The Soup Queen

This is yet another easy dessert recipe for women. The combination of these two main ingredients, lotus seeds and dried lily bulbs, is better than any skincare. Drinking this regularly - say once a week - is touted to improve your skin texture and promote cell regeneration. It's really easy if you have a slow cooker. Just put the ingredients in, switch the cooker on, let it simmer for an hour and you'll have a deliciously light and sweet dessert to drink before you turn in for the night. Remember to soak the lotus seeds to soften first, then crack them open and remove the green (bitter) pith beforehand. If you can get fresh lotus seeds (the kind that is sold vacuum-packed), you don't have to soak the seeds. Lotus Seed & Lily Bulb Dessert 19 gm dried lily bulbs 38 gm dried lotus seeds (soaked and pith removed) 2 cups water some rock sugar to taste Place all ingredients into a slow cooker or crockpot. Simmer for an hour. Serve warm. Here's to beau...

Chinese people love eating parts of the pig. Apparently each part of the pig corresponds to the parts in us humans. So if you want to strengthen your legs, eating pig trotters are the way to go. Or if you want to become smarter, you go for the pig's brain (and we all thought pigs are stupid creatures!). When I was in my teens and studying for major exams, my mom would specially order a whole brain of the pig from the pork butcher. She would then boil the brain with some herbs in a slow cooker and I'd take that, soup, brain and all. This was to ensure my brain got all the nutrients it needed to perform well under stress. I do know now that consuming the innards and organs and yes, the brain of the poor pig, does increase one's cholesterol level. However, at that age (remember I was in my teens), I'd imbibe the stuff my mom cooked because they were delicious in a morbid way. I'd always feel a bit like Supergirl after taking these soups. Pig's brain, when ...

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 have this climbing creeper plant called Clitoria Ternetea or Butterfly Pea Flower or Bunga Telang (in Malay) in my garden for many reasons. This blue flower is one of my favourite flowers of all. Its intense indigo makes me happy (I have always loved strongly coloured fruits and flowers...I don't know why). Clitoria ternetea flowers  One, you add precious nutrients into the soil when you plant this on the ground. Two, the flowers are used to colour food naturally. The blue Nyonya kuih made with glutinous rice was in the olden days coloured with pounded juice from this pea flower (I sometimes wonder if they use blue dye these days!). Even "Nyonya zhang" or the Chinese dumpling can be coloured with this blue flower.  Third, the flower can be made into a drink that's full of antioxidants. Fourth, you can use the blue flowers to dye your hair (haven't tried this yet). As a drink, I just pluck about 5 to 8 fresh flowers and steep w...

I came across this post on Persicaria capitata and it seems this weed is really a herb. In many ways, I have often pondered on the fact- when is a weed a weed and when is it a herb? Even certain grasses function as herbs for cats. My cat loves to chew on grass when she's feeling a bit under the weather. In the past, we used to bring home grass for her (we used to live in an apartment where grass was scarce!) and she was too scaredy to go down to the park to chew some grass, well at least the kind cats can use for stomach problems.  Now Margaret has all the grass she can chew. We're still living in an apartment but it's on the ground floor and we have a tiny backyard where we grow quite a bit of herbs and stuff. The grass, all types, are plentiful. It's a veritable buffet. With grass, comes weeds.  What really are weeds anyway?  Weeds are just a name we give to plants which we feel we have no proper use for. To Margaret, grass is a herb. If we huma...

Happy New Year folks! I have been so busy with business in between planning out stuff for this year that I've been quite guilty of not updating fast enough. Anyway, since this is the week before Chinese New Year, I'm going to be good and share some interesting dessert soup recipes. OK, onwards to this dessert made with two nourishing ingredients, pumpkin and barley. I had this as a drink recently when I was lunching with a good friend at a macrobiotic cafe. I enjoyed the taste very much and decided to replicate it at home. Pumpkin barley dessert - so nutritious and easy to make Pumpkin is one of my favourite vegetables but Nic doesn't like it much (especially cooked as a dish for dinner). But I do know that pumpkin is good for health and I try to incorporate it as much as I can into our food. Buying pumpkin whole is always better than buying halves but how else can you have pumpkin besides stir-fried with garlic? Hence this recipe! (Also I make pumpkin man...

I got an email from Leslie this week who wrote: Hi! I wrote you a message last week about a Chinese Women's health soup with adzuki beans, black sugar, red wild rice, dates, peanuts and goji berries. Do you know this recipe and the amounts and when is the best time to eat it? Personally I have not come across this recipe before. Anyone here has heard about this soup or even eaten or cooked this before? Although I have not cooked it before, the rule about eating or drinking Chinese soups is that you MUST drink them warm and on the day you cook/brew it. Freshness is paramount in Chinese cooking (hence, fish must still be alive and jumping in aquariums before it is cooked etc. though I feel that is a terrible fate for the poor fish!). That idiosyncrasy of the Chinese aside, soups can be drunk any time of the day though if it is a nourishing soup, it may be drunk an hour or two before you go to bed (such as Dang Gui soup). If you have encountered this soup before, I would a...

