The Six Combination Dessert 六味糖水

One thing that I don't like about Chinese New Year season is the weather. I can't stand of the heat from the hot burning sun. Furthermore, we take quite a lot of heaty food and nip on those oily snacks. Recently, the hot weather and work pressure drive me crazy. I told myself I have to really take care of my health. At least, I have to cook some nice food to cool me down. So, this is what I thought of - the six combination dessert.

The ingredients of six combination. From the clockwise - Solomon's Seal 玉竹, lotus seeds 莲子, Fox nuts 芡实, Lily bulbs 百合, Wai San 淮山, and the centre is dried longan 龙眼肉. You can get a pack of this ingredients at any Chinese medicine shop or in any supermarkets. It cost you about RM3. Usually people use this for salty herbal soup, but not all of us know the six combination ingredients are suitable for dessert. I learn this from my mom. :)

Ok, let us get to know about the benefits from all the six ingredients.

Solomon's Seal 玉竹 is used to nourish yin, to moisten dryness of lung, to remove stomach dry heat, to ease cough, dry throat, thirst and constipation.

Lotus seed 莲子 is used to tonify kidneys and to nourish heart. It is believed in Chinese medicine to "clear heat" and be particularly nutritious and restorative to one's health.

Fox nut 芡实 is believed to strengthen kidney, and to strengthen the spleen to relieve diarrhea; regulate blood pressure; relieve numbness and aching near waist and knees. It is suitable for arthritis; impotence; and premature aging.

Lily bulb 百合 assists to moist lung, and to clear heat. So, it is effective to ease cough and sore throat.

Wai San 淮山 is good for stomach. Besides, it is a good ingredients for weight loss diet.

Dried longan 龙眼肉 helps to improve blood circulation, improve heart efficiency and reduce stress and tension.

So, overall, this six combination dessert is a kind of soothing soup. The methods are very simple.

The Six Combination Dessert
Serves 2

Ingredients:

A pack od six combination soup ingredients

900ml of water

Some rock sugar

2 Omega 3 hard boiled eggs

Instructions:

1. Wash and drain the ingredients.

2. Bring water to a boil and pour into slow cooker.

3. Add in the ingredients and cook under high heat for 3 hours.

4. Add some rock sugar to taste, and let it simmer under auto mode for another 1 hour.

5. Serve hot with hard boiled egg.

Hubby and I really enjoyed our bowl of dessert while watching movie at home. The hard boiled egg really enhance the flavor. Also, I spend my time biting those ingredients. What can I say? It's yummy and healthy. :)

Seafood Tom Yam

One of the dishes that my mom cooks every Chinese New Year is seafood tom yam. Chinese must have big fish and big prawn for the Chinese New Year celebration. 大鱼大虾少不了！The pronunciation of fish (魚) is a homophone for "surpluses"(餘).

Mom rang me up this morning. She told me that she cooked tom yam for today's lunch. Ha, see I got free lunch again. That's the benefits I gain for staying near to my parent's house. :D

Ok, back to the topic on the seafood tom yam. Ingredients for the seafood tom yam includes big prawns, pomfrets, squids, enokitake, fishballs and tomatoes. Spices consists of tom yam paste, kaffir leaves, lime juice, lemon grass, bird's eye chilis and mint leaves. I like it to be as sour as possible, and the hotter it is, the better. :)

Tom yam is originated from Thailand. Does it sound weird to have tom yam as our Chinese New Year dish?

Happy Chinese New Year!

We would like to wish all of you a happy stomach-filling chinese new year :P



Just try not to over-eat, ok? ^ ^

Light & Easy Noodles Soup

Light & easy noodle soup......I cooked it and I named it. :P Nothing is wrong, right?

When I'm lazy and not feel like messing up my kitchen, I'll cook this. What is so special about this noodle? Take a look at the photo. Can you see the meat balls? Well, this is not the common meat balls. It's my home made pork & shrimp balls. Aha...that's the thing enhance the soup base and the overall taste. There's secret how to make "QQ" mouth feel of meat & shrimp balls. I got thumbs up from hubby on this dish. :D

To add the "Omph", serve this with bird's eye chili. It's superb!

Light & Easy Noodles Soup
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 pcs of organic noodle
some choy sam flowers
some fish balls
1 cube of Maggie Chicken Stock
1 tbsp of garlic oil
120gms minced pork
100gms minced shrimp
dash of pepper
light soy sauce to taste
water

Methods:

1. First, prepare the pork & prawn balls. Mix the minced pork and minced shrimp in a bowl. Add a dash of pepper and a tea spoon of light soy sauce and mix well.

Tips: In order to make tendor meat & shrimp balls, I apply "carry & hit" method. I think many of you know about this tips too. Pour the pork & prawn misture on the chopper board. Then hold the misture up with a knife and it on the chopper board. Do this for at least 20 times.

2. Make the pork & prawn misture into oval shape of prawn balls and arrange on a plate.

3. Bring water to a boil in a pot. Cook the noodle and serve in bowls.

4. Bring 800ml of water to a boil. Add in chicken stock and leave it to simmer for 2 minutes.

5. Add in the pork and prawn balls to the soup. This follow by the fish balls and veggie.

6. Add in garlic oil, and pour in the noodle to mix well.

Home Made Crepe

My mom used to make crepe for our breakfast. Crepe is very easy to make, and you just need a little bit of oil or oil free if you owned a reliable non-stick pan. The difference is that if you fry in lightly oiled heated pan, you'll get crepe which is lighter in color. While if the non stick pan is oil free, the type of pan cake you get will be like the one I shown in the photo above.

I didn't jot down the actual measurement of ingredients I used for the home made pan cake. I had eggs, wheat flour and brown sugar mixed well with a pinch of salt and adequate amount of water in a big bowl. Then scoop and pour onto a non-stick pan. It'll take just 1 or 2 minutes to pan fry both side. Continue this step until you finish up the batter.

It can be served on its own or with some fresh fruits added as filling. It is a simple and yummy breakfast.