Dinner Talk 24 April 2010

I had a good and delicious dinner of the 'Hakka Lui Cha' cooked up by my mum and sis this evening. The Hakka Lui Cha is the perfect all in one dish with greens (choi sam, sweet basil or chinese basil, chinese parsley, long beans, salad greens) - all diced up with nuts, sesame, toufu and diced meat. The star of this dish is, of course, the blend of good Chinese tea (usually Oolong or Pu Erh), sesame, peanuts and herbs/greens that is pounded in the old days, but blended these days into a paste and made into tea soup. A rice bowl piled with the mixes of diced greens, nuts, toufu and meat is then served with hot tea soup poured into the bowl. For the vegetarian, it is perfectly fine to omit the meat.

Full of goodness of vitamins and proteins - a well balanced meal in one bowl!

As usual, during dinner mum was sharing on what has gone into the dish, bla, bla, bla.... and somehow launched into a variety of topics involving, what else, but FOOD! :)

Mental notes taken tonight include how to make yummy and believable 'meat' soup that is vegetarian (mock meat soup)! This involved using carrot, radishes, chinese turnips, corn and taugeh! All very healthy and nutritious ingredients in their own rights.
For chicken 'taste-alike' soup - boil carrot, turnip and taugeh together.
For beef 'taste-alike' soup - boil carrot, radishes and turnip.
Cool right? :)

Dinner was capped with dessert of taiwanese watermelon and sun melon, courtesy of W & D. So that puts more vitamins C into an already nutritious dinner!

While packing and storing the watermelon skins (see my piece on watermelon) my mum recollected how the watermelon skin (the tough green exterior plus the white soft parts) can be boiled with corn on hobs (corn still wrapped in its green-leaves exterior and including the cornsilk within) into a healing drink for diabetics. Apparently those with mild diabetic conditions have found cure by taking this simple concoction daily for a period of time.

After that last note, I thought I should quickly blog them while they are still fresh in my mind. So here it is dear friends. Have a good night!

Err...for no particular reasons, I am thinking of chocolate and carrot cakes right now! Or perhaps time to munch on that chocolate bar in the fridge ... decisions, decisions...!

Soothes with Pears

Am in a mood for sharing tonight. So here goes my third entry for the day.

Ever found yourself preparing a nice Chinese dinner for the family or grilling that herbs marinated chicken for a candle light dinner for two, and yet you run out of ideas for a simple and yet great dessert?

Search no more. I have two suggestions! One, refer to my watermelon piece. Or, two, do something with pears.
This is a very versatile recipe, you can either double boil, slowcook it, or simmer in a pot.

Ingredients:
1. Pears. One pear serves two, split in half. Core or remove seeds. My favourite is to use Bosc Pears (the brown and slightly thick skinned pears). Or any other pears of your choice. However, Bosc  pears when cooked has  a beautiful aroma that is yummy in itself.
2. Winter melon sugar or rock sugar, or both. Sweetness to taste. I find that a medium sized piece of rock sugar (about 3" in diameter) and some 6 to 8 pieces of wintermelon sugar cooked in three bowls of water is just nice for my sweet bud.
3. a small pinch of tea leaves - you can use any good Chinese tea leaves, be it Oolong orTit Kuan Yin, and even Earl Grey.

Let's look at simmering this in a pot. Melt the rock sugar in a pot of water enough for two if you are cooking two half-pears. Stir in the winter melon sugar.  Put in a small pinch of the tea leaves of your choice. Let this cook for a while or until the rock sugar is melted.

Add the half-pears into the sugar and tea water. Add another smaller pinch of tea leaves on top of the pears. Simmer at low for at least 45 mins.

You can serve this hot or cold. For a cold serving, simply remove from the fire and let it cool, before putting it   into the fridge. But my preference is to serve warm. As with any food of medicinal/healing values, serving it warm is the best.

For double-boiling or slow-cooking, simple put in hot water and all the ingredients together. Cook for 1 and half to two hours if double boiling it. Whilst you can leave it longer if you choose to slow cook it. My favourite is to have it slowly cooked in a slow cooker for half a day, whilst I go about preparing the other dishes. Or take a nap.

You may alternatively add about half a dozen pieces of dried longan for the extra sweetness and taste. But i prefer it plain.

The pears cooked this way contributes yin energy, enhance complexion and regulate sputum in our body. This helps in dry and hot weather like now to move the phlegm from the lungs. Longans, if you use them, is tonic for the spleen and heart.

