Pumpkin Tang Yuan/Tong Yuen With Dried Persimmon in Cinnamon and Ginger Sweet Soup

Winter may just be getting started, but those looking forward to a bit more daylight have not much longer to wait. This Saturday that is today is the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and it will experience the shortest daytime and longest nighttime. After the Winter Solstice, days will become longer and longer. As ancient Chinese thought, the yang, or muscular, positive things will become stronger and stronger after this day, so it should be celebrated.














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Pennywort/Pegaga Drink - The Secret Fountain of Youth

"A hundred, oh Mothers, are your natures and a thousand are your growths. May you of a hundred powers make whole what has been hurt. Where the herbs are gathered together like a thing is an assembly there the doctor is called a sage, who destroys evil, and averts diseases.” - Hymn to the Plants, Rig Veda X, 97

Mother Nature has so perfectly planned her pharmacy so that it is is within everyone’s access.  It is there to nourish and supply us with abundant energy, as well as nurture us when we have some illness, we need only to become aware of its use for us

Pegaga is a polymorphous, creeping plant, rooting at nodes, with sometimes significant tap root, cylindrical and glabrous stems. Other names of pegaga including Centella asiatica (L.), Hydrocotyle asiatica, gotu kola, Indian pennywort (English), Mandukaparni (India), pegaga (Malaysia), and Ping Da Wan (崩大碗), Di Qien Cao (地錢草), Zhi Xue Cao(积雪草), 雷公根, 蚶殼草, 地堂草, 銅錢草, or 落得打, rau ma (vietnamese)

Read about it's medical benefits from factOdiz bite-sized knowledge

Ingredients


2 handfuls pennywort, with stems pinched off
200ml boiling water
180g sugar or honey to taste







Method:

If using sugar, make a simple syrup by dissolving the sugar in the boiling water the allow to cool completely.

Add all the ingredients to a blender along with 5 or 6 ice cubes and water(as concentrated as you'd like), blend at high speed.

Then using a fine-mesh colander, strain out the leafy sludge. Taste and add syrup/honey or water if necessary.

Serve poured over ice.

Store the remainder in the fridge.

Enjoy!

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Cooling Herbal Tea

Chinese Wisdom..."When you are calm and stable, careful of attention, the celestial design is always clear,open awareness is unobscured;then you have autonomy in action and can deal with whatever arises."The Book of Balance and Harmony.Cleary, T. (trans.), p.3.

However wise we might be, it was inevitable that i will get what the whole family was experiencing - down under the weather. What i learned from my 'Ah Po' was, when we are not well, our body must not be balanced, and out will come the huge pot to make 'herbal tea'. She would ask me to go to Eu Yan Sang, The chinese medicinal shop to get her the concoction she wanted - i would repeat the names of the herbs again and again and strangely enough, everytime, without fail, as i stood in the counter and the guy ask "Ah Mui, yew mat yeh?" - I would just open my mouth and nothing came out - blank, not a word. Then i would be questioned from left to right, what sickness? how many of us were sick? etc, Watching him collect the herbs from the drawers marvelled me as he had never opened a wrong one at all and there were so many drawers that it was unaccountable when i was at that age. Another fantastic feat was seeing him pack those leafy herbs onto a tiny piece of pink 1 foot square paper - he was like a magician at work, fast and efficient - 'nah' he would say and handed me the nicely wrapped pink packet on a string - '20 cents'. A lot has changed since then, no more 20 cents, it must be at least 2.00RM and it comes in plastic bags.

Ingredients:

Pak Chee chao

Har Fui Chao(Zi Cao (Xia Ku Cao Prunella vulgaris)(Gromwell Root or Arnebia or Lithospermum))

Thong Thoong Kua- Candied Melon

Kum Cho - Liquorice

Method:

Wash and soak the herbs, remove the herbs from the water and throw away the water, this way you will not disturbed the sand and grit that have sunk to the bottom.

Put washed herbs and the remaining ingredients in a large pot, fill with enough of water - amount does not matter - the more water you have, the tea will only be more diluted.

Bring to the boil and continue to boil for another 10 - 15 minutes. Strain and take this drink for cooling purposes.

Use the herbs again and reboiled with more water, this consumption will not be as cooling as the first pot, anyway you need a lot of liquid when you are well.

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Young Coconut Delight

HAPPY CHAP GOH MEH - 15 day of the new moon

Lena, my dear friend, told me that there is a new craze in Singapore, where the young coconut juice and flesh are made into a jello and then served cold in the coconut. Wow, what a treat it must be!!!. I made it yesterday and my daughter and I enjoyed a really refreshing dessert. Strangely, i just received an email asking if i have a recipe for 'Kelapa Pudding Ais' which is very popular in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Unfortunately, i have never been there and therefore have no idea what this pudding tasted like. I found the Kelapa Pudding Ais here Eating Asia, there is no recipe and the picture of the pudding looked so creamy.I presumed that coconut milk must have been added to the pudding. I really liked my version of the pudding as the taste was not overpowered by other ingredients, 'gelatin' only was added and it enhanced the texture of the juice, giving the coconut meat a running mate.

