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Homemade Sweet Green (Mung) Bean Soup – 绿豆沙

Home Made Lu Dou Sha – Chinese Dessert

I was thinking about a refreshing dessert that is simple to make and refreshing would be the Chinese Mung Bean Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried green bean
1/4 cup rock sugar
4 cup of water

First thing you have to do is clean and soak the green beans. Keep in mind that the green beans swells up and doubles in size after soaking.

Once you finished soaking the beans – I did mine overnight, but a good rule is to soak at least 4 hours.

Boil the soaked green beans with rock sugar in water. Once the water boils, turn down the heat to a simmer. The green beans will become soft and swell up.

Once the beans started swelling up, basically you’re boiling out the water to the consistency that you like the dessert to be.

We like our dessert to be more on the thicker side, but I must admit – I’ve over done it on mine! I didn’t feel like adding more water to it since the sweetness was perfect, and it wasn’t bad having it thicker either!

This is a dessert where you can enjoy it hot or cold, and it tastes great both ways as well! I found once chilled, it becomes a little bit thicker as well, and less sweet. It’s a refreshing dessert!

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Homemade Dou Fu Hua – 豆腐花

Home Made Dau Fu Fa with Gelatin – Soybean Pudding

This chilled dessert isn’t the traditional style, but this recipe is simple and is great for serving it cold with a simple ginger syrup.

Ingredients:
3 cups Unsweetened Soy Milk
1 package (1 tbsp) Gelatin
1/4 cup water

This simple recipe takes no time to make, but takes a lot of time to set. First, you boil the soy milk slowly as soy milk boils over really quickly. You do not need it at a full boil either to prevent the soy film.

Once the soy milk boils, prepare the gelatin mixture by dissolving the gelatin with the water. Mix thoroughly and then pour it into the soy milk.

I like to have my dou fu hua in little individual bowl, so I pour the solution into little bowls and place into the fridge for it to set for at least a few hours.

In the mean time while the bowls are setting up in the fridge, I like to make the ginger syrup so I can refrigerate the solution as well.

If you want, you can make this dessert the “traditional” way which can be served hot or cold! Here’s the Dau Fu Fa recipe!

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Homemade Dun Daan Recipe – 燉蛋

Steamed Egg Custard Sweet Dessert

I really enjoy simple Chinese desserts, and Dun Dan is one of those desserts that is simple and really delicious. I learned this recipe from my aunt and have always kept it in my recipe box. I’ve recently dug it out and now I’ll share this delicious wonder!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of milk
1 egg
2-3 tablespoons of sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

First, dissolve the sugar in the milk by whisking it together. You don’t need to heat up the milk or anything as it will dissolve over time.

Then, beat the egg until smooth and frothy – then which together with the milk mixture and add your vanilla extract. If you like a touch of ginger taste, this is when you’ll add some ginger juice.

When the mixture is smooth and mixed, get a strainer and strain the mixture into a steamable bowl (heat-safe bowl) such as a ramekin.

Place some saran wrap or tin foil over the bowl before placing this into the steamer – that way, it ensures no liquid will get into the bowl for a smooth custard. Steam the bowl for around 7 minutes. To test if it’s done, take some chopstick and tap the side of the bowl. If it jiggles like jelly – it’s ready. If it moves more like a liquid, then it hasn’t set.

You can either enjoy this delicious dessert hot from the steamer or let it cool down then chill it for a more refreshing dessert. It tastes wonderful both ways! We like to make 2 and enjoy one fresh and hot, and we eat the other one at a later time cold.

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Homemade Chinese Nian Gao – 年糕

Sweet Sticky Rice Cake – Neen Gow

It’s that that time of year when we’re in our kitchens cooking up a storm and sharing goodies with family and friends. One goodie you’ll always see is the Nian Gao which is a very simple recipe that is very sticky with a hint of sweetness.

Ingredients (makes 1 – 8″ pan)
2 cups of Glutenous Rice Flour
300 mL boiling water
1 cup brown sugar or 5 sticks of peen tong (片糖)

Note: You can add more sugar if you like it sweeter – we like it much more subtle tasting!

Peen tong is basically Chinese Rock Sugar or Chinese Rock Candy and it comes in a pack of “slabs of sugar”. If you don’t want to purchase/use it, or simply can’t find it, a great substitution would be to use brown sugar – which is what I did as it was sold out when I wanted to get it!

First off, boil some water and dissolve the sugar into it. When it becomes a syrup, you’re ready to start making your nian gao! Measure out the glutenous rice flour and pour in your syrup. Caution, this is a boiling water mixture, but make sure it’s hot!!

Mix together until it’s smooth and creamy and pour it into the dish you’d like to steam your nian gao in before it gets cold.

Once the nian gao is ready in it’s dish, put it into the steamer for about 1 hour to an hour and a half. You’ll know it’s ready when you can move the edges and it’s set. If you stick anything into this cake, it’ll stick so the toothpick test is not a good idea in this case.

If you’re enjoying it right away, be sure to allow it to cool and set for at least 15 minutes. It will be really soft and gooey and very sticky at this point – but it’s always nice to eat freshly steamed food. If you like it properly made, once it’s cooled enough, pop it in the fridge for at least 3 hours where you can cut it up and serve.

One of the ways we like to eat nian gao is to pan fry it with an egg. So, we cut the nian gao into pieces and dunk it into a beaten egg before placing it on a fry pan with some oil. It’s very important to do this on low temperatures or the nian gao will melt and stick to your pan. You’ll know these are ready when it’s “soft and gummy”.

Things I’ve heard about nian gao, but I’ve never tried it – I guess you can bake your nian gao instead of steaming it, and you’ll get a crunchier topping and more cake-like. It does however use another recipe but I don’t know it and haven’t tried it yet. But, I’m thinking I should one day! I’ve also heard that nian gao’s are extremely freezable, and when you want to enjoy it again, just steam it back up! It could be handy if you’ve received one too many for New Years!

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Home Made Palmier

I’ve made Palmier‘s twice now from my kitchen, and I had no idea my husband liked this treat until he ordered one at a cafe. To surprise him, I made some at home and he was really happy! It takes no effort at all to make them and no recipe either really!

I use the following ingredients and then just produce them:
Half a sheet of Puff Pastry (thawed)
2 or 3 teaspoons of Granulated Sugar

I then sprinkle some sugar on my work surface, and roll out my puff pastry on top of the sugar – so sugar gets into the the pastry.

Home Made Palmier - Rolling Puff Pastry

When I’ve made it to the dimensions I like, I sprinkle more sugar on top, and I fold in by quarters until they meet in the middle. I then slice them about 1cm thick as my palmiers are smaller than the usual (since I only use half a sheet).

Home Made Palmier - Cutting

I baked them until it’s golden brown on the back, and flip them. It normally takes around 5 to 7 minutes per side in a 400F oven. I let them sit a little bit out of the oven for it to set up and enjoy with tea! 🙂

Palmier

The next time I make this, I think I’m going to make Cinnamon Sugar Palmier as I read about that a few days ago and thought it was an excellent ideal! 🙂