Red Bean Soup with Lotus Seeds

Sweet soups have long been a tradition throughout China, but particularly in Fujian. They are based not only on fruits, but also on such sweetened vegetables, nuts, and seeds as mung beans, red beans, sweet potatoes, taro root, black and white sesame seeds, almonds, and walnuts. Of course, the court in Beijing demanded exotic sweet soups as well, made from such ingredients as the nests of Southeast Asian swifts or the ovaries of tiny snow frogs, both soups made with a base of coconut milk a