Ingredients:

1 young coconut

1 can of coconut drink - pulp removed but you like some crunch, do not remove

1 1/4 oz pkt of gelatin

Method:

Remove the top of the coconut and drain the juice. Leave in the fridge to chill.

Using a spoon, scrape the young coconut meat carefully so as not to scape the dark skin. Set aside.

Bloom/mix the gelatin with 1/4 cup of the coconut drink

Nuke the rest of the coconut drink in the microwave for 1 1/2 minute, then pour in the bloomed gelatin. Stir until gelatin melts.

Add in the young coconut meat and pour into a small tray to set in the fridge.

When the gelatin mixture sets, break it up and mix it with the chilled coconut juice.

Serve it chilled in the coconut shell or in a tall glass.

Enjoy

Serves

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Cinnamon & ginger tea with persimmons (Soojunggwa)

Cinnamon…common, comforting, homey. Who would have thought it could be so good for you? Cinnamon may improve Type 2 Diabetes and Insulin Resistance

Ginger is most commonly known for its effectiveness as a digestive aid. Ginger root is also used to treat nausea related to both motion sickness and morning sickness. Ginger's anti-inflammatory properties help relieve pain and reduce inflammation associated with arthritis, rheumatism and muscle spasms. Ginger's therapeutic properties effectively stimulate circulation of the blood, removing toxins from the body, cleansing the bowels and kidneys, and nourishing the skin

The dried persimmon has the effect of moistening lung and restraining cough, promoting secretion, moistening intestine

With all the good info on these 3 ingredients, how can i not make a pot and be happy that i will cure all my ills and aches with such a simple delicious drink. If only i had pine nuts to top my drink, then my drink in the picture would be more authentic

Ingredients:

10 cinnamon sticks

5-6 pieces ginger

10 cups water, 2 cups sugar

1/4 cup pine nuts

10 dried persimmons (gotgam)

Method:

In a big pot, add water, cinnamon sticks and ginger, let boil for about an hour or two.

Add sugar (depends on your taste, add more or less).

Let cool.

Put in a refrigerator.

Serve with a persimmon inside and some pine nuts on top


Serves

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Sweet and bitter almond with Kat Paeng

There are two forms of the plant, one (often with white flowers) producing sweet almonds, and the other (often with pink flowers) producing bitter almonds. The kernel of the former contains a fixed oil and emulsion. Bitter almond (Pak Hung) should not be confused with "sweet almond." Sweet almond seeds do not contain amygdalin and can be eaten, whereas bitter almonds can be toxic. The poisonous hydrocyanic acid contained in bitter almonds breaks down when heated, so the poison is unlikely to accumulate when used in any cooked dish. It is unwise to eat raw bitter almonds. Serious almond poisoning is rare in adults, but children may die after eating just a few bitter almonds.

China sweet almond (Lum Hung) is tested, it's physical item and chemical essential are same as American almond. Just their appearance shapes are different.

This sweet soup is recommended to relieve a bad cough.

Ingredients:

a handful of sweet almonds (Lum Hung)

10 pieces of bitter almonds (Pak Hung)

1 piece Kat Paeng

1 tiny piece of rock sugar

500 ml water

Method:

Pound the almonds slightly

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring it to the boil.

Lower the heat and simmer until the kat paeng is soft.

Discard the kat paeng and take the drink with the almonds warm.

Serves

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Watermelon Drink and Float

Fresh watermelon may be eaten in a variety of ways and is also often used to flavor summer drinks and smoothies.

Watermelon contains about six percent sugar by weight, the rest being mostly water. As with many other fruits, it is a source of Vitamin C. It is not a significant source of other vitamins and minerals unless one eats several kilograms per day.

Watermelon seeds are rich in fat and protein and are widely eaten as a snack.especially in China, competing with sunflower seeds.

Watermelon rinds are also edible, and sometimes used as a vegetable. In China, they are stir- fried, stewed, or more often pickled. When stir-fried or pickled, the skin and fruit has to be removed using. Look out for the Watermelon Pickle recipe tomorrow.

Ingredients:

Watermelon flesh (preferably seedless watermelon)

Ice Cubes

Vanilla Ice cream for float

a squeeze of fresh lime

Method:

Blend ice cubes with watermelon flesh.

Add in a squeeze of fresh lime into the watermelon drink.

For Watermelon Float, top drink with a scoop or two of ice cream.

Enjoy

Serves

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