Some weeks ago, one of our church members bought some desserts to my mum and she told me that it is very special as she had not eaten something like that before. From what she mentioned, the ingredients include
lotus seeds, chopped water chestnut, wolfberries, egg white and most important
Osmanthus flower which gives this dessert it unique fragrant and taste.
So from what she had mentioned to me, I come out with my own version of Osmanthus, Water Chestnut & Sea Coconut Dew. Yup, for my version, I have added some shredded Sea Coconut to it. It had being long since I used fresh sea coconut to make soup or dessert. And I must admit, this is a very refreshing dessert which have a very nice tangerine taste due to the Osmanthus Flowers.
Ingredients: (serves 2)
12 Dried Lotus Seeds
2 Teaspoons of Sugar
4 - 5 Water Chestnut, peeled & finely chopped
2 Teaspoons of Dried Osmanthus Flower
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries
800ml Water
1/2 - 1 Egg White, lightly beaten
1 Medium Fresh Sea Coconut, optional
Rock Sugar to taste
Method:
1. Wash and peel off the skin of the fresh sea coconut (try to select the soft to touch type which is more suitable for making dessert) then cut into thin strips.
2. Bring half small saucepan of water to boil then add in the lotus seeds and simmer on medium low heat for about 7 - 10 minutes until the seeds are soft. Dish up, rinse and remove any germ inside the lotus seeds to prevent bitterness then marinate with the sugar and set aside.
3. Next bring the pot of 800ml water to boil, add in rock sugar, sea coconut, wolfberries and osmanthus flower and simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Use a strainer, remove most of the cooked osmanthus flower away then add in the chopped water chestnut and marinated lotus seeds and simmer till boiled then switch off the heat.
5. Slowly add in the beaten egg white and give it a slow stir to create the swirl effect. (The heat from the content will cook the egg white and you have to add in slowly and stir so that it won't be in a lump)
6. Serve it with some extra osmanthus flower either warm or cold.
Notes:
a) You can replace dried lotus seeds with those vacuum packed fresh lotus seeds instead.
b) You can either soak the dried lotus seeds with boiling water(without washing the seeds) till soft then cooked together with the sea coconut and rock sugar.
Releated Post:
1. Osmanthus & Water Chestnut Kueh
2. Chicken & Sea Coconut Soup
3. Almond, Sea Coconut & Pumpkin Soup
Today's Bento theme has being a long waiting one for my dear son. As most of the reader from my blog will have read about that my dear son loves to go picnic at the seaside. And I have also tried making a few of his meals on seaside theme before. But today's challenge will be a little difficult for me because he wants the real sight of the seaside atmosphere being present in his little bento box.
I have being scratching my head for ideas on how to make this seaside bento appear real..... so after much thought and some brainstorm chat with another bento mummy, Amy(from mothering corner website) I decided to give this bento a try. Last night, I have draft out the idea of the layout and what are the animals that I would want to include in it.
