luo han guo (monk's fruit) -Siraitia grosvenorii

Siraitia grosvenorii is an herbaceous perennial vine native to southern China and Northern Thailand. The plant is best known for its fruit, commonly called luo han guo or luo han kuo (from the Chinese luóhàn guǒ, 羅漢果, 罗汉果, sometimes printed lohoguo in Hong Kong), la han qua (from Vietnamese la hán quả), arhat fruit, Buddha fruit, or monk fruit. Botanical synonyms include Momordica grosvenorii and Thladiantha grosvenorii. The fruit is one of several that have been called longevity fruit. The species was named in honor of Gilbert Grosvenor.

The plant is cultivated for its fruit, used for cooling drinks and in traditional Chinese medicine. The fruit extract is nearly 300 times sweeter than sugar and has been used as a natural low-calorie sweetener in China for nearly a millennium to treat diabetes and obesity.

Traditional uses
The plant is most prized for its sweet fruits, which are used for medicinal purposes, and as a sweetener.The fruits are generally sold in dried form, and traditionally used in herbal tea or soup. They are used for heat stroke, sore throat, chronic cough, and constipation, and are reputed to aid longevity. The fruit is also used as a natural sweetener in the treatment of diabetes and obesity. (source from wiki)

Author's Input:
When someone in the house had a cough, my mom would make a cup of luo han guo, salted plum or kumquat tea for the coughing patient.  These teas usually help calm down the cough and help soothe the throat.  It was way better than taking western cough medicines.  I like the salted plum with rock sugar tea the best. 

Dried Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemums, often called mums or chrysanths, are of the genus (Chrysanthemum) constituting approximately 30 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae which is native to Asia and northeastern Europe.

Medicinal uses
Extracts of Chrysanthemum plants (stem and flower) have been shown to have a wide variety of potential medicinal properties, including anti-HIV-1,antibacterial and antimycotic.
(source wiki)

Author's Input:

I love chrysanthemum tea, it's great when I feel like my throat is getting raw or that a cough is going to develop.  To make my tea, I would boil eight cups of water, then add a small handful of these dried flowers, two slice of lemon, along with 1/4 cup of rock sugar.  My little babies love this tea too!  They love how beautiful it looks in a bowl.  

I use chrysanthemum broth to flavor some of my desserts. There is a frozen red bean pudding dessert that calls for this broth. I also add this to some sponge cakes and other treats.

Snow Ear Dessert Soup Recipe

Snow Ear Dessert
Ingredients:
3 dried snow ears (pre-soak this herb for an hour or more then turn it up side down and cut out the center and throw away)
1/4 cup of ginkgo nuts
1/4 cup of dried longans
6 dried red dates
12 cups of water
cup of rock sugar (add more or less for  your own taste bud)

Preparation:

 Boil the water, then add all the ingredients into the boiling pot.  Turn down the heat and let it cook for about an hour. 

Snow Ear :Soup
Ingredients:
half a lb of  lean pork
2 snow ear
 small handful dried logan
small handful dried lily bulb
small handful lotus seed
small handful wolfberries
3 carrots
salt ( add 2 tsp more or less depending on your taste bud)

Preparation:

 Boil about 12 cups of water then add all the ingredients into pot and let it boil and slow cook for three to four hours then serve.


Author's Inpug:

You can add papaya, brown sugar or mix it up any way you want to make the dessert. I personally, love making this dessert  so I would try adding other fruits such as papaya or Asian pear to it.  You can also add almond seed or dried lily bulbs to the mix as well.  My family loves trying sweet desserts out for me.  Love my taste testers :D  !

Snow Fungus aka Snow Ear (Tremella fuciformis)

Tremella fuciformis is a species of fungus producing white, frond-like, gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies). It is widespread, especially in the tropics, and is parasitic on other fungi (Hypoxylon species), that grow on dead attached and recently fallen branches of broadleaf trees. Fruitbodies are commercially cultivated for use in Chinese cuisine and Chinese medicine. Tremella fuciformis has been given the common names snow fungus or silver ear fungus.

In Chinese cuisine, Tremella fuciformis is traditionally used in sweet dishes. While tasteless, it is valued for its gelatinous texture as well as its supposed medicinal benefits. Most commonly, it is used to make a dessert soup called luk mei (六味), often in combination with jujubes, dried longans, and other ingredients. It is also used as a component of a drink and as an ice cream. Since cultivation has made it less expensive, it is now additionally used in some savoury dishes.

