Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Spring Cherimoya

I ordered cherimoya from Cherimoya.com to try their Spring cherimoya. I have to say I was disappointed because a few was not sweet and most of them were seedy. When I ordered in the summer or fall they were usually very very big and all were sweet. I will wait until summer to order from them again. Below is one I cut and you can see mostly seeds. I counted the seeds and it was 108! Not a lot of flesh compared to seeds and flavor was not sweet. I did not enjoy eating them this time. :(

Monday, January 17, 2011

Che Khoai Mi Khoai Mon (Tapioca Taro Dessert)

I made this big pot of dessert to my friend party and it was gone before the party end. Everyone enjoyed this dessert and my friend requested me to make another pot for her party. Nothing really special about the ingredients but the combination was great. The yuca was chewy while the taro was soft and creamy. I made a really big pot that feed over 20 people. Because it was a big pot I did not bother to write down the weigh of each ingredient. I used the whole big taro plus 4-5 whole yuca...in a really big pot. If you're just cooking for your family then use less ingredients. Below is the receipt I made up so you know where to start.



Ingredients:

2 lbs taro
2-3 lbs fresh yuca
1/2 cup tapioca starch
2-3 tbsp tapioca pearls
food coloring
1-2 cans coconut milk
water
sugar

Method:

1. Peel taro and chop into about 1 inch and wash. Peel yuca and chop into about 1 inch and wash. Do not mix the two together. They need to cook in different time.

2. Boil a pot a water enough for taro and yuca. Once water boiled, pour in chopped yuca and slow boil until soft. (about 11-14 mins). Take cooked yuca out of water and leave aside.

3. Now pour taro in the same water and cook for (10-11 minutes). Take taro out once it starts to soften.

4. Keep the water or use new water to continue cooking. Add in coconut milk and sugar to taste. The soup should be white because of the coconut milk. (The more coconut milk the better.)

5. Add in both cooked yuca and taro into the soup. Give it a couple stir and turn off heat. Move the pot aside.

6. Boil water to cook tapioca pearls. Rinse tapioca pearls when clear. Add into the pot of taro/yuca soup.

7. Make your own tapioca strips. Boil water and divide into two. I used yellow and red food coloring. Divide the tapioca starch into two and use the boiling color water to form doughs. Roll the dough flat and then cut in small strips or diamond shapes. Bring a pot of water to boil then slowing pour in tapioca strips. Once cooked they will be translucent. Remove and rinse in cold water.

8. Pour cooked tapioca strips into soup and the dessert is ready to serve.