Showing posts with label Homemade Dessert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homemade Dessert. Show all posts

Thursday 20 January 2011

Lotus Seeds Soup - 莲子羹

During the Eve of Chinese New Year, usually most of the household would prepare a sweet dessert to be served during the 1st Day of Chinese Luna New Year as an auspicious treat for the family or relatives. The common sweet dessert(Tong Shui) are Cheng Teng(清汤), Red Bean Cream(红豆沙), Lily Bulb and Lotus Seeds(百合莲子), Glutinous Rice Balls Soup(汤圆) and etc.

For a Teochew household like us, we usually have our favourite "Yam Paste(Orr Nee)", "Cheng Teng(清汤)" or "Lotus Soup(莲子羹)" which is shown in this post. Last year, I made Glutinous Red Date With Osmanthus Syrup for Chinese New Year dessert but this year I would like to share this Lotus Soup post with you.

This photo shows some of the ingredients and steps in preparing our all-time favourite dessert during Chinese New Year.

Ingredients: (serves 6 - 8)
300g Dried Lotus Seeds
150g Brown Sugar(in pieces form)
30g Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Caster Sugar
1 Bundle of Pandan Leaves
2.5 Litres of Water
1 1/2 Tablespoons Potato Starch(生粉) + 1 Tablespoon Water




Method:
1. Bring a small pot of water to boil, add dried lotus seeds and cook for 5 - 8 minutes or till soften.
2. Drain, rinse and remove the green sprout from each seeds and set aside.
3. Use a big soup pot, bring 2.5 litre of water to boil, when water comes to boil add in pandan leaves and cooked for about 5 minutes before adding it the pieces of brown sugar.
4. While waiting for the water to boil, season the cooked lotus seeds with 2 tablespoons of caster sugar and set aside.
5. When the pieces of brown sugar melt, removed the pandan leaves, add in seasoned lotus seeds and simmer on medium low heat another 15 - 20 minutes till the lotus seeds achieves your desire texture when bite.
6. Next slowly add in the remaining 30g of brown sugar to sweeten the dessert to your liking.
7. Stir in potato starch mixture over low heat to thicken the soup accordingly.
8. Remove from heat and serve warm.


Lotus Seeds(莲子)are actually nuts from the lotus plant that are commonly found in Asia. The typical lotus seed is small, round and slightly white in appearance that is usually sold in dried and pre-packaged. The most common use of the seed is in the form of a paste for making moon cakes and bun or sometime they are found as one of the ingredients in Asian dessert or soup.

It is believed that when using lotus seeds to cook soups, congee or dessert, it actually act as a cooling tonic that "clears heat" according to the Chinese Physician. being sweet and neutral, they have been known to tonify the spleen, reinforce the kidneys and nourish the blood too. But within the seed lies a "green sprout" that is quite bitter and it is usually removed when lotus seeds are use in sweet dessert.

No matter which Chinese New Year dessert you preferred or made at home I am sure everyone would love to have something Auspicious for their family. So if you have some special dessert which you prepared for Chinese New Year do share with us, if you don't have a blog you can Email me your recipe and I would be most delighted to do a [Guest Post] on your behalf



Monday 22 November 2010

Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh

Ondeh Ondeh/Onde Onde is one of the popular and delicious tea-time snacks in Singapore. Usually they come in green colour (pandan flavour) glutinous rice balls that are sprinkled with grated coconut on the outside and filled with Gula Melaka as the inner fillings. So when you give this Ondeh Ondeh a bite it would burst in your mouth with the melted Gula Melaka oozing out from the rice ball. I love those bite-size and chewy versions with a good grade of fragrant Gula Melaka that makes you keep popping them into your mouth.

There are two different common methods on making this snack; one is made totally using glutinous rice flour while the second method is a mixture of sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour. But now there are a lot of different varieties available in the stores such as using Yam, Chocolate, Purple Sweet Potato and etc to attract more customers.