Introduction to Chinese Herbs published by herbal company, Eu Yan Sang While shopping for herbs for my Mom-in-Law a few weeks ago at the Eu Yan Sang outlet near my home, I saw this book on Chinese herbs. Priced at RM38, the book is published by Eu Yan Sang and contains an introduction to Chinese herbs and their origins, pinpointing their location in China. I told myself that I was there to buy herbs for my Mom-in-Law so I thought I'd buy this book the next time. I have quite a few books on Chinese TCM herbs but I still love collecting these books. Even in today's Internet age where I can easily google and find out about a specific herb, nothing beats browsing a real book. I also realized why I need to quickly learn how to read in Chinese - many books on TCM herbs are still largely in Chinese (as I found out when I was at Popular Bookstore). I found myself annoyed that I could not understand 80% of what was written in these Taiwanese and Chinese books. (In case you...

I tend to poke about the kitchen a lot more on weekends. Sweet red bean dessert with dried longan and rock sugar Cooking is my therapy. It gets me away from computers and the Internet for two days. Today, I made some red bean dessert for tea. Yes, for tea. We Chinese like our desserts for those in-between meal times. Actually you could drink/slurp this dessert any time of the day. For me, it just so happened that the dessert was ready around 4pm and tea it was. Red beans or adzuki beans are commonly used in Asian food. In Chinese cuisine, red beans are normally eaten in sweet form, but I have eaten it as a soup, a savoury version when my Mom-in-law boiled it as a soup with pork bones. Nic was aghast at the taste but like a dutiful son, he drank up the soup though he did tell me privately that it was rather weird to have a savoury red bean soup. I thought so too. All my life, I've grown up drinking a sweet red bean dessert so savoury red beans do taste odd! Red be...

I got this question today in my email. A reader emailed me to ask for the "wan tan" or "won ton" soup. Please help me with the recipe for the broth (only) for won ton soup. Every Chinese reataurant makes it and has the same taste which I am addicted to. Tried with plain chicken broth and added garlic powder, celery, some soy sauce and green onion, perhaps some white wine and sesame oil but not the same. Can you help? Here's my answer: I've tasted the Malaysian versions of wan tan soup, not the American Chinese restaurant version. So my answer and reply to this reader is based on what I have tasted. I recently watched a TV programme where I learnt how wan tan soup is made. They used "ikan bilis" or dried anchovies as well as dried red dates. I am not sure if they added chicken bones or meat bones but it is OK to do so as this adds to the 'sweetness' of the soup. Please do not be mistaken about 'sweetness'. Sweetness...

I've been schooled to replenish my blood each month after my menses. This is something drilled into me since I was young, about 12 or 13. It also helped that my sisters and I were often fed with soups and tonics since young so making blood tonics isn't something new at all. Wonderful and nourishing Dang Gui tonic for women. Recommended to be taken  often. When I went away to study in university, I rarely had chance to make these nourishing soups for myself. We couldn't cook in our dorm rooms - the hazard of fire was very real. When I moved out of the dorm and into a student house (located out of campus), my dad bought me a Pensonic slow cooker so I could make soups on my own. That was about 15 years ago. That Pensonic slow cooker is still with me and yes, it still works! The slow cooker is rather small and only makes up to 2 bowls of soup. But back then it was sufficient. After all I was only making soups for myself. The best thing about using a slow cooker ...

This is an updated post where I've added more information and photos. Sometimes it's a revelation to know that certain herbs I thought to be Chinese actually has been in use in the Western world for a long time too. Self Heal or Prunella Vulgaris - a great liver tonic! One particular herb called Self Heal or Prunella Vulgaris is just that. I grew up with this herb. Mom used to make Xia Ku Chao tea (a dark tea which looks just like Lo Han Guo tea ) for us when we were little. It helped to cool down the body. And Xia Ku Chao or Self Heal (flower spikes) is cheap and plentiful. With RM1, you could buy a fairly large packet. Just put this dried herb into a pot of water and boil away. Add rock sugar and you can drink it the whole day. For a robust taste, substitute with brown cane sugar. For a pot of 1.5 liter water, I add about 1 to 2 pieces of the brown candy sugar. Brown candy sugar is made from sugar cane juice. Available at all Chinese shops and herbalist...

My friend, Jo, asked me this question about making watercress soup. She says that her watercress soup turned out bitter. When it comes out bitter, it is really a waste of time and money (and appetite too) as no one will touch the soup. UPDATE: Alan Bergo left me an interesting comment about bitter watercress. Please see his comment below this post.  Naturally I have come across this "bitter watercress soup" puzzle once. Yes, even I - I who profess to know my soups. Actually I am still learning. I am curious about soups and so this question by Jo niggled me to no end. Many years ago, I made a pot of watercress soup and strangely, it didn't taste good at all. It had hints of bitterness. I never really got around to investigating why until Jo asked me this question again. Now that I am a lot better at making Chinese soups, I started to think of whom I could ask. Two people come to mind. The woman who sells vegetables at the market. She's a friendly matronl...

