Birds Nest in Young Coconut 椰青炖燕窝 and a Giveaway!

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This is going to be a long post, with freebies and discounts.

Bird's Nest.... what comes to your mind?

Beauty? Luxury? Delicacy? Healthy?
Or smelly? Cruelty?

The Chinese believe that consuming bird's nest promotes good health, especially for the skin. It is high in glycoproteins and sialic acid, and that promote youthfulness by enhancing skin complexion. It comes with a high price tag and hence, it is a luxury. The high price tag drives human to risk their lives for it.

Back in those days, even nowadays,  bird's nests are harvested from caves, like Niah Cave in Sarawak and Gomantong Cave in Sabah and if you have seen how it's done, it will send shivers down your spine. The bamboo pillars and structures are high up in the caves and going around on those bamboo structures is like training to be a tight rope walker. I heard from my Sarawakian friends, that it's not uncommon to hear of people losing their lives while harvesting wild birds' nests in Niah Cave. And the harvesting is sometimes done while the swiftlets are still in their nests. Baby birds are thrown down the cave floor so that they can collect the nests as soon as they can. It's sad, but true. I refused to consume birds nest after my visit to Niah Cave in 1999. Seriously. I just couldn't bring myself to support an industry that takes lives.

I'm glad that in recent years, there are birds nests that are collected from nesting houses. Birds Nest is tasty and I don't want to stop consuming it. It's just that I want to support a blood industry.

Taro Sago Dessert 芋头西米露

I first made this more than 10 years ago, and I also served this for my pre wedding reception.
It was well received and the first to be finished.

Last time, I used to make this using only taro, but, this time, I added in a little bit of purple sweet potato for natural purple pigment. Lovely hue :-)
You can choose to use only taro.

Ah Balling 花生汤圆~ Singapore AFF #3

I've been slacking in my blogging lately..... I can't cope with work, family and blogging. So, I have to slow down. There are times when I felt liberated when I don't touch the computer, but I just keep on taking pictures of the things I make occasionally, not knowing if I'll ever write about them. My mind is still curious about food, thinks about new recipes all the time... just that I feel tired to blog. It's not easy to let go a part of me that I have built for 7 years

Glad that I still managed to cook this days ago.

Taro Balls 芋圆 - Taiwan AFF Chewies #2

I can frankly tell you, I'm not a fan of these things.

I ate them at Blackball before and didn't fall in love with it, but I won't say I hate them. I will still eat them, but not looking forward to them .

My husband's family makes a savoury version with leeks and crab, as a traditional dish every second day of the Chinese New Year. My husband do not look forward to that too, although he has been eating them since he was a kid.

Granite Tang Yuan 石头汤圆 - Balls #3

I saw this special form of tang yuan many years ago and had been hoping to try it out. Finally I did.
Every year, I do hope to make some  for the winter festival (although there's no winter here), but I just never made some, because no one bothers about it and just end up only me "shiok sendiri".

I was lazy to wrap fillings and decided to serve it 'muah chee style'. Now it looks like pebbles on sand...
I am thinking whether I can construct an aquarium bowl to serve it, complete with aquatic plants, fish and maybe prawns, haha, but that will be sooo big. It's just a crazy idea.

Mine look more like marbles and if you take a look at my source's granite balls, they look sooo real and nice.

I kept mine for more than 6 hours, soaked in room temperature water, waiting for my hubby to come home from work. I reheated the granite balls in the microwave, still submerged in water. Drained them and put them on the peanut sand. He enjoyed his after dinner dessert, saying the peanuts were the loveliest touch.

