Chinese Cooling Teas

 

I was having a bad sore throat and cold two weeks ago.  I might get it because of the heaty mooncakes I had been eating or the fried food my hubby brought back, I had no idea.  So, I went to the Asian market here in search of my cooling teas to cool my body and be rid of this cold and cough.  This is not a paid post, I just took this picture to share with my girlfriend here who could not read Mandarin.  I remembered she asked me once on what to buy last year when she was sick.  So, I took this picture since I am having these at home now and show her so that she would know what to buy next time.  Each bag has 16 packets and in each packet is a granules form of ingredient in which you just mix it with hot water to dissolve, almost instantly.  It doesn't taste very pleasant at first, but once you got used to it, you should be fine.  I am loving this teas now.  One is heat-resolving granules and the other one is 24 flavors herbal cooling tea.  Great for traveling too!

Herdez Salsa Macaroni with Shrimps

My girls didn't want to eat the porridge so I made this pasta dish for them.  It just so happen that I had a bottle of salsa in the pantry that I needed to use.  So, I created this easy macaroni and shrimps pasta with it.  None of them complaint that it was spicy so I guess it was not spicy to them, as it only listed as mild.  However, my picky eater Evy won't eat the tomatoes.  She is a strange little girl, as she will eat the blended pasta tomato sauce but not if she can see the tomato.  So, she only ate the macaroni and shrimps and picked out all the tomatoes and set it aside on her plate.

It is really hard as tomato is good for her.  I think she got influence by her daddy as he would not eat tomatoes too.  Because of this, I don't buy tomatoes.  Guess I will have to cook more spaghetti with tomato based pasta sauce as this is the only time she would eat it with no complaint. 

I'm sharing this noodle with Presto Pasta Nights, an event created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast.  This week host is Valli of More Than Burnt Toast. Check out her delicious round up on Sept, 24th!

Happy Mid-Autumn/ Lantern Festival!

 

Chinese around the world celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the 8 months on their lunar calender.  This day falls differently on the Western calender and this year 2010, it falls on September 22nd, Wednesday.  This day is a day of family reunion and family gathering around to enjoy a delicious spread of food and mooncakes.  Chinese believe that on this day, the moon is the roundest and brightest which signify completeness and abundance.  So, after a delicious meal, the adult would sit outside to enjoy the full moon while sipping tea and eating mooncake.  Whereas, the children would happily holding a lantern and join with the neighborhood kids to parade around the street.  We only had paper lantern back in the old days but now the plastic lantern has become popular as it is safer.  I remembered I used to make my own paper lantern at school as an art project, but with a paper lantern, one has to be careful as the candle would burn your lantern if you are not.  I bought two plastic lanterns for my girls to play, even though the plastic ones are safe, with lights, music and can even spin, it is still lacking compared to the beautiful paper lantern.

Have a happy and fun Mid-Autumn Festival and enjoy this day with your family members with a feast and mooncakes!!

Flat Rice Noodle Soup (Kway Tiao Deng)

A simple noodle dish can be so satisfying.  I wanted something light instead of stir-frying the rice noodle in oil.  So, I decided to make a pot of chicken vegetable soup to go with it.  Just so happen that I have some chicken bones, so I threw that in along with organic celery, organic carrot, two yellow onions, a piece of smashed ginger, and lemon grass.  Let it simmered for few hours and my stock was ready.

For the topping, I prepared some nai pak, fish balls, fried fish balls, tofu fish cake, ground pork and crispy fried shallots.  Serve it with hot chili padi in soy sauce.  Next time I might just try it with ground pork and veggie.  Evy totally loved this rice noodle soup.  She finished her whole bowl and requested the leftover for her dinner the next day.

Indonesian Cantik Manis Kuih

When I saw this recipe at Indonesia Eats's blog, I knew I had to try it.  It looked so pretty in hers as her colorful tapioca pearls retained its color when cooked.  Mine the color seem to be disappeared during the cooking process.  It only has a light tint of green but can't even see it from the pictures.

The reason I wanted to try it is because I have a packet of Korean green bean starch in my pantry and the rest of the ingredients.

This dessert received rave reviews from my hubby and daughters.  They simply loved it.  Just be careful when you stir in the green bean starch, make sure that it is dissolved completely and no lumps present.  If you see lumps, don't scoop it into the mold to cool as it won't be edible.  I let mine harden in the refrigerator and store it in the refrigerator as it is made of coconut milk.  Anything made using coconut milk turns sour easily so remember to store it in the refrigerator.

I am submitting this dish to Indonesia Eats for her CSN store giveaway.

Sweet Corn Dried Scallop Soup

Corns was on sales few weeks ago at the Farmers' Market here, 6 for $1.  I bought 6 and left with two corns to make soup.  You know, sweet corns will make the soup sweet, plus carrots, dried scallops, chicken bone and dried longan, all will make the soup sweet, so what could be not sweet about this soup?

This soup turned out to be sweet of course and with a little salt to bring in the overall flavor.  How you cooked your corns in the soup?