Sweet Watercress with Luo Han Guo Drink

Pardon my disappearance as I was away on a last minute trip to Perak, Malaysia.  It was so last minute that I wasn't able to book any hotel accommodation and had to stay with a relative.

The furthest we've traveled on a road trip to Malaysia was to Genting.  I didn't expect myself to agree to this road trip, which took us almost 8 hours from Tuas custom to Kampung Koh, Perak.  And we had 7 pax in a 6 seater car.  I remember very clearly DH requesting a road trip back to his parents hometown last year but I refused to compromise because the kids must be buckled up, thus having 7 pax is out of the question.  So how and why on earth did I agree to this?  Beats me...  Anyway, we didn't compromise on kids' safety as DD1 and DS2 squeezed onto one seat and buckled up too :-)

There is basically nothing much where we were, Kampung Koh, Sitiawan, Lumut, Pangkor and Pantai Remis.  BUT, it was a fruitful trip.  My urban kids had the chance to experience life @ kampung.  Having no toys but to self entertain with whatever natural things they could find (mainly seashells and rubber seeds).  With so many relatives there, we had the chance to visit their plantations and bird house.  It was truly an eye opening experience for all of us.

I'll blog more about our road trip when I have more time, there's so much to show and tell.  I love Perak!

Back to food stuff.  This looks like some bitter herbal drink but it isn't.  If you've been following me, you might have seen my Watercress with Luo Han Guo Soup.  But instead of cooking the savoury version, I sweetned it with rock sugar and it is another hit in my family.

It's a no-brainer recipe, just dump everything into a pot and boil.

If you like, you may add some agar agar powder/jelly powder and turn them into jellies ;-)

Sweet Watercress and Luo Han Guo Drink

Ingredients
500g watercress
1 Luo Han Guo (羅漢果, 罗汉果), smash the outer shell
2.5 - 3 litres water
2 - 3 dried honey dates (蜜枣)
rock sugar to taste (I used honey rock sugar)

  

Method

1. Wash watercress and cut into half. Rinse honey dates.
2. Rinse Luo Han Guo and smash the outer shell.
3. Add watercress, honey dates and Luo Han Guo in a pot with 2.5 - 3 litres of water. Bring to boil. Reduce to small flame and simmer for 1 hour. 
4. Add rock sugar to taste. 
5. Sieve and serve, either warm or chilled. 

Sweet Watercress Drink

School holidays are finally over!  I was looking forward to the day to send DD1 and DS2 back to school :P  Of course I enjoy having them home but to have them 24/7 is literally killing my brain cells everyday.  I need to take a breather, I need some fresh air.

It had been 2 weeks since school started and DH is back to his hectic flying schedule.  I've learnt to take things more positively, and is able to cope better now.  Afterall, he joined the Regional team 2 years ago, and by hook or by crook, I need to adapt.  If I'm not being understanding, I'll be giving him unnecessary stress.  I'm also thankful that I was working in the Regional department and this made me understand that traveling is inevitable.  In fact, I'm glad he is flying again as absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Anyway, I haven't been baking lately.  Sometimes I just feel lazy and didn't even bother to cook dinner.  Whatever is happening to me?  I don't know, probably age is catching up as I get tired more easily.  Pregnant?  I wish but unfortunately not.  Hahaha!

Feeling lazy to post something "complicated" so I went to my harddisk to search for the simplest recipe and found this.  So I'm just going to share this simple drink that I made several months ago.

Couldn't get your kids to eat enough greens?

Drink it ;-)

My children like the savory soup (here, here and here) but they simply love this sweetened drink.  I have a few other watercress related recipes but I'll leave that to future postings.  If you do try this out, I hope your family will like it too.

Sweet Watercress Drink

Ingredients

500g watercress

2.5 - 3 litres water

2 - 3 dried honey dates (蜜枣)

rock sugar to taste (I used honey rock sugar)

Method

1. Wash watercress and cut into half.  Rinse honey dates.
2. Add watercress and honey dates in a pot with 2.5 - 3 litres of water.  Bring to boil.  Reduce to small flame and simmer for 1 hour.
3. Add rock sugar to taste.
4. Sieve and serve, either warm or chilled.

