Name: Pounded Tea with Sweets
Yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings
Cuisine: Hakka
Ingredients: ⅓ cup pumpkin seeds; ½ cup chopped brown slab sugar (two 5-by-1-inch slabs) or packed brown sugar, or to taste; 1 cup water; ⅓ cup chopped crystallized ginger; 1 cup cooked red beans or adzuki beans, rinsed (see notes); ⅓ cup dried goji berries, rinsed; 3 tablespoons raw or roasted peanuts; 3 cups boiling water; 2 tablespoons dried green tea leaves; 1½ to 2 cups dried puffed rice cereal; 1 cup dried tapioca pearls (see notes); 2 tablespoons pine nuts; 12 dried red dates, rinsed; 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts; 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds or more white sesame seeds; ¼ cup white sesame seeds

Preparation info

Makes
8 to 10
servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Hakka Cookbook

By Linda Anusasananan

Published 2012

About

In essence, the basic tea is a nutritious health drink. It’s not a clear beverage, but a creamy, slightly thick, greenish-gray drink that has a pronounced tea taste, made smooth and rich by the addition of nuts and seeds. For a simplified home version, an electric blender makes the pounding step effortless. Spoon a sweet mixture of dates, goji berries, sweet beans, crystallized ginger, and chewy tapioca pearls into the tea; it balances the tea tannins.

For an everyday version, make