Granite Sticky Rice Balls
Idea adapted from: maimaidejianguo

200gm glutinous rice flour
14gm or 1 Tbsp butter
90ml boiling water
1-2 Tbsp water

1 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bamboo charcoal powder

3/4 cup ground roasted peanut + 1/3 cup castor sugar (roughly 2:1 ratio)

1. Bring 1/2 cup of water to boil on a saucepan.
2. Measure the flour and butter and put it in a bowl. Make a well and when the water has  boiled, measure 90ml water into the well. (You can either use  6 Tbsp or a measuring cup, or weigh 90gm of water with the mixing bowl directly on the scale)
3. Mix it with chopsticks or a fork. Add in 1 Tbsp of room temperature water and knead (it might still be very warm, but it won't  burn your hand). Add  more water if it's needed and knead until a dough forms.
4. Divide  dough into 4 parts  and  knead 1 part with  charcoal powder and 1 part with cocoa  powder.
5. Roll each part into long logs, with equal length. flatten them and stack. Cut the stack into half and stack.
6. Cut the stacked dough into smallish pieces, it's ok if they are not in exact sizes.
7. Roll them into pebble shapes.
8. Bring a saucepan of water to boil. Put the balls of  dough into the  boiling water. Let them boil until they float. Lower the heat to medium low and let them simmer for another 2-3  minutes.
9. Remove the dough balls from the water and serve with peanut sugar.

You can serve these in light syrup too, of which is the usual way.

Blog on Break :)

See you in January for AFF Hong Kong Macau with a chicken week.

Cinnamon Vanilla Poached Pears - Pears #1

I am beginning to love pears. I used to hate pears.

I never liked western pears. I have always preferred Asian pears that are juicy and very juicy. Western pears seems harder, sometimes astringent and more things that could end up sticking between my teeth. Maybe back in those days, there is only Packham pears available. Yes, those days when fresh lemons were unheard of. It's just calamansi or green limes available should one ever need some citric acid besides oranges.

Osmanthus Double Boiled Pears冰糖桂花炖梨 - Pear Week # 1

Recipe tried out in April 2011

Pears are everywhere now! I don't want to miss this period to post so that you may be able to try these out too.

This is one dessert that you can serve your guests if you’ve having a small scale entertainment with a Chinese menu. Looks beautiful when serve with stem still intact or sliced if you want.

Azuki and Black Glutinous Rice Porridge - BGR Week # 2 and new winners for Giveaway

Recipe prepared in Dec 2010

During my 2nd trimester pregnant with Reuben, I wanted to drink sweet soups quite often. One early evening, I just wanted to have some, and I wanted black glutinous rice porridge. My hubby drove me to get some pandan leaf from an aunt's house and we went to buy the ingredients. I got home and prepared everything and by supper, it was ready.

I loved it soooooooooo much. Foetus Reuben must have been jumping for joy in my tummy to get what he wanted. Well, I can't feel him yet that time, he was only 4 months big.

Double Boiled Papaya in Milk 木瓜炖鲜奶 - Confinement Month #2

Confinement should be an enjoyable time.
Bonding with a new baby, and getting pampered by the people around you after delivery.
Gastronomically and emotionally. So why not have some dessert!!

My friend, Wai Wai came to visit me on June 4th and told me about this dessert that she encountered during her stay at a confinement house. The cook prepared this dessert to aid her lactation. And coincidently, I encountered this recipe while surfing that night itself. It was perfect since I had 2 slices of papaya in the fridge, leftover from my self labour induction. I wouldn't want to eat them raw since they were almost 6 days old in the fridge, so I made this delicious dessert with it.

Mung Bean Soup

Mung beans, or some call it green beans here, the direct ranslation from Kacang hijau or 禄豆.
Being Malaysians… we love our desserts laced with the fragrance of pandan… which differs it from our pre-migration ancestors.

My brother is one of those who can’t take mung beans. It evokes his asthma. Chinese says the mung bean is cooling to the body, and one of my friend, Candy Soo, told me, to boil this for 7 hours if u want to get rid of the cooling effect. 7 hours! Kill me, but do that if u want, in a slow cooker.

This mung bean soup uses palm sugar as one of its sweeteners….
Palm sugar + coconut milk = heavenly
And u may substitute the coconut milk here with evaporated milk/creamer, if u have probs with that nutty white extract.

I’m trying to stop all the guesstimation when cooking now….especially when it comes to desserts.