In Chinese, it is called 银耳 (pinyin: yín ěr; literally "silver ear"), 雪耳 (pinyin: xuě ěr; literally "snow ear"); or 白木耳 (pinyin: bái mù ěr, literally "white wood ear")[citation needed], and in Japanese it is called shiro kikurage (シロキクラゲ, lit. "white tree jellyfish") . In Vietnam, it is called nấm tuyết or ngân nhĩ.

Author's Input:
The snow ear is an herb full of collagen, and this helps with firming up and adding moisture to your skin from within.  I love making this refreshing dessert all  year round.   I remember when I was young, I would never eat the snow fungus at all.  As I matured, I developed a taste for this herb or more like the texture of the herb because snow fungus is kind bland.

Lotus seeds

Dried Lotus Seeds:

Lotus seeds or lotus nuts are the seeds of plants in the genus Nelumbo, particularly the species Nelumbo nucifera. The seeds are of great importance to East Asian cuisine and are used extensively in traditional Chinese medicine and in Chinese desserts. The seeds are most commonly sold in the shelled and dried form. Fresh lotus seeds are relatively uncommon in the market except in areas of lotus root and seed production, where they are sometimes sold as a raw snack.

When cooked in clear soups, lotus seeds are believed in Chinese medicine to "clear heat" (清熱) and be particularly nutritious and restorative to one's health, which may explain the prevalence of their use in Chinese cuisine.

Other ingredients that are considered "cooling" or restorative in Chinese medicines, which are often cooked in a sweetened soup with lotus seeds include:

    * Azuki beans (紅豆)
    * Job's Tears (薏仁)
    * Dried jujubes (紅棗)
    * Mung beans (绿豆)
    * Asian pear (雪梨)
    * Snow fungus (银耳 or 白木耳)
(source from wiki)

Author's Input:
I remember taking these out of the bag and using them to bead a  necklace.  My mommy came home and one time scream at the sight because I used them all up and she needed them for a dessert she was going to make for my grandma.  I love adding these little guys into my snow fungus and Asian pear dessert or papaya.  I will post some yummy dessert recipes later. 

Tong Yuan Recipe (mochi ball veggie soup) Part 2

Ingredients: 

• about 8 cups full of mochi balls (more or less depending how much you want to eat)
• 1/4 lb of lean pork
• 1/4 lb of shrimp
• 2 Chinese sausage (cut up in slices)
• 1 tbsp of rice wine 
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of oyster sauce 
• 1/2 tsp of sugar
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tbsp of sesame oil
• 1/2 corn starch
• 1 stalk of green onion and 1 bunch of cilantros (cut into 1 inch sticks) 
• 2 small slice of ginger
• 6 leaves of napa cabbage (cut into small strips) 
• 1 can of chicken broth
• 2 carrots and 1 medium size daikon 
• 4 shitaki mushroom (presoaked from the night before)

Preparation: 

Mix pork, wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, corn starch,sugar and salt in a bowl and set aside.  Boil a pot of water and place mochi balls into the pot.  Once the mochi balls are ready, drain and set aside.  Heat up a pan with a three table spoon of oil, 2 clove of garlic and 1/4 and stir fry the pork, sausage, napa cabbage, carrots, daikon and set aside.  In a pot of boiling water, add chicken broth, stir fried mixture, ginger slices, mushrooms and shrimps.  When the soup is done add the green onion (and or cilantros) to garnish the soup.

Author's Input:
I love this soup because it warms you up from the inside.  This soup is very healthy to eat because it's packed with veggies.  This is also my daddy's favorite soup.  When my mommy makes this soup for us he acts like a kid.  He usually is the first to get a hearty bowl of this soup. 

Tong Yuan Recipe (mochi ball veggie soup) Part 1

This is one of my favorite soup of all times.  These mochi balls are glutinous rice balls.  Easy to make and fun to eat.  You can buy the glutinous rice ball flour from any asian store.

 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup glutinous rice flour
• 4 ounces water

Preparation: 

Boil some water, pour glutinous rice flour into a bowl and the water slowly to the flour and mix.  Keep mixing and adding water till it can form into dough.  Then, pinch about a table spoon full of dough and put it in the palm of  your hands and mold it into a ball.