Sea Coconut with White Fungus Dessert

This is very much like the papaya dessert I've prepared here and here. But this time round, instead of using papaya, I replaced it with fresh sea coconut.  It is believed that sea coconut eliminates phlegm and relieves cough.

Fresh sea coconut from local supermarket.

After removing the endocarp (light brown skin), this is how it looks like.

This dessert may be served hot or cold but my kids prefer it cold.

Sea Coconut with White Fungus Dessert

Ingredients

1.5 litres water
10 fresh sea coconuts
20 - 30g white fungus
1/2 - 3/4 cup dried longans
20 - 25 red dates (I used pitted ones)
rock sugar to taste

Method

1. Wash and soak white fungus till soft. Remove the stalk and separate into petals.
2. Wash and remove the endocarp (light brown skin) off the sea coconut and sliced.
3. Bring water to a boil.  Add sea coconut and cook for about 15 minutes.
4. Add white fungus and red dates, bring to boil again.  Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Add dried longans and rock sugar to taste.  Cook till rock sugar dissolves.
6. Serve hot or cold.

Chayote and Fresh Chinese Yam Soup

Just a quick update on soup using chayote and chinese yam.

I have only 1 large chayote so I just make do with it but reduced water accordingly, else the soup will be too bland.  This is a milky soup as chinese yam is used, supposingly to relieve cough and colds.

Another mild sweet soup, we like it.

Chayote and Fresh Chinese Yam Soup
Ingredients
300g pork ribs/lean meat
1 - 2 chayotes (佛手瓜 fo shou gua /合掌瓜 hup jeung gwa)
1 fresh chinese yam (淮山 huai shan /山药 shan yao)
1200ml water
Salt to taste

Method

1. Wash and cut chayotes and chinese yam into cubes.
2. Blanch pork ribs/lean meat.
3. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients in a pot. Using medium fire, bring water to boil again and cook for 30 minutes, reduce to small flame and simmer for 2 hours.
4. Add salt to taste before serving.

Zhi Ke Tang 止咳汤

I'm writing this with a heavy heart.  I received a phone call from DC last night informing me that YL just passed away.  We are expecting her demise since her cancer cells kept coming back after her chemo sessions and operations, but not so soon.  I'm worried for her 6 year old daughter, what is going to happen to her?  At such a young age, can she handle it?  It is going to be very tough on her.

I cannot imagine myself leaving my kids behind.  But no one knows when one will have to leave, I always believe that it is all predestinated, when the time comes, if you have to go, you just have to go.  And this is one of the reasons why I started this blog, I want my loved ones to remember me by (and also to have a record of what food I've prepared for them) if I were to disappear for no apparent reasons.

Anyway, back to what I've been cooking.  I found out about this Zhi Ke Tang (止咳汤) in a forum, highly recommended by a few forumers.  They claimed that this drink is good for cough with phlegm.  They bought the prepacked so was unable to advice on how much ingredients to use.  Since I've got all the ingredients at home, I decided to concoct my own.

It is believed that this soup/drink relieves cough and strengthens function of the respiratory system.

After cooking this several times, I finally bought a pack from the local supermarket to try it out, just to see if they tasted the same.

The store-bought pack uses less water, only 600ml but since I'm not cooking it for cough and phlegm (more for nourishing the lungs), I added more water.  It taste mildly sweet and my children prefer my homemade version.

Zhi Ke Tang 止咳汤

(serve 3-4)

Ingredients
10g Fritillaria, crushed (川贝母)
20g Apricot kernels/chinese almonds (南北杏)
1 - 2 dried orange/kat paeng (桔饼)
30g Dried Figs (无花果)
4g Liquorice Root (干草)
1.5 litre water

Method

1. Rinse all ingredients.
2. Put all ingredients in a pot with 1.5 litres of water.  Bring to boil and simmer for 1 - 2 hours.

And thanks to all the well-wishes posted in my blog, emails, sms, msn and skype.  I managed to trim off my broken nail and life is back to normal now.

 I thought this was cute, looks like I've lost my two front teeth.

Apple Drink

Sister E cooks this for her family very often.  She usually cooks a big pot and they drink it as drinking water.