I’ve found that to make 1L of this soup, I need 100gm. Today I used 200gm, so I made 2L of it. Mung beans cook much faster than red beans, so it need not be soaked.

You may substitute the pandan fragrance by using 1 or 2 drops of vanilla.

200gm mung beans

2L water

Few blades of pandan, washed , torn into shreds, and tied into a knot.

100gm palm sugar

120gm sugar

½ cup thick coconut extract (abt ½ coconut)

My Pandan leaves are all wrinkled,
dried out in the fridge, but it's still usable.

1. Bing water to a boil, rinse mung beans and put them together with pandan knot into the boiling water.

2. Cover pot and simmer on low heat for 2 hours.

3. Bring it to high heat for 15 minutes, pot uncovered. Be there to watch. You might need to add some water if the water is greatly reduced.

4. Put in palm sugar and cook until it is completed melted. Taste and adjust with sugar according to preference.

5. Turn off heat and leave pot uncovered for 5 minutes. Put in coconut milk and stir.

6. Serve chilled or warm.

Bringing it to high heat for the last 15 minutes will bring out the starch in the bean, thus making the soup thicker w/o having too much beans in it.

You may put in tapioca/sago pearls in it if u want it even thicker. 2 Tablespoons is sufficient. But I find that when chilled, this soup will be way too thick with tapioca pearls. Don’t forget that mung beans contains starch of their own, unlike red beans/adzuki.

Hasma with Red Dates Sweet Soup 红枣雪蛤膏

Hasma, as said in Wikipedia is Asiatic Grass Frog's fallopian tubes, a part of the female's reproductive system. Therefore, I don't think any man should be taking this. Just like you wouldn't see a woman taking deer penis soup. Chinese likes to eat whichever part to rejuvenate the same part of the human. Just like if u have poor memory, u are advised to take pork brains... kekeke. There goes the saying, pork head.

My confinement lady prepared this 4 times during confinement.
It's really yummy, just don't think that u're eating the innards of a frog.

2 grammes of this in dried form is enough to prepare a serving the size of a rice bowl, but I'm taking double portion, 4 grammes.

2 Servings:
4 g dried hasma
10 pcs red dates
2 Tbsp rock sugar
2 rice bowls water

How to do it:
1. Soak dried hasma in cold water for about 4 hours or until expanded. It'll look like jelly.(Soak in the fridge overnight and clean the next day)
2. Clean hasma, use a tweezer to pick out black or brown bits. Be gentle and don't break it up. What is left are just translucent jelly. Discard soaking water.
3. Deseed 10 red dates.
4. Double boil cleaned hasma and red dates with 2 cups of water and 2 Tbsp of rock sugar, depending of prefered level of sweetness, for 3 hours.

**
Can be taken warm or chilled. Refreshing and good for the fairer sex.



Hasma in its dried form.

Bubur Cha Cha 磨磨查查

This is the unofficial favourite dessert of many Malaysians.

Funny name, Bubur Cha Cha
Bubur means porridge in Malay, Cha Cha is...hmmm... no idea..
Will I do the Cha Cha dance after eating this dessert.... hehe.. maybe I will.
The cantonese pronunciation for this dessert is even funnier.. Mo Mo Cha Cha (touch touch, grasp grasp)

There are many variants of it, some with bananas, some with cassava or tapioca, some w/o the black eyed peas, some with those wriggly worm like multicolour rice flour bits, and I even heard a version with kuih bakul.

Some people find this dessert very time consuming to prepare, they say it's because one has to dice most of the main ingredients. I find that to be not much of a problem if one doesn't use a ruler to measure every cut the knife goes down on. The time consuming part is cooking the black eyed peas, that's the real problem, 3 hours and that's after soaking for another 3 hours!!!

This is a version commonly made by the Chinese in central Perak, with black eyed peas, taro (mistakenly refered as yam in msia), two types of sweet potatoes, fresh coconut milk, and sago pearls. And we (majority of central perakians) dun favour a salty bubur chacha, unlike our northern friends.