Zhi Ke Tang 止咳汤

I'm writing this with a heavy heart.  I received a phone call from DC last night informing me that YL just passed away.  We are expecting her demise since her cancer cells kept coming back after her chemo sessions and operations, but not so soon.  I'm worried for her 6 year old daughter, what is going to happen to her?  At such a young age, can she handle it?  It is going to be very tough on her.

I cannot imagine myself leaving my kids behind.  But no one knows when one will have to leave, I always believe that it is all predestinated, when the time comes, if you have to go, you just have to go.  And this is one of the reasons why I started this blog, I want my loved ones to remember me by (and also to have a record of what food I've prepared for them) if I were to disappear for no apparent reasons.

Anyway, back to what I've been cooking.  I found out about this Zhi Ke Tang (止咳汤) in a forum, highly recommended by a few forumers.  They claimed that this drink is good for cough with phlegm.  They bought the prepacked so was unable to advice on how much ingredients to use.  Since I've got all the ingredients at home, I decided to concoct my own.

It is believed that this soup/drink relieves cough and strengthens function of the respiratory system.

After cooking this several times, I finally bought a pack from the local supermarket to try it out, just to see if they tasted the same.

The store-bought pack uses less water, only 600ml but since I'm not cooking it for cough and phlegm (more for nourishing the lungs), I added more water.  It taste mildly sweet and my children prefer my homemade version.

Zhi Ke Tang 止咳汤

(serve 3-4)

Ingredients
10g Fritillaria, crushed (川贝母)
20g Apricot kernels/chinese almonds (南北杏)
1 - 2 dried orange/kat paeng (桔饼)
30g Dried Figs (无花果)
4g Liquorice Root (干草)
1.5 litre water

Method

1. Rinse all ingredients.
2. Put all ingredients in a pot with 1.5 litres of water.  Bring to boil and simmer for 1 - 2 hours.

And thanks to all the well-wishes posted in my blog, emails, sms, msn and skype.  I managed to trim off my broken nail and life is back to normal now.

 I thought this was cute, looks like I've lost my two front teeth.

Apple Drink

Sister E cooks this for her family very often.  She usually cooks a big pot and they drink it as drinking water.

This is very similar to what I've cooked before, the savoury version (but still sweet), minus the meat.

DD3 kept pointing to the pot and said something I couldn't understand.  After some serious conversation, I finally understood what she said.  She had wanted me to take a picture of her pointing at the pot. 

I cooked this with lesser water as I wanted it to be consumed as a soup instead of a drink.

Apple Drink

Ingredients

2 red delicious/gala apples (don't use China Fuji apples)
2 green apples

30g apricot kernels/chinese almonds (南北杏) *

8 - 10 dried figs (无花果)
1.5 litre water

* I bought the premix pack, if you are mixing on your own, use 2 南杏 : 1 北杏

  

Method

1. Core apples, cut into wedges.
2. Rinse chinese almonds and dried figs.
3. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients. Using medium fire, bring water to boil again, reduce to small flame and simmer for 2 hours. Serve.

Mango Lassi

I've been lazy and neglecting my blog.  I think blogging is very much like bread-making, when I bake bread, I bake almost every other day.  But once I stop, I stop for a long time!  I think I've not baked bread for at least 5 months!  Got to get my engine warmed up fast as I've got a pack of bread flour that's expiring soon.

With a small tub of mango yogurt expiring in just a few days time, I made mango lassi.  This is not the authentic mango lassi you get from Indian restaurants but good enough for us and a great way to clear off the ripen mangoes in my fridge ;-)

Simple ingredients: yogurt, milk, mangoes and ice (not in picture)

Dump everything into the blender and blend ;-)

A simple yet healthy drink :-)

Papaya Milk Shake

What do you do with overripe papaya?

Simply add some papaya, milk and ice cubes into a blender.

No hard and fast rules, just add whatever amount you desire.

