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Dessert

Eight Precious Pudding

A Chinese dessert made with lotus seeds, dates, glutinous rice, candied fruits, and red bean paste, steamed into a layered pudding.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lotus and sugar work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and 12 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

The recipe

Time1 hour

Ingredients

Contains: tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: almond extract, almond

Directions

Prepare the fillings

  1. Add lotus seeds to cold water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

  2. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.

  3. Drain and cool, then split into halves.

  4. Set aside.

  5. Put red dates in a bowl on a rack in a pot or steamer and steam covered over boiling water for 30 minutes.

  6. Set aside.

  7. Put rice in a pot with water level 3/4 inch above the rice and bring to a boil.

  8. Simmer for 20 minutes.

  9. Stir in sugar and the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and mix well.

  10. Set aside.

Assemble the pudding

  1. Grease a medium-sized bowl heavily with oil.

  2. Place the cherry in the center.

  3. Arrange lotus seeds, red dates, and candied fruits in circles around the bottom and up to the edge of the bowl, glazed side down.

  4. Spread a layer of the rice mixture over the fruits carefully so as not to spoil the design.

  5. Spoon a layer of red bean paste over the rice.

  6. Cover with another layer of rice and pack tightly.

Steam and serve

  1. Place the bowl on a rack in a pot or steamer and cover.

  2. Steam over boiling water for 1 hour.

  3. Remove the pudding carefully by running a flexible spatula around the edge.

  4. Put a serving plate over the bowl and invert the bowl.

  5. Serve the pudding with Sweet Almond Sauce.

Make the sauce

  1. Boil 3 tablespoons sugar in 1 cup water, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

  2. Stir in 1 teaspoon almond extract.

  3. Thicken the sauce with 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Lotus + sugartop 24% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together12 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Lotus + ricetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Rice + cherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together246 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Dates + cherrytop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together21 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Dates + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together985 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Glutinous rice
Its starch turns sticky when cooked, binding the layers so the pudding holds its shape when inverted.
Red bean paste
Adds a dense, sweet filling layer that contrasts with the chewy rice.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to the rice and to the almond sauce.
Oil
Coats the bowl so the pudding releases cleanly and adds richness to the rice.
Cornstarch (in the method)
Thickens the almond sauce into a smooth, pourable consistency.

The step that matters

Pack the rice layers tightly. Glutinous rice holds together only when pressed firmly, so loose layers can collapse or break apart when the bowl is inverted onto the plate.

Flavor stand-ins for the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lotus, rice, sugar, cherry):

  1. Coconutbetter flavor fit
  2. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  3. Mangobetter flavor fit
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lotus, rice, sugar, cherry. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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