(Chinese recipes, prepare authentic Chinese food now!)
Believe it or not, I have just unpacked my luggage–the suitcase of my not-so-recent Malaysian trip. As I was going through the stuff in my baggage, I realized that I did a bad bad thing. I smuggled brought back a lot of food products from Malaysia, all of them deep buried in the suitcase. Some of them stinky (think belacan and salted fish), some of them are scarce and expensive in the US, and some are so fragile I wrapped them with blankets of papers and tapes…
One of the items I brought back is dried longan (龙眼). While dried longan is not too hard to find in the United States, buying them in Malaysia is a lot cheaper. I love them in my tong sui/dessert (糖水)–the delicate essence of dried longan is always so light yet invigorating…
I usually make my longan dessert with snow fungus, red dates, and ginkgo nuts. The most blissful thing about this is that I can serve it either warm or cold (with ice added). It’s perfect anytime of the day as a thirst quencher or an after meal dessert.
Try this and it may just become your new favorite…
Ingredients:
2-3 oz dried longan
6 cups water
6 dried red dates
12 ginkgo nuts
5 pieces snow fungus (soaked until soft)
Sugar to taste
Method:
Bring water to boil. Add the dried longan, red dates, ginkgo nuts, and snow fungus. Boil in low heat for 30-45 minutes or until the water turns brown in color. Add sugar to taste. Serve warm or cold with ice cubes.
Note: Check out Tigerfish’s snow fungus dessert here.
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
My boyfriend’s mom makes a dessert very similiar to this. We (my boyfriend, his sister, his dad, and I) get the task of peeling the ginkgo nuts, not very fun but all that hard work makes the dessert taste so much sweeter. :D
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This is like VNese sam bo luong if you add some barley and the thicker kind of seaweed and lotus seeds. :) I wasn’t so fond of it when I was little, but I love it now. Makes me feel like I’m eating a healthy dessert.
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I like this kind of light dessert like this a lot. Your photos are beautiful, portraying the dish in a very elegant way!
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Rasa Malaysia,
You made me miss my mum’s longan drink. Hmm..I think I should browse around the oriental shop here to get some longan. :D
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Mmmm… Haven’t had this tong sui in a long time. I like the second pic a lot; the fact the bowl isn’t full to the brim but only half-filled suggest someone’s already had their way with it, and if we don’t hurry, it’d be all gone!
What to do, I am very greedy one…
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i love dried longans!
this is also “lak bee terng” or “chng terng” right? but that would need 6 ingredients to make it “lak bee terng”. hehe..
i love this cold, really cold! :-)
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We used to have this on a hot summer afternoon, around 4pm to cool off!
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I also brought the dried longan back to the UK – but then I just ate them all like raisins – didn’t even cook them! I started nibbling on one and that was it. Not the artist like you! It is a lovely picture.
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is this mata kucing?
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Me likey! How’s your book deal coming along???:o)
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I like this 糖水 too, and this reminds me of Chinese New Year or some chinese weddings…buahahhah!
How did you manage to salvage the ginkgo nuts from their shells, in the end?
Hmmm….this dessert has all my fav dessert ingredients.:D
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Amy – Yes, peeling ginkgo nuts are really not fun. You can cheat by buying those peeled.
WC – yeah, I have tried the Vnese version, but I do not like seaweeds in my dessert so it felt a little strange. ;)
Anh – thanks. You have great photography skills as well. I love all the beautiful pictures on your site. :)
Kok – yeah, my mother used to make this every Chinese New Year, but now that she is old, she no longer makes it. :(
Kenny – hehe. Yeah, I like taking shots like that; for food, just show a few pieces, for soupy stuff, show half-full bowls. Somehow the pictures look more artistic that way. ;)
KM – I do not know how to cook lak bee th’ng. Yeah, cold is good, put in ice cubes and eat on a hot afternoon, very shiok.
Steamy Kitchen – Yes…you’re in Florida right? Time to cook this to cool off the coming summer.
Msiangirl – hmm. I have never tried eating them dried…I prefer them in dessert.
Princess – yep, mata kucing they are. Mau?
WMW – No book deal lah. Where got so fast? Hopefully Kenny will bring some good news soon, hehe.
Tiga – I ended up had to use my pestle to break the shell, and then soak them in water, then peel the skin off with my bare hands. Aiyo, so much work, next time buy ready ones. :P
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alamak, you stored the belachan and salted fish in your luggage since u got back to CA? damn… your luggage sure smelly bad. hehe.
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Beautiful composition of the dessert pictures. I need some refreshing 糖水like this in this hot weather.
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J’adore cette recette!
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Oppss – yes, but not smelly at all because I wrapped them with papers, tapes, and inside container…really no smell ones. Hehe. :P
Chiaza – yep, this kind of dessert is best for hot weather.
Lory – merci. :)
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i’m so gonna try the kuih kodok, its my fav! well my mum brought belacan and nasi lemak sambal and ikan bilis as well at her last visit to aus :) nice pics by the way.
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I had this longan dessert at petaling st. I loved it! Your longan dessert recipe is a godsent!
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Are there any other desserts or soup one can make with dried longan and jujubes? Because I just don’t have all the ingredients to make the soup about but I do have a lot of dried longan and jujubes :D Those are about the only “chinese herbs” I have in the house.
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Can you show the picture of ’snow fungus’?
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How many does this serve?
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