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This is not exactly a Nyonya recipe but I grew up eating lots of sweet peanut soup. My late parents, especially my late mother had a sweet tooth and she liked desserts and sugar-loaded foods. For supper (the time after dinner, about 10 pm), my family loved having tong sui (糖水), or literally means “sugar water” as our dessert. (Bee Koh Moy or sweet black sticky rice soup is a similar dessert.) Almost every night, my father or one of my elder brothers would go out to the Jelutong wet market to buy our favorite sweet peanut soup, or “tor tao jin th’ng.” So many years later, the same vendor is still selling at the same spot, with the best and most decadent sweet peanut soup and other tong sui in Penang. It’s my favorite dessert, one that I could have every night whenever I go home to Penang, and one that I always crave whenever I feel like having something sweet at 10 pm…
This is my home-made sweet peanut soup and the taste is exactly the same as the ones sold at Jelutong market. You need only a few ingredients: peanuts, water, and rock sugar. That’s all. I added a little bit of coconut milk to make it even creamier and richer. There are two tricks to make the peanuts melt in your mouth and completely dissolved: soak the peanuts overnight (to help soften the peanuts) and use a pressure cooker. Regular slow cooker will not work well as the peanuts will still be hard regardless of the long hours of cooking.
I served this sweet peanut soup to my good friends K & S recently, and after their first bowl, they both asked for more. It’s really that good! If you love sweet peanut soup like I do, do try to make it at home.
(Click Page 2 for Sweet Peanut Soup Recipe)
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OMG, thanks for reminding me about this peanut soup. Yes, I know the hawker stall at Jelutong market at night. They sell many different tong sui and sweet peanut soup is always the first one to sell out. Thanks for the memory and it just reminded me that I haven’t had this for a loooong time.
As Always Beautiful,wonderful, Pictures.
I’ll try this soup a long time ago with a friend(mmmm delicious),
But know with the recipe, I’ll be Cooking tomorrow.
Thank you very much for sharing.
Alfredo – thanks for your sweet comment. That’s great that you will be making this sweet peanut soup tomorrow. I hope you like it. :)
I grew up at Bt Lancang and used to hv Jelutong Wet Market “Tong Tao Th’ng” as supper too…..yes, i tried many way and by using pressure cooker will only give the best result, the peanuts are just softly melt in our mouth. but i added evaporated milk/ milk powder instead of coconut milk.
Yes, I think milk will work to give you that creamy flavor.
Hi Bee, I’m Indonesian Chinese and there is exactly the same sweet peanut soup sold in Indonesia too. We call it “Wedang Kacang (Tanah)”. But being away from Indonesia for so long, your beautiful and mouth watering photos have successfully made me drooling and I am so eager to try your recipe. But since I don’t have a pressure cooker, how long do you reckon the peanut should be cooked without pressure cooker? and should it be cooked covered with or without lid on? Can’t wait to try it :D
Hi, without pressure cooker, the peanuts will not be soft and melt in your mouth. You can try slow cooker or boiling over stove but it will take forever and the results are not perfect. Definitely with the cover off and on low heat, just keep boiling until it gets to the right texture you want. :)
Hi, I wonder why 糖水 eaten at night just before going to bed ! Very fattening! I’m over 60 but from young we took our 糖水 as afternoon tea. With pressure cooker or the Thermal cooking pot, cooks food fast and it keeps warm at the same time. I bought one made in Japan with a ring at the bottom of the inner pot, it takes a bit longer to boil but only boil for 5 mins and off the fire and put into the outer pot and lock it. After 2-3 hrs it is cooked by itself and really enjoyed it every time I used it. The best is it is still hot after 10 hrs ! I cooked soup and top with a smaller pot of mixed beans,grain & brown rice which soaked for 1-2 hrs only. We never eat white rice any more in order to have a better health and not HELL !
I think it’s more like a habit (bad habit). To have something sweet before going to bed. ;)
You reckon an induction/thermal pot can work? I’m thinking of using the slow cooker to cook it overnight then pour it all in a thermal pot for the rest of the day. Hope it works!
Jayne – I am not familiar with thermal pot, not sure what it does. The peanuts have to break down and become really soft. Good luck. Let me know how it goes.
I bought a packet of unpeeled raw peanuts 2 days ago and decided to make this for tonight’s function. How my fingers hurt (d’oh). Should have got those blanched ones. Anyway, I soaked the unskinned nuts in hot water and when I got home after 3 hours last night, the peanuts swelled and the skin was easy to break off. What I did was to put the ingredients in a pot and let it boil out for a while then I transferred into a slow cooker to cook for 8 hours on high. Maybe because of the heat, some water evaporated. I transferred it into the inner pot of my thermal cooker, gave it a good boil (added in a tbsp of peanut butter for a creamier texture) and then placed that inner pot into the thermal cooker. I tasted it, it had that lovely distinctive peanut-y taste. But the true result will be tonight, when I open the thermal pot to serve it to guests. The peanuts seem to have soften quite a bit but hopefully would turn to the ‘melt in your mouth” texture tonight. I’m sure you know what a thermal pot is. It’s one of those whereby you cook the food over the stove for a bit then place into the outer pot to cook in it’s own heat for a while. Saves gas, though gravies can’t be thicken that way. Good for working ladies, though.
Will let you know what happens tonight. BTW, I added pandan leaves and 4 red dates for flavour plus some white fungus for volume and texture. Not conventional but then, I thought it would look prettier. :-D
The peanuts should be soft. Good luck.
I love my peanut soup just plain and simple…great to know that you are adventurous to try a variation. :)
After all that work, I’m glad some took second helpings! :-) But you are right, Bee. The peanuts weren’t soft as in “melt-in-your-mouth” but still had a bit of resistance in them. Oh well, maybe in the future, I’d really need to get a pressure cooker! Having said that, I’m having leftovers for dessert right now. And it’s lunchtime :-)
Yes, pressure cooker is faster. But even with pressure cooker, you need to boil it longer (after the pressure cooking) to break it down. But they are so good when they just melt in your mouth. Also, just make it plain with just water, sugar, and a little santan, it’s really the best. I need to make it again soon. :)
This peanut soup is one of my favourites. One of our chores growing up was deskinning the peanuts, which took forever to do. I remember burning my fingers once as a child because I lifted up the lid of the pot to check if it was ready. I love the simplicity of this dessert, and its pandan aroma. Glad you posted this.
omg I love this soup. My only worry is that my gf might kill me for going out and buying a pressure cooker just for this. hahaha. Do you have any other dishes requiring a pressure cooker? hehe.
Hi Jun, you can use pressure cooker to make many soups. It’s very easy and much faster, and save the energy you will need on slow cooker. :)
Rock sugar… gulah melaka or is white/brown/cane rock sugar OK?
My aunt makes this but uses peanut butter and evaporated milk, I don’t think she has a pressure cooker.
White or cane sugar. No gula Melaka or brown sugar.
could you blend the mixture afterwards then add the coconut milk and boil for 1 min? my parents are fond of smooth creamy peanut soup without any hint of peanuts inside. btw, how much rock sugar do you add?
Rock sugar is to taste. No, don’t blend.