Here are the ingredients to make the pumpkin ondeh ondeh so let's get ready on these such as:-

Ingredients: (makes 20 - 24)
150g Grated Coconut
1/4 Teaspoon Fine Salt
4 - 5 Pandan leaves, tied to a knot
15g Tapioca Flour
100ml Water
200g Steamed Mashed Pumpkin
180g Glutinous Rice Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
100g Gula Melaka(Palm Sugar), roughly chopped


These are the photo on the steps on how to make the ondeh ondeh:-

Method:
1. Cut off the skin of the pumpkin, weight about 200g and cut it into small cubes and steam them for about 15 minutes or until soften.
2. Remove it from the steamer rack and let it cool while preparing other ingredients.
3. Mix 1/4 teaspoon salt with the grated coconut and steam for 5 minutes together with the pandan leave. When done, set aside and let it cool.
4. Mix tapioca flour and water together then cook over medium heat until it forms a thick paste.
5. Remove it from heat and let it cool in a mixing bowl.
6. Next add in mashed pumpkin, glutinous rice flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt and knead to form a soft dough.
7. Pinch a bit of the dough and roll each ball into a size of a "fishball(about 15g)".
8. Bring a pot of water to boil while stuffing the filling of the ondeh ondeh.
9. Flatten a dough ball and put a bit(1/4 teaspoon) of Gula Melaka in the centre, pinch to seal the opening and roll again into round shape. Repeat this with the other balls.
10. Drop about 5 - 6 balls into the boiling water while continue making the rest. Cook the balls in boiling water until they float to the surface which takes about 2 minutes.
11. Use a slotted spoon to remove the balls from the water when they floated up and place them on the grated coconut.
12. Roll each ball in the coconut and serve warm or when cooled.

Note:
~ I also coated some of these pumpkin ondeh ondeh with some ground peanut instead of the traditional grated coconut. And it taste taste great with the pumpkin and peanut combination.


After some steaming, kneading, rolling, cooking and rolling, these are our Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh with dual coating. I guess it would depend on individual liking on whether to pick a grated coconut coating or ground peanut or maybe "both".

These are some of the ready packed Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh that we bought to our weekly cell group for the after session food time. Does this packing resemble to those "store bought" ondeh ondeh?


Thursday 4 November 2010

Green Bean Soup With Sweet Potato

Green Bean Soup is one of the common local dessert that can be easily found in most households or dessert stalls at the food centres. For us, we love to add in some chunks of sweet potato and serve it with drizzle of both or either coconut milk or gula malaka syrup. The aroma and taste of the gula melaka blends perfectly into this dessert which makes you definitely go for a second helping.

I have heard from some Chinese physician that Green Beans (绿豆; Mung Beans) can clear Heat; ease mental stress; reduce blood glucose level and stimulate the secretion of body fluid. This is the reason why most of our parents or grandparents always love to prepare some green bean soup for the family during hot weather to cool down our body heat.

These are the ingredients and steps on how to prepare my version of green bean soup :-

Ingredients: (serves 4)
150g Green Bean(绿豆)
1 Medium Size Orange Sweet Potato
50g Sago
10 - 15 Pre-packed Ginkgo Nut, optional
1.5 Litre Water
1 Bundle of Pandan Leave
Rock Sugar/brown sugar to Taste

Optional Toppings:
Some Coconut Milk
Some Gula Malaka Syrup

Method:
1. Rinse a few times and remove any dirt or spoilt green beans from the pool then set them aside and bring a pot of 1.5 litre of water to boil.
2. Next remove the outer skin of the sweet potato, cut it into chunks and add them together with the green beans into the boiling water.
3. Rinse the pre-packed ginkgo nut and remove any greenish pith in the middle of the nut then marinate it with about 1 tablespoon of castor sugar and set aside.
4. When the green bean mixture comes to boil again, lower the heat and let it simmer over medium low heat till the bean begins to soften or cracks open. (takes about 15 minutes or so)
5. Add in the rinse sago, marinated ginkgo nut and pandan leave then continue to simmer till the sago becomes transparent.
6. Removed the pandan leave, add in rock sugar to taste.