I made this soup a few times already and I really like the combination of two types of beans in the soup. Their textures are completely different and that is what makes this soup a true winner. I usually get fresh pinto beans in pods when I go to the market. Peeling them is Nic's job although it isn't really that hard to peel them. They're beige beans speckled with red dots. My vegetable seller tells me these beans are great for soups as they're nourishing. Pinto in Spanish means "painted". A quick search on pinto beans turns up wonderful information. You can find out more about the nutritional profile of these beans here and here . As for black soya beans, I use the dried variety which I get from my sundry goods store in the market. Before you use them, you have to dry fry them in a pan until their black skins crack open to reveal their green insides. Black soya beans contain antioxidants and are deemed high in Vitamin E content. They are also anti...

Was out running a couple of errands this entire afternoon and ended up buying groceries at the nearby supermarket. If I had a choice I wouldn't go into this decade-old supermarket because it's small, cramped and you tend to knock into other shoppers with your trolley (yes, the aisles are that narrow). Nic and I figured that we might as well buy our groceries since we were in this vicinity and he did need some coffee. Finally we ended up with a trolley full of cheese, butter, coffee and noodles. Anyway, I was getting thirsty after all the errands and shopping. We decided to stop and have a drink at this stall which sells Chinese herbal tea. This uncle who mans it is actually a Hong Kong native who has been living in Malaysia for a long time. He drives a little white van which he parks at the corner of a junction and opens up for business. You see, he sells hot and cold Chinese herbal teas of all types - the kind that is slowly boiled and brewed. It's common to see Mal...

Remember how I made my version of Drunken Chicken (and which I was terribly pleased with as it was so easy and so yummy!) two weeks ago? I was inspired to make the dish based on Alvin Quah's recipe which Gary, one of the Masterchef judges, gave the thumbs-up for. Today I am going to share with you Alvin's recipe which he re-created in one episode of Masterchef 2 (Australia). He also shared a cucumber salad which I have made and yes, it is delicious too! And yes, I am going to share both recipes here with you because I realized that the Masterchef Australia website does not (I repeat) does not feature these recipes! Why not? Maybe it is to do with copyright. Maybe the Masterchef brand would be publishing their own recipe book based on the creative recipes of their participants. Oh well. Drunken Chicken by Alvin Quah of Masterchef Australia Season 2 1 liter Shaoxing wine 2 small bottles mirin some palm sugar 500 ml water Put all of the above into a pot. Bring to a...

"Kei Chi" or goji berries or medlar seeds or wolfberry seeds - they refer to the little dried red berries which we Chinese love to use in our soups and dishes because they are packed with nutrition. These berries are given to kids especially by Chinese parents so that their kids will grow up with good vision. In my case,  either I didn't eat enough as a kid or my genes are predisposed to short-sightedness. (Anyway, I had my eyes lasik-ed last year so technology can take care of things for you.) Goji berries help with the Liver and Kidney meridians. That's why they're beneficial for remedying Kidney Qi deficiency which brings about problems like lower back pain, impotence, dizziness and tinnitus. It helps lowers blood pressure, lowers blood sugar levels and lowers blood cholesterol levels besides acting as a liver tonic and nourishing blood. Though they're full of goodness, don't overdo it. All herbs in moderation please. If you are prone to excess ...

Drunken Chicken, Soup Queen's Quick & Easy Version and Absolutely Yummy It's an understatement to say I love the TV series, Masterchef. I'm talking about the Aussie version which I started to get hooked on beginning with the adorable junior chefs in Junior Masterchef. I was bowled over by the kids' passion and knowledge of food. It puts some of us to shame really when you look at the breadth and depth of these kids' wisdom about cooking good food. After that I started watching the Masterchef but I think our Astro here started showing only Masterchef 2. I think I missed a few episodes because I wasn't sure what time the show aired. Astro's programming can get a little weird. But the Australian version of Masterchef, be it the junior or senior/adult versions, are very interesting to watch. Of course, nothing beats the precociousness of the Aussie kids. Anyway, in one of the last few episodes, Alvin Quah (a Malaysian!) despite not being in the...

I've written about kachama or kachangma before. Even included a recipe with photos back in 2008. Kachama chicken is best eaten with dark soya sauce However, back then, I never knew what kachama was called in English. I tried looking high and low and could never find the name. If only I knew, I could google for it. Heck, I only know how it looks like dried and chopped up! Finally one day I chanced upon a herb called Motherwort which was listed as an ingredient in one of my client's products. She confirmed that yes, this herb is quite popular in Sarawak. I don't remember how I counter-checked but in the end, I realized kachama is Motherwort. In Mandarin, it is called Yi Mu Cao. Now this herb is, like its name suggests, benefits the mother! Well, in Sarawak, kachama cooked with chicken is traditionally served as a confinement food to help moms get rid of 'wind' or "angin". This is evident from the plethora of "angin"-busting ingredi...