There is a missing ingredient... I dunno what it's called.. but I know it's made with tapioca starch, dyed red and made into squiggly chewy gummy jelly. I have no idea how it's made. The last time I had this gummy jelly in my bubur chacha was.. say.. 20 years back, made by my neighbour.

I make quite a big batch of this, cos I love to keep it in the fridge and eat it for days... it's really yummy.

Bubur Cha Cha recipe

Ingredients:
3/4 rice bowl of black eyed peas (mei dau, soaked for minimum 3 hours)
4 leaves of pandan (shredded and tied into a knot)
1.5 L water (about 6 rice bowls)

2.5L water (about 10 rice bowls)
1.5 rice bowl taro (cut into 1cm cubes)
1.5 rice bowl yellow sweet potato(cut into 1cm cubes)
1.5 rice bowl orange sweet potato(cut into 1cm cubes)
1/3 rice bowl fish eye sago pearls
1 1/2 Tbsp fish egg sago pearls

350 gm rock sugar or normal white sugar
150 gm gula melaka (palm sugar)

fresh coconut milk from 2 coconuts (about 4ooml undiluted)
1/2 tsp salt (to prevent the coconut milk from going bad fast, but not enough to turn the whole thing salty)

** Conversion: 1 rice bowl is approximately 1 cup 250ml

Method:
1. Boil 1.5L water, simmer black eyed peas and pandan knot on low fire for 2-3 hours or until peas are soft.
2. When peas are almost soft, put in fish eye sago pearls (Do not presoak them). Let them simmer together.
3. Cut taro, sweet potatoes and put them in together with 2.5L of water after peas are soft. Bring to a boil and lower down fire to simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Take out pandan knot. Sprinkle in fish egg sago pearls. Put in rock sugar and palm sugar. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
5. Turn off the fire, and leave pot uncovered for 5 minutes.
6. Pour in coconut milk and salt. Stir to combine. Wait for 15 minutes before putting lid back onto the pot. This is to prevent the coconut milk to turn oily.

** If you put in coconut milk too soon after turning off fire, it will curdle. If you put in too late, the whole thing will turn bad faster(hmm.. in 1-2 days, eventhough it's in the fridge) due to the coconut milk being `uncooked'. With properly cooked uncurdled coconut milk in the bubur chacha, I kept them in the fridge up to 5 days, and it tasted alright.

** I do not recommend purple sweet potatoes in this dessert. It makes the whole thing purple!!! A little overpowering on the colour. This is my personal opinion.

Ma Tai Sar with Tong Yuen (water chestnut dessert with dumplings) 汤圆荸荠洒

I don't know why it's called Ma Tai Sar, cos 'sar' means sand... but the water chestnuts are not chopped until they're fine like sand..

Normally I'll make it without the tong yuen, but after trying it at a wedding luncheon in Taiping, I found it to be quite nice.

Ma Tai Sar with Tong Yuen (water chestnut dessert with dumplings)

Ingredients:

8 cups water

3 pandan leaves (shredded and knotted)

1 cup water chestnuts (about 8-10, peeled and chopped finely)

250 gm rock sugar(or 1 cup sugar)

3/4 cup corn starch (easier to buy than water chestnut starch)
1 cup water

1 egg (beaten)

1 package of frozen tong yuen (black sesame fillings or whichever u may prefer)

Method:
1. Boil 8 cups water with the pandan for 10 minutes or until u can smell the fragrance in the living room..
2. Take out the pandan leaves (if not, the water chestnuts will be hiding in the leaves).
3. Put in the water chestnuts and rock sugar.
4. Boil for another 10 minutes.
5. Mix 1 cup water with corn starch. Pour in and stir well.
6. Bring to a boil and drizzle in the egg while stirring continuously.
7. Turn off the fire and serve with cooked sesame dumplings (cooked according to packaging).

Nice for the Chinese Winter Festival (Goh Tung)..

**

You can roughly get 10 rice bowls of this dessert. I always put my tong sui into small containers per portion and put in the fridge. This way, it's more convenient when one wants to have some, without having to ladle it out.