Note:
~ You can add in more water if you prefer more soupy dessert.

~ You can make some Gula Melaka sugar by boiling 2 part sugar to 1 part water till the sugar completely dissolved, sieved away any residues, cool and you can kept it in the fridge in a glass bottle till further usage.



I guess it all depend on individual taste and preference while preparing the green bean soup. Some might just like the traditional way of adding sago while others might prefer adding some glutinous rice or even extra chunks of sweet potato to make it a quick meal. No matter which methods, I am sure there is always one prefect recipe from each household. If you do prepared green bean soup at home, perhaps you can share with us some of your ingredients and tips too :p


Friday 6 August 2010

Teochew Steamed Yam & Sweet Potato With Coconut

As a kid, I grew up with most of my favourite Teochew Dialect cuisines and desserts as such Ngoh Hiang, Braised Soya Duck Yam Cake and Yam Paste (or nee) that my dad used to prepare during festive seasons like Chinese New Year. Today mum and I decided to replicate one of my dad’s signature Teochew dessert which is something cross between “Yam Paste” and “Bo Bo Char Char”.

This is a pretty easy to prepare dessert where you just need to get some good quality of Yam - 芋头 (taro) and Orange Sweet Potato - 番薯. When choosing yam try to get those that look moist and heavy when lifted so that the high water content in it will make the yam taste soft.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
200g Yam
200g Orange Sweet Potato
6 Tablespoons Castor Sugar
100ml Coconut Milk
50ml Water
5 -8 Pandan Leaves
Shallot Flakes Oil



Shallot Flakes & Oil is a must for this dessert, as it will give a special touch of aroma to perfect the taste. To prepare you will need the following:-

Ingredients:
5-8 shallots (小葱头)
100ml of cooking oil
Pinch of Salt

Method:
1. Removed the outer skin of the shallots then thinly sliced.
2. Preheat a small pan or pot with cooking oil, add in the sliced shallot and saute them on medium low heat (stirring on and off to prevent burning) till slightly golden in colour.
3. Remove the pan from heat, add in pinch of salt(this will make the flakes more crispy) and give it a quick stir.
4. Set aside to cool and later use.



The preparation methods might be a bit tedious if you do not have a big steamer or wok that allows you to steam all the items at one go. So for our case, we choose to steam the yam and sweet potato separately so that either one of them will not be over cooked.

Method:
1. Rinse both yam and sweet potato, removed the outer skin, cut into cubes/chunks depending on your preference.
2. Wash the Pandan leaves, divide into two bunches and tie a knot on each bunch.
3. Place the yam cubes on a plate and top with 1 bunch of pandan leave, steam it over medium heat for about 10 minutes or till the yam is slightly soften. (the timing will varies on the size of the yam cubes/chunks)
4. Repeat the same procedure for sweet potato.
5. While waiting for the sweet potato to be cooked, stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar to the hot yam cubes and give it a good stir then set aside.
6. When the sweet potato is done, add it into the yam cubes with the remaining sugar stir well and set aside.
7. Preheat the frying pan with about 1 tablespoon of shallot oil, add in the yam and sweet potato mixture, give it a quick stir, then slowly stir in the coconut milk and water.
8. Simmer the mixture under low heat for about 5 minutes. Dish up top with extra shallot flakes and served either warm or cold.


Finally after all the cut, steam and simmer process here we present you with our all time Teochew favourite dessert which you get to have the mixture of yam and sweet potato drown in mild coconut gravy and top with a small exotic bit of shallot oil and flakes. Hope you will like this Teochew style homemade dessert, "Steamed Yam & Sweet Potato with Coconut Milk - 芋薯甜心块".

If you are interested in other recipe that used Yam as one of the ingredient, do hop over to my new Omy blog to view on how to make some yummy Steamed Yam Cake - 芋头糕. (click HERE) Posted by Picasa


Wednesday 10 February 2010

Glutinous Red Date With Osmanthus Syrup

There are all kinds of Chinese New Year after meal desserts and the most common few are:- Yam Paste With Gingko Nuts, Red Bean Puree With Lotus Seeds, Tang Yuan, Chng Teng and etc...... But what I am going to share with you today is something really simple and yet it will impressed your guest with it's "Golden Outlook". I have named it "桂花元宝" in Mandarin which mean Osmanthus Ingots.

