The Soup Queen

I was riffling through my recipe book last night when I saw this recipe. I am not sure where I got it from since I normally copy recipes, stick them to my fridge as a reminder to try the recipes out. Nourishing goodness for the eyes, blood and Qi I figured I should try this one out as it has a host of benefits. This dessert soup comprising dried longan, dried red dates and kei chi or goji berries helps with: replenishing vital energy or Qi promotes blood improves eye sight All you need are a handful of dried longan, about 8 dried red dates and a tablespoon of goji berries (soaked in water for a bit). Add these ingredients to a pot of water (about 1 liter). Add enough rock sugar (depends how sweet you like your dessert soup).  Bring to a rolling boil. Then cover and lower fire so that the dessert merely simmers. Simmer it for 35 minutes or so. Serve warm.  Great to be taken just before bed time! Warm of course. Not cold.  This recipe ma...

I got this recipe from The Family Herbal Cookbook by Cecilia Tan. It helps to soothe a heaty system.The pears used in this recipe are of the yellow round variety which when eaten fresh, are terribly juicy. This recipe needs: 2 chinese pears, peeled, halved and cored 6 to 8 dried red dates, deseeded some rock sugar 3 bowls water Put all ingredients into a pot. Simmer for 3 hours. Top up with water if water's reduced. Drink warm.

If you suffer from Wind Heat, here's a dessert you can make to alleviate those symptoms (coughing, colds etc as a result of Wind and Heat). 2 fresh lily bulbs 15 dried red dates, deseeded 1 cup dried lotus seeds 1 cup fresh wai san, diced rock sugar to taste 1/4 cup mai men dong/Ophiopogon japonicus 1.5 liters water Bring water to a boil and add in mai men dong, lotus seeds and red dates. Simmer covered for 15 minutes. Then add wai san and lily bulb - simmer again for another 10 minutes. Finally add rock sugar to taste. Turn off fire and serve warm.

Fruits, especially local fruits like bananas, papayas, dragon fruits (my favourite is the deep ruby red variety) are cheap and plentiful in Banting. That's where I was last week. I went home to visit my parents for a few days and decided to teach my mom a new dessert recipe. I bought an unripe papaya at the Banting Sunday market. My mom chided me saying that it's not palatable. I told her I was going to cook it, instead of waiting for it to ripen. The fruit vendor was smart enough to tell my mom that she knew what I was going to do with the unripe fruit. Hmmm! After I made it, mom took some over to our longtime neighbour, Mrs Chan. Mom told me the unripe papaya tasted a lot like sweet potato after it's been simmered. So here's a green papaya and snow fungus dessert recipe you can try: 1 unripe papaya (a bit green with blushes of orange, signs of going to ripen), cut into bite size chunks 8-10 dried red dates a few pieces of snow fungus, soaked and cut up into smaller p...