This is quite like the usual snow fungus dessert, but adding dried apricot gives it a fruity sour taste from the usual red date taste.  Kids will like it chilled.

Ingredients

1. 10 dried appricots
2. 10 red dates
3. 20 grams dried snow fungus or roughly the size of a clenched fist
4. 1 tablespoon north almonds (北杏)
5. 1 tablespoon south almonds (南杏)
6. 10-15 tablespoon sugar (depending on your taste)
7. 2 litres water

Method

1. Soak the snow fungus in water for 3 hours or until fully expanded.
2. Rinse the snow fungus and cut into small pieces and put into a pot with 2l water.
3. Wash red dates and the almonds and put into the pot.
4. Bring to boil and lower flame to simmer for 1 hour. 
5. Add in the dry apricots and simmer for another 1-2 hours.  Adding the apricots earlier together, from the start of cooking in step 3 is ok, except it will be much softer.   (if total cooking time is 2 hours, the snow fungus should be slightly crunchy, 3 hours will be softer).
6. Add sugar to taste.
7. Cool it and chill in fridge for a refreshing desserts.
8. Can be served warm too.

This recipe is given by my TCM doctor, to help soothe my children’s cough.  He said that it can be drank even you do not have cough, it generally nourishes the lungs.  You can use red apple or Chinese pear (not the European pear, see here for photos).  The chuan bei mu (川贝母), North and South Almonds (南杏, 北杏) can be purchased from any Chinese medicine shop, such as 福华，正中平，shops at Hong Lim, (Singapore) and any neighborhood medicine shops.

Ingredients (serve 2 cups)

1. 1 Apple or pear (梨)
2. 1 Chinese tablespoon chuan pei mu (Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae, 川贝母) (about 1/3 liang, or 13 grams)
3. 1 ½ Chinese tablespoon north almonds (北杏)
4. 1 ½ Chinese tablespoon south almonds (南杏)
5. 1 Chinese tablespoon rock sugar
6. 3 bowls water

Method

1. Remove the skin of apple or pear, cut into quarters and remove the core.
2. Wash the almonds.
3. Wash the Chuan Pei, and lightly crush it with stone pestle or anything hard (like the handle of your cleaver).
4. Put all ingredients in pot with water, and bring to boil.
5. Once boiled, lower to small fire and simmer for 1 hour (very low heat to prevent drying up of contents). 
6. Sieve and drink the water. (about 1 ½ bowls left)

Here is a picture of how chuan bei mu (川贝母) looks like

This is a cooling and nourishing for the lungs (in TCM terms - traditional Chinese Medicine) dessert and good to take when you have cough or having green phlegm.  Otherwise, it can also be taken as a dessert for cooling the system anytime.

Ingredients

1. 1 round winter melon ,(not those huge Chinese winter melon, but use those round ones about a size of a volley ball)
2. Water
3. Rock Sugar (as the “rock” size vary, approximate to about 5 tablespoon of sugar combined)

Method

1. Wash the outside of melon.
2. Using a sharp knife, cut off the top end (the end with the stalk) with a nice clean cut, and the piece that was cut out is about 5 cm at the thickest point (center), and it looks like a “cover” of about 10-15 cm diameter.  We need this to cover the melon during steaming.
3. Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds of the melon from the cut end and hence leaving a hollow center in the melon.
4. Put in the rock sugar, and water to fill up the hollow.
5. Cover with the “cover” that was cut out in step 2 so that it is back to a round melon.  Secure with tooth picks.
6. Using a metal bowl as a base to hold the melon upright without spilling its content.
7. Steam the whole melon in medium heat for 1 ½ to 2 hours.
8. When done, open up the “cover” and scoop out the water and using spoon scoop out the flesh (should be very soft now) and serve in a bowl.

This is refreshing & cool when you’re hot!

Ingredients:

1. 1 - 2 cans Lychee
2. 4 - 8 Limes or Lemon
3. Ice cubes

Method:

1. Take a container or punch bowl or whatever.
2. Open the can of lychee & pour all the contents into the bowl.
3. Halves the limes & squeeze the juice out into the bowl. You can either include the lime into the mixture or throw away (after you squeeze the juice out).
4. Add some ice cubes into it & mix thoroughly.
5. Chill until cold.
6. Serve with some more ice cubes.

 

This recipe is for those who like very creamy heavy ice cream (that’s why I used full capital for CREAMY).  I was inspired by home made honey ice cream when I visit Clifford’s Honey Farm in Kangaroo Island (South Australia). It was really thick, creamy and nice, and you will go back for more, in fact I did the following year.  And I wanted to learn how to make it like them.

I have tried this recipe, it turns out the way I wanted it, very creamy ice cream!

Ingredients (about 5 cups)

1. 250 ml full cream milk (I used whipping cream for thicker ice cream)
2. 150-200 ml pure cream (eg Bulla brand, get it in supermarkets)
3. 80 grams caster sugar
4. ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
5. 2 egg yolk

Method

1. In a mixing bowl, whip the egg yolk, sugar and vanilla essence till it turns pale.
2. Pour in the milk and mix until sugar dissolve.
3. In another mixing bowl, whip the pure cream until stiff. Pour in the milk mixture and mix until smooth.
4. Chill the mixture in freezer (do not freeze it)
5. If you have an ice cream maker (simply a freezing bowl with a motorized stirrer that stirs slowly), pour into maker and let it set (it will not be totally harden, but a very thick creamy mixture that you can still scoop). 
6. Scoop into cups and freeze. (knock the cups on the table to expel the air trap in between)
7. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you need to have a steel mixing bowl, and a bigger basin that the mixing bowl can go into and still have lots of space. Put lots of ice cubes (best result with freezer that can reach -18 deg C) into the basin, sprinkle with lots of salt, and put in the steel mixing bowl. Pour in the ice cream mixture and stir slowly till it set.  Avoid doing this step in warm kitchen or windy place esp in Singapore kind of climate.  Air con room is good.