This recipe required 3 main ingredients which are Red Dates(preferably those HUGE one so that it will be easier to do the stuffing), Glutinous Rice Flour(the filling) and the most important ingredient "Osmanthus Flower - 桂花" which will brings out the floral fragrance of this dessert. And in order to sweeten this dish and enhance the flavour of the stuffing, I will make a syrup using "Rock sugar - 冰糖" and "Candice winter melon - 冬瓜糖".

In order to slit open the Red Dates and remove the seed easily, it's best that you soaked it in warm water for about 5 - 10 minutes as to soften it. But if you wan to save the trouble of removing the seed, you can purchase those that is without seeds. I saw this HUGE red dates from one of the groceries stall near my area and it cost only $0.80 per 100g. With these detail photo above, I am sure it will give you a better ideas on how to prepare this Chinese New Year dessert.

Ingredients For Ingots:
16 - 18 Huge Red Dates, removed seeds
50g Glutinous Rice Flour
30ml or more Water

Method:
1. Rinse and clean away the soil/dirt on the outer skin of the red dates.
2. Soaked them in a bowl of warm water to soften it so that it will be easier to cut open and remove the seed in it.
3. Place the glutinous rice flour in a medium bowl, slowly add in the water and stir till it form a dough. (you might required more water)
4. Pinch about a marble size portion of the dough and stuffed it in each Red Dates.
5. Arrange the stuffed dates on a plate and steam it in a pot of boiling water on Medium heat for about 5 minutes.
6. When done, removed the dates from the pot, set aside to cool while preparing the Osmanthus Syrup.

Note:
~ For the procedure of the stuffing and steaming you can refer to the above photo for clearly explanation.

Ingredients For Osmanthus Syrup:
1/2 Tablespoon Of Osmanthus Flower
10g Rock Sugar
2 Strips of Candice Winter Melon, finely chopped
80ml Water
Extra Osmanthus Flower for topping

Method:
1. Bring water to boil in a small sauce, add in rock sugar and stir till the sugar melted.
2. Lower the heat, add in chopped winter melon and Osmanthus Flower and let it boiled for about 15 seconds.
3. Add in the cooked glutinous red dates and stir it through the sugar syrup and simmer till the syrup became a bit sticky.
4. Off the heat, removed the red dates and served it in small serving cups, drizzle with some osmanthus syrup & chopped winter melon then sprinkler some extra osmanthus flower to enhance the fragrant and outlook.

You can prepared all the ingredients and steps up to the steaming of the red dates and cooked the Osmanthus Syrup just before serving. Or alternatively, you can prepared everything and stored this dessert in the fridge and served it as a cold dessert. So no matter which method you prefer, I am sure this will make a great dessert for your guests this coming Chinese New Year.Posted by Picasa


Sunday 12 July 2009

Double-Boiled Egg White & Milk In Coconut

I saw this fresh and beautiful Thai Young Coconut during my market trip this morning and on first sight, I told myself that I am going to make a new dessert from it. As I always heard from my mum who has tried the "Double-boiled hashima and egg whites in coconut" dessert Crystal Jade Kitchen. I decided to come out with my very own version of "Double-Boiled Egg White & Milk With In Coconut".

Coconuts are the fruit of the coconut palm, it has many food uses, including milk, meat, sugar and oil as well as functioning as its own dish and cup. From research, it shows that coconut water is also More Nutritious than whole milk as it contain Less fat and NO cholesterol! As you can see from the photo, the main ingredients that I used are Young Coconut Juice and Flesh, Egg White, Fresh Milk and some wolfberries for colour contrast and sweetness.