I have had this in a restaurant too, at a pretty expensive price per bowl. So I know this must be good stuff! Hehehe!

Well, enjoy and stay healthy.

wonder watermelon

Back to foodstuffs tonight. Don't you just wanna sink your teeth into this juciy thing?! Especially on a hot day like today!

This pink or sometimes yellow fleshed fruit is simply marvelous. It, not only, gives us the sweet juicy thirst-quencher of a fruit, but it also has many great uses.

The fruit is fully consumed in my family, not even the peel with its whitish juicy parts nor the seeds are wasted.

My mum make delicious 'leong sui' (cooling soup) by cutting out the whitish juicy parts and boiling them with wintermelon sugar. Sometimes with the green peel/skin too. Try it - it's really yummy. My old and wise neighbourhood aunty poh-poh (grandma) would dry the skin together with it's whitish flesh and pulverised them into powder that is great for relief of sore throats and mouth ulcers.

Other uses?

*To counteract summer heat, reduces fever in the body and promotes urination:
 - eat the fruit!

*Clear lungs, lubricate intestines, quench thirts and aid digestion:
- eat the seeds! Chew them instead of spitting them all over.

*Treat diarrhea, dysentery, hypertension, toothaches:
- boil the roots and leaves for soup!

*Cure edema in the heart and kidney diseases:
- boil 60gm of fresh watermelon peel, or 30g of dried peel, in water and drink like tea!

*Quench thirst, and to cure cloudy urine in diabetics:
- boil 30gm of watermelon peel and wax gourd peel. Take as tea.

*Why is it so effective in combating heaty issues?
- watermelon induce heat in the pericardium (the membranous sac that covers the heart and the roots of major blood vessels) to travel to the stomach and small intestine, then to the bladder where the heat is excreted/expelled!

Oh, we forgot the seeds. Removed hygienically from the flesh with knife and spoon, rinse and dry, then toast it! It is kuachi! Without the chemical additives nor salt! Personally, I just like to chew on them with the flesh... a bit of crunch and a little nutty in flavour - yum!


* source: The Art of Long Life - Chinese Foods for Longevity by Henry C. Lu.

Gingerly does it .....

As I was sharing with a friend recently of this ginger remedy for an upset tummy with a bit of runs, I reminded myself to put it down here too. So here it is. A simple and fast enough remedy with ginger as the main star.

On those nights or days when you find that whatever food we have eaten does not seem to agree with us, and is giving you some mild runs, as well as doubling you over in aches, try this:

1. Ginger - a generous portion of perhaps 2 inch by 2 inch or 3 by 3 of  old ginger root that has been cleansed.

2. Next pound it in a mortar.

3. Squeeze the juice out into a glass

4. mix in a table spoon of honey and a squeeze of lemon juice.

5. Top up with a little water.

Now it is ready to be drank. From my experience, I get an almost immediate warmth of comfort radiating in my tummy. Followed by the tummy churning lesser and lesser. 

I would of course advice everyone, as usual, to go see a doctor as the safest way to ensure you have not picked up more than what your tummy can hold in. I would also remind you that one should ensure proper hygiene in the preparation of such juice. Wash and scrub ginger, peel of skin if necessary, and run it through clean distilled water or hot water. Similarly utensils such as mortar used should be cleanse too with hot water before use.

Alternatively, the ginger root, lemon juice and honey can be quickly blended in a food processor too.

Ginger has been used in Chinese cooking for many purposes. 

- It masks bad odour of meat and fish (ginger juice can be used to tenderise meat and remove meat odour too, in preparation of cooking)

- improve flavour with its aroma, and as well as 

- being an indicator of poisonous factors in food. It turns black if poison is present. A common use of ginger is in cooking mushrooms - to ensure the fresh mushroom picked from forest ground is not poisonous. Imperial cooks for in China purportedly use either ginger or a silver needles to test for poison in the food before serving them to the Emperors in ancient days.

Ginger is considered a yang food that helps to stimulate the intestinal tract and promote digestion. The chinese also use boiled ginger water to induce perspiration which is considered good to fight and elevate the symptoms of the common cold and fever. Ginger cooked with chicken and Chinese wine is a staple for mothers in confinement after giving birth.

The humble ginger contains little amount of protein, carbohydrate, fibre, vitamins B1, B2, C and other trace elements needed by our body.