Chinese Sesame Cookies

I remembered when I was a child, I heart a type of Chinese sesame seeds cookies.  It had been so long that I could hardly recall the texture of this cookies anymore.  I only remembered if I saw it being served, I would certainly had some.  I did a search on the web and found one recipe from About.com and the picture of the sesame seeds cookies resembled the one I remembered.  So, of course I got to give this recipe a try.  But not sure why my cookies turned out looking different (mine had flat top)?  The one thing I changed was used all butter instead of half butter and half shortening.

I wanted contrasting colors so I tried a few with black sesame seeds.  This cookies is delicious, fragrant with the smell of sesame seeds and very crispy.  But not quite like the one I remembered.  Nevertheless, we were all in loved with this cookies, my girls couldn't stop snacking on it.  I don't think this batch can last through Chinese New Year.  The longer it kept, the smell of sesame seeds grew stronger.

If you are looking for a new CNY cookies to bake this year, this can be it.  :-)

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #3 : My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) hosted by Jess of i3ss kitch3n.

Dong Quai Soup (當歸汤)

 

Dong-Quai or female ginseng or Angelica sinensis or 当归 is a Chinese herb widely used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat gynecological ailments, fatigue, mild anemia and high blood pressure. It has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity.  It is believed to be a uterine tonic and hormonal regulator.  My mom used to boil this soup for me when I was living at home.  Usually this soup was served after each menstrual cycle.  This herb is a little bitter but once you are used to the bitterness, it is actually a tasty soup.  This soup is not advice for pregnant women and if you are on any medication, consult with your doctor first before consuming.

This herb is used in soup and in making Emperor Chicken.  It is also found in dishes that were prepared in the restaurant in powder form.  You can buy this herb in most Asian supermarkets or Chinese Herbal Shops.  It usually sold as dried herb either in thin slices (like above) or in pieces.

The link of this recipe can be found here.  I have a picture of the raw ingredients too.  I am submitting this post to Weekend Herb Blogging and this week host for this event is Min from Honest Vanilla.  Check it out on Sunday for the full roundup.  Thanks!

BoBoChaCha 2

I made BoBoChaCha before but this time with the added tapioca strips.  I steamed the cubed yam for 25 minutes and set aside.  Then, I cooked the cubed sweet potatoes in a large pot with water.  Boil in low heat for 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft.  Then, I add in the Chinese bar shape brown sugar or you can use Gula Melaka or gula Jawa.  Dissolve those sugar to taste.  Lastly, stir in the cooked sago pearls/tapioca pearls, cooked tapioca strips, cooked yam and stir to mix well.  Add in some coconut cream to increase the overall fragrant of this dish.

In the next page, I will show you what the dried tapioca trips package looks like.  You should be able to buy this in any Asian or Vietnamese market store.  Instruction to cook this will be provided as well.

Boiled Fruit Cake

I adore fruit cake and it is one of the cakes that I wanted either to bake my own or buy from the store during the Christmas holidays.  As you know, I skipped any recipe that seem too troublesome to make for example too many different steps that ended out with lots of dishes to wash.

I saw this Boiled Fruit Cake recipe at JoyofBaking and decided to read through the recipe and it was surprisingly fairly easy with minimal dishes to wash.  I only need to clean the saucepan and since I already have all the ingredients at home, I was eager to try it out.  It was named Boiled Fruit Cake because half of the ingredients were boiled on the stove and mixing in with the rest of the ingredients.  I modified the recipe by adding Brandy.  The only downside of this was it tasted better after three days and longer.  I read that if wrap nicely, it can be kept for up to six months.

My verdict is I find this fruit cake a bit dry, I would prefer it to be more moist.  So, the next time I make this, I would substitute the water with milk.  Hopefully then it will make this fruit cake better.  

Oyster Mushroom Chicken

 

I couldn't resist myself when I see fresh oyster mushroom in the Asian market.  I loved to serve variety of mushrooms for my family.  Oyster mushroom is said to be able to lower the cholesterol levels as it naturally contains lovastatin.  All I know is mushroom is good for us so I am trying to cook it often.  However, my Evy is not a mushroom lover which makes it hard for me.  Because I am trying to give her food that is good for her but she just won't touch it.  The only mushroom that she would eat is Enoki mushroom which I will also get whenever I am in the Asian market.

This is one easy stir-frying dish with oyster sauce.  If you have a bottle of oyster sauce, you can make lots of Chinese dishes with it.  There is even a vegetarian version of oyster sauce which is made from this oyster mushroom. 

Green Tea Pudding without Eggs

I called this green tea pudding without eggs because this pudding was not made with eggs and baked in a water bath.  I used gelatin to harden it.  I got the inspiration from Nasi Lemak Lover's Soymilk Pudding and a commercial I watched on youtube.  That commercial featured vanilla pudding, coffee pudding and green tea pudding and it just caught my eyes.  Since I have one last packet of powder gelatin to use and all other ingredients at home, I set to work.  I revised the recipe using my Reduced Fat Panna Cotta that I made earlier.  The difference was no heavy cream was used in this pudding.

If you loved green tea, you would love this.  Just make sure you use a good quality green tea powder or matcha so that the color will come out green and the taste of green tea will be strong.  It does makes a difference so don't buy a cheap green tea powder for baking or making dessert (I had learned my lesson).  I recommend Redman's green tea powder for baking if you live in Malaysia.

This pudding is delicious and all of us loved it.