This is very similar to what I've cooked before, the savoury version (but still sweet), minus the meat.

DD3 kept pointing to the pot and said something I couldn't understand.  After some serious conversation, I finally understood what she said.  She had wanted me to take a picture of her pointing at the pot. 

I cooked this with lesser water as I wanted it to be consumed as a soup instead of a drink.

Apple Drink

Ingredients

2 red delicious/gala apples (don't use China Fuji apples)
2 green apples

30g apricot kernels/chinese almonds (南北杏) *

8 - 10 dried figs (无花果)
1.5 litre water

* I bought the premix pack, if you are mixing on your own, use 2 南杏 : 1 北杏

  

Method

1. Core apples, cut into wedges.
2. Rinse chinese almonds and dried figs.
3. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients. Using medium fire, bring water to boil again, reduce to small flame and simmer for 2 hours. Serve.

Watercress with Luo Han Guo Soup

School holidays is here and I've got 3 kids at home 24/7.  To make things worse, DH is away in Malaysia for a week's business trip.  Sister C was really nice to offer a sleepover for my children so I only need to handle DD3 alone.  But DS2 developed a fever for no reason during his stay and I had to rush to pick him up, only at this point in time, I appreciate DH's absence as I can use the car.  We spent 2 days at Pasir Ris Park and the kids had a great time at the playground. Anyway, that about sums it up what I've been busy with the past 1 week.

I cooked a yucky looking but has a bittersweet and tangy aftertaste soup - Watercress with Luo Han Guo (罗汉果) from Irene's blog.

“ The dried fruit may be bought in a market. The surface of the fruit is round and smooth, it has a yellow-brownish or green-brownish colour, and is covered by fine hairs. The fruit has a hard but thin shell. Inside, one finds a partially dried, soft substance which contains the juice and a large quantity of seeds. All components are very sweet. Their nature is cool and not toxic. The fruit can act as a remedy for heat stroke, wet the lungs, remove phlegm, stop cough and aid defecation. ”— Dai Yin-Fang, Liu Cheng-Jun, Fruits As Medicine: A Safe and Cheap Form of Traditional Chinese Food Therapy

Watercress Luo Han Guo Soup
Ingredients
400 - 500g watercress
1 Siraitia grosvenorii (羅漢果, 罗汉果, Luo Han Guo), smash the outer shell and use the inner parts
2 candied dates蜜枣
250g pork ribs/lean meat
2 - 2.5 litres water

Method

1. Wash watercress and separate out stalk and leaves.
2. Blanch pork ribs/lean meat.
3. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients except watercress leaves in a pot.
4. Using medium fire, bring water to boil again, reduce to small flame and simmer for 2 hours.
5. Remove stalks from pot and add in leaves, continue to cook for another 1 hour.

Water Chestnut Soup

Another cough remedy recipe I adapted from Irene's blog.  The soup is mildly sweet and the kids love it :-)

Water Chestnut Soup
Ingredients
500g pork ribs
2 - 2.5 litres water
10 - 12 water chestnuts (马蹄)
8 - 10 red dates (红枣)
1 big or 2 medium carrots
Salt to taste (optional)

Method

1. Brush water chestnuts to remove all soil.  Remove the skin/shell by cutting off the top and bottom, then cut around the sides to remove all the skin.  Soak in a bowl of water and set aside.
2. Remove skin of carrots and cut into smaller pieces.
3. Rinse red dates and soak in water for 5 - 10 mins or till soft.
4. Blanch ribs/lean meat.
5. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients in a pot. Using medium fire, bring water to boil again and cook for 10 - 15 minutes, reduce to small flame and simmer for 2 hours.
6. Add salt to taste (optional) before serve.

Double Boil Pear with Fritillaria II

Following my cough remedies here and here, I got the last recipe from IC.

Instead of removing the core, I cut them into quarters.

After 1 hour of simmering, my pears were still white. I should have cooked it longer, probably for another hour.