Ingredient:
1 Thai Young Coconut
Egg White From 2 Medium Egg
100ml Coconut Juice
70ml Fresh Milk
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries
1.5 Teaspoon Sugar
1/2 Red Date, for garnish

Method:
1. Dissolve the sugar in the coconut juice over low heat in a pot, then set aside to cool. (You can use microwave to cook on High 30 second)
2. Use a small knife to life the lip of the coconut, slow not to break it fully open, leave a small gape so the you will be able to cover it back while double-boiled.
3. Use a spoon carefully scrape the flesh from the inner shell and set aside for later use.
3. Whisk the egg whites briefly, then mix in the milk and pour in the cool coconut juice solution.
4. Strain into a bowl, then pour it back into the coconut shell.
5. Stir in 3/4 of the wolfberries and coconut flesh then cover the lip, place the coconut in a deep bowl or place it directly in the pot of boiling water and double-boiled for about 20 minutes.
6. Open the lid after 10 minutes, scatter the remaining 1/4 of wolfberies and coconut flesh and top with half of the red date in the middle.
7. Cover the lip back and continue to steam over medium heat for another 10 minutes. (Open the lip at a 5 minutes interval)
8. Remove the whole bowl from heat and remain cover for 2 minutes before serving.
9. You can either serve warm or cold.


Note:
a) I bought the Thai Young Coconut from Shop And Save or you can get it from most supermarket at less than $2.00 each. (Try to find the one with a nice lid so that u can cover it while double-boiled)
b) The texture of this dessert might not very pudding like, sometime it might be more on the soft or liquid side depend on the kind of milk you used and the steaming technique.


This is a very refreshing and fragrant dessert. The moment when I opened the lip, the aroma of the coconut essence is so wonderful. You should give this a try if you love coconut and it's a very good beauty dessert too... :p Posted by Picasa


Sunday 20 April 2008

Red Bean & Dumpling In Pumpkin Cream

Saw this interesting Korea Dessert from one of the food blogger known as 小小米桶的寫食廚房.(click here for the link to the original recipe in Chinese together with details photo illustration) She had a lot of wonderful pictures and interesting food recipes which is mainly written in Chinese found in her blog at the above mention link.


I found this recipe very interesting mainly because I love pumpkin puree and red bean as the main ingredients for this Dessert. Although the procedure might be a bit tedious due to the cooking of red bean, making of the dumpling and mashing of the pumpkin puree. But with all these efforts you will be able to have a bowl of hearty dessert to share with your love one. Below is the recipe in English version and I also drizzle some extra almond cream to the final products to enhance the flavour.Posted by Picasa

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup of Cook Red Bean, cooked through but not marshy
250g Australia Pumpkin, cut into cubes
1 Cup of Water
50ml of Almond Cream, optional

Methods:
1. Put the pumpkin cubes into a small saucepan together with 1 cup or more of water to cover the pumpkin then simmer it in low heat until the cubes are tender and soft.
2. Mash the soft pumpkin cubes through a sieves then return the pumpkin puree back into the same saucepan with the remaining water and stir till well combine.
3. Next add in the cooked red bean and mini dumpling and simmer for a while, if the base is too
thick, you can add in some extra water to dilute it.
4. Before serving, you can drizzle 1 - 2 tablespoons of almond cream on top to enhance the flavour.
5. As you have notice, I didn't add any sugar to sweeten this dessert because I find that the Pumpkin puree is already sweet enough to my liking. But then if you want it to taste better you can add extra sugar to sweeten it.

Mini Red Bean Dumpling
Ingredients:
25g Glutinous Rice Flour
Suitable amount of Sweeten Warm Red Bean Soup

Methods:
1. In a mixing bowl, mixed the glutinous rice flour with suitable about of warm red bean soup to make into a dough.
2. Knead it until smooth then roll into small dumpling in marble size or bigger depend on your preference.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil, drop in the pre-rolled dumplings and cooked until it float to the surface and continue to let it boil for another 2 minutes then drain and soaked it in cold water for a few minutes to enhance the texture.(make it more Q)
4. Dish and set aside for later use. (you can prepare this while cooking the pumpkin)

Notes:
a) You can cooked your own red bean or you can buy those ready cooked red bean soup or pre-packed cooked red bean.
b) I used Australia Pumpkin because I like it's orangy colour.
c) If you don't wish to prepare your own dumpling, you can use those pre-packed type from supermarket.


