Dragonfruit Agar-agar

1 packet dried agar2 strips (20 gm)
1 dragon fruit
sugar to taste
3 screwpine leaves (pandan leaves) - optional
1.2 litres  ml water or as per instructions printed in the packet.

Method

1)     Wash the agar2 strips.  Put the agar2 strips and pandan leaves into the water and boil until it dissolves.
        Add sugar and off the fire.  Sieve the mixture.
2)     Cut the dragonfruit into small cubes and set aside.  Take 1/3 of it and run through a sieve to get the
        juice.  Pour the juice into the agar2 mixture to give it the red colour.
3)    Put the remaining dragonfruit cubes into desired moulds and pour in the agar2.  Let  cool before
       putting them into the fridge.  Enjoy!

Lor Hon Guo Herbal Drink

We have been having very hot weather and that calls for a cooling drink.   So  I made lor hon guo sweet soup as recommended by my friend Josephine. Taken  hot or put in some ice and you get a refreshing drink.  The lor hon guo cost about RM1.20 each for a small one whereas a big one would cost about RM3.00.  The lor hon guo is usually sweet (if you are unlucky you get a bitter one!).  All the ingredients can be purchased from the Chinese pharmacy shop.

Ingredients:

2 small lor hon guo  -  wash and break into 2
a bunch of kum cho
5  candied dates (mud choe)
10 red dates
2.5  litres water


1)     Put all ingredients into the slow cooker and boil for 6 hours.  I did not have to add any extra sugar.
     
        ( Add sugar if you find it not sweet enough).
       
Note:   You can also add in dried longan to this soup.

Egg Tea Soup Dessert

Made a pot of this dessert this morning and shared it with my colleagues.  I am sure a lot of people especially the youngsters have not tasted this Egg Tea Soup dessert before.  I too have not eaten this since when I was a teenager.  It is a sweet dessert.  One can find it in a those kind of eateries selling sweet dessert.  Do not be confused with those kind of tea eggs (with cracked egg shells in tact) which are commonly sold.  Those are savoury.

Ingredients

1 packet of Egg tea ingredients - get from Chinese Pharmacy shop. 
1.5 - 1.8  lit. of water
A few hard boiled eggs, shelled (set aside)
Sugar to taste

Method

1)         Boil the packet of  tea ingredients in the water in a slow cooker for 6 hours.
2)         Put the in the eggs and sugar to taste.

Note:  If you are not using the slow cooker, boil for 2 hours and add a bit more water.

White Fungus Dessert

Tasted this dessert long time ago at a pot luck gathering of my line dancing group.   Loved it instantly.    So here is the estimated recipe.

Ingredients

1  1/2 whole white fungus (suet yee) -  soak in water for a few hours.  Cut away the hard bottom part.
Gingko nuts (bak kor) - about 15 
1.5 - 2  litres of water
rock sugar or sugar to taste
pandan leaves (optional but they give the dessert a very fragrant smell)

Method

1)        Put the white part of the white fungus into a blender.  Press the blender button just 
           to cut them into smaller pieces.
2)       Crack the gingko nuts and peel the skin.  The easy way to peel the skin is to soak the nuts in
          water and the skin will come off easily.  Cut the gingko nut to remove the centre filament which
          is bitter.
3)       Put the white fungus, gingko nuts, pandan leaves and the water into a pot and boil for at least
          1  hour.   Last add in rock sugar to taste.  Enjoy!

Boiled Chinese Pear dessert

Another boiled  fruit dessert and this time is the Chinese pear.  This recipe serves two portions.  You can
also use a big green  apple  instead but have to add in some rock sugar as the green apple is a bit sour.

Ingredients:-

One big Chinese pear -  peeled and cut into cubes.  Discard the centre.
3  small candy dates or 2 big ones (Mud choe) 
400 ml water

Optional -  You can also add in a little bit of dried white fungus (suet yee).  Soak it in water. 
                  It will expand.   Cut out the top part only and discard the hard stem.

Method:-

1)      Put all ingredients into the slow cooker and boil for at least  4 hours.  Serve it hot .  It is so
         refreshing when served cold on a hot day.

Boiled Apple with Aloevera dessert

A simple dessert which is easy to make.  To get the flesh of the aloevera, first cut away the thorny
sides of the leaf.  Then slice off the skin of  one side of the leaf.  Use a metal spoon to scoop out the transparent flesh.

Ingredients:-

One big green apple -  peel the skin and cut into cubes
1 or 2 pieces of Aloevera  -  flesh cut into smaller pieces
20 pieces dried red dates
some rock to taste

400 ml water

Method:-

1)    Put all the ingredients into a slow cooker and boil for 4 hours.  The apple will
       disintegrate into the water.  Enjoy!

Mooncakes - Agar-agar/Konyaku

These agar2/konyaku mooncakes are complimentary from a good friend, Poon Kim Lan who sells them once a year  when the mooncake festival comes on the 15th day of  August in the Chinese calendar.  I have to blog about them because they are not only delicious but pretty.  These are not just ordinary agar2 mooncakes and come in many flavours, 12 if I am not mistaken.  I feel that she is  very innovative  in coming out with  all these beautiful flavours. The flavours that I have chosen are apple with a cake/cookie centre, yam, mango, red date with medlar seeds (kei chi), dragon fruit and cendol.  The rest of the flavours are  passion fruit, sour plum, kiwi, and chocolate.   The passion fruit and the kiwi flavours are even better and I regretted not choosing them after having tasted the mini ones at home. 