Double Boil Pear with Fritillaria II

(Recipe adapted from U-Weekly magazine, translated by IC)

Ingredients (serves 2-4)

2 Ya Pears 鸭梨

3g Fritillaria, crushed 川贝母 (original recipe: appropriate amount)

40g rock sugar (original recipe: 150g)

400ml water

4pcs dried longan (original recipe: 5g)

Method

1. Peel & de-core pears.
2. Put all ingredients into a porcelain pot (I used my AMC pots).
3. Place pot into larger pot with water and let mixture simmer for abt 1hr.
4. This dish can be serve either hot or cold. If serving hot, it is good for throat.

Apple soup

This is cough remedy #2.


I used to adapt Sister E "recipe" for apple "soup", basically it's just green apples, chinese almonds and candied dates. But I googled and found out that dried figs are good for cough too so I decided to cook it the savoury way ie to add in some meat.


It is essential for me to cook a big portion and freeze, economies of scale and minimise cooking. But of course, you can always half this recipe easily.


Apple Soup
(serves 6 - 7)

Ingredients
5 - 6 red delicious/gala apples (don't use China Fuji apples)
500g ribs/lean meat (blanched)
30g apricot kernels/chinese almonds (南北杏) *
4 honey dates (蜜枣)
70g - 80g dried figs (无花果) #
2000 ml water
Salt to taste (I did not add this as the soup is naturally sweetened)

* I bought the premix pack, if you are mixing on your own, use 2 南杏 : 1 北杏
# I use a combination of both US and Chinese dried figs

Method

1. Peel and core apples, cut into wedges.
2. Rinse chinese almonds, candied dates and dried figs.
3. Blanch ribs/lean meat.
4. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients. Using medium fire, bring water to boil again, reduce to small flame and simmer for 2 hours. Serve warm.

Double Boil Pear with Fritillaria

Of late, it seems that I've been cooking/baking more that I could blog. I always wonder, how do other bloggers keep up with their blog or are they facing the same problem as me?

For my next few entries, it will be on some TCM cough remedies which I've prepared for my children last week.

Despite being on antibiotics, the 2 younger ones were still coughing away and they're moving into week 4 now. We have seen the doctor twice and I was resistant to bring them for another visit. IC has many soup recipes so I asked if she had one for cough. The next day, she emailed me a few recipes and I shortlisted the easiest one to try out.


When I went to one of our local chinese medical store, I was advised not to give fritillaria to a young toddler. Instead, he recommended another product which I kindly decline. I visited a 2nd store and was given the green light to go ahead. With 2 different messages, I was in a dilemma if I should go ahead with this recipe. Nevertheless, I bought the fritillaria (better quality ones) thinking I could still give my 2 elder children.

This recipe originally calls for 1 large pear but I cooked 3 small ones instead. With the uncertainty of fritillaria's usage for my 20 months old toddler, I used 1 recipe for 3 pears instead. Of course, the effectiveness will be compromised but I just couldn't think of a reason not to make this.

No water needed for this recipe and despite reducing sugar, it was way too sweet. I cut a small chuck for DD3 and she grimaced at first bite. Sigh... With the pathetic "soup" base, I added some warm water to dilute the sweetness and offered her a drink. Again, she spitted it out and wouldn't go for a 2nd sip. Instead, the 2 older ones enjoyed themselves and kept asking for more.

Double Boil Pear with Fritillaria (川贝蜜梨)
(Original recipe in Chinese, thanks to IC for the translation)

Ingredients
3 Ya Pears (鸭梨)
3g Fritillaria, crushed (川贝母)
10g rock sugar

Method

1. Wash Ya Pear and measuring 3cm from the top, make a horizontal cut into half.
2. Dig a small hole in the centre of the bottom half of the pear and decore.
3. Place rock sugar and crushed fritillaria into the hole.
4. Cover with the top half of the pear and seal with toothpick around.
5. Double boil for 2 hrs and serve warm.

* 有清热解毒、润肺润喉、消痰止咳的功效。
Effect of clearing internal heat, detoxify, moist lunch/throat, subside phlegm & suppress cough.

* 适用于声音嘶哑，干咳无痰、或常需说话或唱歌者、或吃过多燥热食物以至咽喉干燥者
Suitable in use for:
1) hoarse voice
2) dry cough without phlegm
3) frequent speaker or singer
4) eating too much heaty food which caused dry throat