has a mild sweetness to cook with the lotus seeds. You can use granulated sugar instead, but please adjust the amount of sugar to your desired sweetness. Rock sugar can be white or yellow. I use white rock sugar since I don’t want to alter the color of the lotus seed soup.

For the dried longan, I cook them with light brown sugar to retain the color. Once cooked, they will have a deep caramel color quite like dates. Again, you can use other types of sugar you have on hand, but adjust the quantity accordingly since each sugar type has a different degree of sweetness.

How to Make Vietnamese Lotus Seed Sweet Soup with Longan

To make che hat sen nhan nhuc, you will need to cook lotus seed and dried longan separately since they have different cooking time. Besides, I want to preserve the color and flavor of dried longan.

I like to steam the lotus seeds first before cooking them in water. The reason is if we simmer them in water for a long time, some parts may get really soft and mushy, and then broken into pieces. As a result, the soup will not look clear.

In terms of taste, it is okay to take the shortcut which is just simmering the seeds in water right away. When serving, you can scoop out the seeds, let the sediments sink to the bottom. Then only transfer the clear soup into serving bowls (or glasses), leaving the sediments behind.

With the dried longan, cook them in water with sugar until they look plump. Very simple!

How to Serve the Sweet Soup

It’s fine to enjoy the soup warm, but I personally think it’s best to enjoy this soup cold. If you want to enjoy it as soon as possible, add the sweet longan soup to serving glasses, then add lotus seed soup and top with ice.

If you have time to chill it in the refrigerator, when serving the soup, add lotus seed soup to serving bowls and then add the longan soup. You should enjoy the soup the same day or next day for the best taste.

I hope you will give this delicious and elegant sweet dessert soup a try. It is our favorite treat for summer to beat the heat (and of course, there’s no reason not to enjoy chilled dessert when the weather is cold).