Saturday 15 March 2008

Sweet Secret

Made some of the Custard Cream Puff upon request for afternoon gathering. So rather then the usual cream puff that is filled with egg custard, I decide to decorate it with some extra topping to make it more presentable and add on some extra crunch.

I dipped the filled puffs with some dark chocolate coating then decorate with some ground oreo, toasted peanuts bits and chocolate rice. Does these look wonderful compare to the usual cream puff. It's pretty easy, just coat the top with some dark or white chocolate then sprinkle whatever toppings that you prefer.


Em.......after tasting the western tea snacks. Let's get back to this famous Thai-style dessert which is a must HAVE when you visit any part of Thailand. Usually this Sticky Rice dessert is either sever with Mango slices or Durian. And our family prefer Durian compare to Mango. This dessert is done by my Mum, with the recipe provided by me :p and using the Authentic glutinous rice that is air-flown from Bangkok during brother's trip over there.

Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
100g Glutinous Rice
80ml Water
4 Tablespoons Of Sugar
200ml Coconut Milk/Cream (non-chilled packet)
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
1 Tablespoon Cornflour Solution
A Few Seeds Of Durian or 2 Mangoes

Methods:
1. Soak the glutinous rice in some water that is enough to cover it for about 3 hours.
2. Wash till water is not cloudy and drain away the water.
3. Steam the rice on bamboo steamer for about 30 minutes or more until it is cook through, set aside.
4. In a small saucepan, add in water, coconut milk, salt and sugar.
5. Stir over low heat till sugar dissolves then thicken with cornflour solution. Remove it from heat.
6. Reserve about 1/4 cup of coconut syrup to drizzle on the rice before serving.
7. Pour the rest of the syrup onto the hot glutinous rice, cover and let it soak for about 5 - 8 minutes, remove the cover then stir and mix well.
8. To serve, put a portion of the coconut sticky rice on a plate, followed by a layer of Durian meat or mango slices, drizzle some of the coconut syrup over the top.


Friday 13 April 2007

Ondeh Ondeh WIth Shredded Coconut Fillings

My mother had being asking me to teach her how to make this Local Noya Kueh called Ondeh Ondeh which is commonly Jade Green in colour. Usually the normal Ondeh Ondeh will be wrapped with Gula Melaka sugar but not for this version that we are making today.


For this, I had follow the recipe from Lily's blog(please click for recipe) which she used shredded coconut mixed with gula melaka for the fillings. It's taste much more fragrant and with the busting favour. For those who is interested in trying out this, you can refer to Lily's blog link. Posted by Picasa


Friday 16 March 2007

Sticky Glutinous Rice With Mango

Sticky Glutinous Rice With Fresh Mango(Kha Neo Ma Muang) is a marketplace favorite that is not to be missed when you visit any of the Thailand restaurant or food stall. The rice which is fragrant and soft taste sweet together with the aroma of coconut milk and fresh Mango slices.


Ingredients:
200g Glutinous Rice
150ml Fresh Or Can Coconut
2 Tablespoons Of Sugar
1 Ripe Sweet Mango

Serving Sauce:
125ml Coconut Milk
1/4 Teaspoon Of Salt

Methods:
1) Rinse the rice and soak at least 6 hours or overnight.
2) Drain the rice and steam for about 20 minutes, stir in the coconut milk with sugar and continue to steam for another 25 minutes or until rice is soft.
3) Cover and set the rice aside for 5 minutes then mould it into individual ramekins or mousse ring then cool it to room temperature.
4) Un-mould it on plate and serve it with Fresh Mango Slices and Coconut Sauce.Posted by Picasa

Notes:a) For the Coconut sauce, mix everything in a heat proof bowl and microwave on Medium Heat for 30 second or until just warm.


ShareThis