There you have it, homemade papaya milk shake :-)

Healthy Juices

This was extracted from an email I received about a year ago.

HEALTHY JUICES
Carrot + Ginger + Apple
Boost and cleanse our system.

Apple + Cucumber + Celery
Prevent cancer, reduce cholesterol, and improve stomach upset and headache.

Tomato + Carrot + Apple
Improve skin complexion and bad breath.

Bitter gourd + Apple + Milk
Avoid bad breath and reduce internal body heat.

Orange + Ginger + Cucumber
Improve Skin texture and moisture and reduce body heat.

Pineapple + Apple + Watermelon
To dispel excess salts, nourishes the bladder and kidney.

Apple + Cucumber + Kiwi
To improve skin complexion.

Pear + Banana
Regulates sugar content.

Carrot + Apple + Pear + Mango
Clear body heat, counteracts toxicity, decreased blood pressure and fight oxidization .

Honeydew + Grape + Watermelon + Milk
Rich in vitamin C + Vitamin B2 that increase cell activity and strengthen body immunity.

Papaya + Pineapple + Milk
Rich in vitamin C, E, Iron. Improve skin complexion and metabolism.

Banana + Pineapple + Milk
Rich in vitamin with nutritious and prevent constipation.

Iced Earl Grey Tea

During our dating days, DH and I used to hangout at this coffee cafe in Clarke Quay with his friends. As a non coffee drinker, I always end up having tea. One of my favourite tea is Iced Earl Vanilla. It's basically earl grey tea with ice and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Delish! With the terribly hot weather, how nice to chill down a glass of ice earl grey tea (ran out of ice cream :P).

Blueberry Milkshake

Blueberries and Antioxidant Activity
Antioxidants are thought to help protect the body against the damaging effects of free radicals and the chronic diseases associated with the aging process. Fresh fruits, including blueberries, and vegetables contain many of these naturally occurring antioxidants such as Vitamins C and E. Blueberries contain 14 mg of Vitamin C and 0.8 mg Vitamin E per 1 cup of blueberries. In addition, blueberries contain anthocyanins and phenolics that can also act as antioxidants. Based on data from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (Boston, MA), blueberries are among the fruits with the highest antioxidant activity. Using a test called ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), researchers have shown that a serving of fresh blueberries provides more antioxidant activity than many other fresh fruits and vegetables. Read a research excerpt on the antioxidant activity of blueberries.

**Quote from http://www.blueberry.org/

Blueberry is the No. 1 antioxidant fruit, followed by cranberries, then strawberries. And with blueberries in season now, have you had your blueberries today?

Noobcook shared a blueberry milkshake recipe and I made it for the kids. They love it! Who doesn't since it's loaded with ice cream and their favourite blueberries? Hahaha!!

I didn't follow the recipe but use it a guide and scoop some ice cream into the blender. And instead of milk, I added 2 tablespoon of plain yogurt. With no exact measurements, this is obvious why my milkshake doesn't fill up the glass :P

Blueberry Milkshake
Ingredients
(Makes one tall glass, or 2 1/2 short glasses for dessert)
200g vanilla ice cream
1.5 tbsp milk/plain yogurt
150g fresh blueberries

Method

1. Blend everything till smooth, do not overblend or it will become watery.
2. Garnish with some marshmallows and blueberries if you like.

Apple & Celery Juice

I've been giving my family mixed fruit juice and ABC juice. When I stumbled upon Noobcook's blog and saw this, I knew I just have to try it as I love both green apples and celery.

DH grimaced as he drank this but my 2 elder kids enjoyed themselves very much ;-)

As for myself, I definitely love this drink!

ACT Juice

Apple, carrot and tomato juice
Improve skin complexion and bad breath.

ABC Juice

This looks very much like watermelon melon juice but with a few of us still coughing away, watermelon is a no-no for now. I decided to make ABC juice for the kids since I've still got a beetroot in my fridge.

Beetroot is known to be good for helping to treat anaemia and is good for the immune system. If you have pink urine after consuming beetroot, there is no cause for concern as this is perfectly normal ;-)