Sweet Green pea (Mung bean) soup

Made a pot of sweet green pea soup. As my husbund doesn't like it, I took the whole pot to share with my colleagues.  Of course my colleagues are always happy that I bring food to the office.  The ingredients are more or less estimated.

Recipe

300 gm (about 2 cups) green pea (mung bean)
2 tabsp of glutinous rice
130gm of  of gula melaka and extra sugar to taste
1 packet of fresh santan (coconut milk) if you can find  -  I used the packet one bought from the supermarket
2100 ml water
a pinch of salt


Wash the green pea, glutinous rice and put them  into the slow cooker with the water. Turn to high.  Boil for at least 5 hours.
Add in the gula melaka and sugar to taste. Mix  in santan and salt and it is ready.

Note:  You can alway use just the normal sugar and the green pea soup will be more green in colour instead of brownish.  In this case, you replace the glutinous rice with  a small packet of sago and can omit the santan.

Barley Fu Chok Tong Sui

My friends and colleagues all agreed that this is a very delicious dessert.   It tastes like soya bean water with barley and gingko. I boil this in a slow cooker for at least 5-6 hours.  Turn it to high so that the fu chok will dissolve.   Just remember to tell your grocer that you are making barley foo chook dessert and they will give you the correct type of foo chook skin.  Some foo chook skin does not dissolve at all. You can also add in hard boiled egg.

Barley Fu Chook Tong Sui

1/2 cup of barley
2 pieces of fu chok skin (add in more you want a stronger taste)
some gingko nuts   (crack them and peel off the skin. Cut into half and throw away the bitter centre piece)
                                                                                                                         
rock sugar according to taste
2.2 litres of water

pandan leaves - screwpine leaves (optional)
hardboil eggs (optional)

Method

1)        Put barley, water, fu chok, gingko nuts into the slow cooker. Switch to high and boil for at least 5-6 hours until the fu chok disintegrate into the water.  Add in sugar and it is ready to be served.

Note:  If you are cooking it in a gas cooker, I suppose an hour or so would be enough as long as the barley is cooked and the fu chok has totally disolved  into the water.

Some people like this version where the fuchok doesn't dissolve completely.  It all depends on the type of fuchok you purchase.  Notice that my boiled egg doesn't have any egg yolk in the center.

Double Boiled Egg

Made this  popular sweet dessert . We used to have it for supper during our younger days when my sister would make a big pot as we are a big family.  Never seen my sister measuring the ingredients though.   You can always steam it in small individual bowls. My youngest daughter  likes it so much that she has learnt how to make it.  The estimation would be 110 ml of liquid to 1 egg.  Use evaporated milk. Here is the recipe.

Sweet Double Boiled Egg

5  eggs -  Whisk together
120 gm rock sugar (more or less occording to individual taste)
450 gm water
100 gm evaporated milk
1 tabsp. of ginger juice (optional)

1)  Melt the rock sugar in the water.  Set aside and let it cool.
2)  Mix the whisked eggs, sugar water, evaporated milk and ginger juice.
3) Sieve the mixture and pour into small bowls.  Cover the bowls and steam under LOW heat for about 20 
    mins. or until firm.

Note:  (a)  To get ginger juice, pound the ginger and squeeze out the juice.  Use old ginger.
           (b)  You can vary the texture or firmness of the double boiled egg by reducing or increasing
                 the water.

Logan Tau Foo Fah

Chocolate Cake

It was my husband's birthday and I make a chocolate cake, a mini cheesecake and logan agar2 all in one day.   The cake is nice but a bit hard and I should not have put the cake in the fridge.  Now I have to take out the cake for a few hours to let it soften before eating it.  I have yet to find a really good moist chocolate cake recipe.   The roses are store bought but soon I will be able to make my own as I have signed up for a class to learn how to make them.

This is a very solid cheese cake I made especially for my daughter who asked for it.  Solid in a sense that it is mainly cheese and egg which has no cream in it.  My husband got this recipe from his friend during his university days in Melbourne.  Recipe under Bistro Cheesecake.

This logan agar2 taste like soyabean jelly and it is very easy to make.  Recipe is from a colleague P K Chan's mother.  You can always make half a recipe.

Logan Tau Foo Fah

(A) Boil             a)   Agar2 - 20gm
                          b)   Pandan Leaf – a few pieces
                          c)   Water - 8 rice bowls  (2 litres)
                          d)   Sugar - 3 scoops according to sweetness

When (A) has disolved, sieve (A) into another big pot.

(B)      Add into the pot of Agar-Agar

1. Yeo’s soya bean - 2 litres
2. Evaporated Milk - 1 tin

　
(C)     Logan - 1 tin (without juice)

Add (A) + (B) + (C) and scoop the agar2 into cups. Put into fridge to set.

Enjoy.

 

Made these with the extra batter from the chocolate cake batter.

    Little Chocolate Cupcakes