ch3rri-blossoms

Lima Bean Dessert (Che dau Van)

2012-01-14T10:41:00.003-05:00

Che dau van is another good Vietnamese dessert that my family loves to eat. However, the hard part is removing the skin of the beans before cooking. The original bean being used is the hyacinth bean. To try something new, I used the large lima beans instead. The taste is very similar to the hyacinth bean. It's also easier to peel the skin of the large lima beans.

Ingredients:

1 bag of large lima beans
1 bag of rock sugar or use regular sugar
1- 1 1/2 cup tapioca starch
2.5 quart water
2 cans coconut milk

Method:
1. Follow the instruction on how to fast soak the lima beans. Boil a pot of water and pour the beans in to boil for a coupon minutes on high and then turn it lower for a couple more minutes and then turn off heat. Cover the beans and let it soak for couple hours. Remove the skin afterward.

2. Boil 2.5 quart of water and then add in the lima beans and cook on low until bean soften but not crumbly.

3. Add in the sugar and taste. Then add in yellow coloring.

4. Mix the cornstarch with just enough water and slowly pour into the beans. Stir while pouring. Turn off heat when mixture is thicken. Do not over cook your beans or they will break in small pieces.

5. Now cook the coconut milk and sugar to taste with a dash of salt. Add in a little cornstarch mixture to thicken coconut milk. I usually add 3 tbsp sugar per can of coconut milk and 1-2 tbsp of cornstarch.

6. Serve hot or cold.

My Christmas Present- Sugar Apple (Man Cau)

2011-12-29T22:02:00.002-05:00

This year I got a yummy Christmas present, home grown sugar apple. I planted this sugar apple from seed 2-3 years ago and this year it fruited for me. The fruit ripen on Christmas day. This is a Vietnam variety. I was surprised by the size of the fruit. It was 10.7 oz and very tasty. This is the chewy type...which I love most. Mom and dad got a piece of it and they were like wow. :))

Hot Pot Time!!!

2011-12-05T19:00:00.004-05:00

The weather is getting cold and hot pot is the best. I'm missing it already....yum yum yum....

Sesame Tang Yuan (Sesame Dumplings)

2011-10-27T18:30:00.008-04:00

I was craving for some sesame tang yuan but the frozen one always leaks so I decided to make my own. First time making this and it's good. The only thing I would change is instead of using lard I should use butter. I think lard doesn't smell that good compared to butter. I also should make the tang yuan a little smaller....guess I was too greedy...hehehe.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup black sesame
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup glutinous rice flour
water

Syrup water- boil slap sugar and water. Add ginger if you like.

Method:

1. Clean the sesame by rinsing it over water. Add the sesame in the heated pan and stir continuously until roasted.
2. In a grinder, grind the sesame into power. Back to the pan and add in the butter, sesame power, sugar and stir them together. If it's too dry then add in more butter. Remove from heat and let cool.
3. Form the sesame into small balls and refrigerate.
4. Add water to the glutinous rice flour to form a dough. Add little at a time to prevent over watering.
5. Using the dough to wrap the sesame balls. Drop them into boiling water and then turn the heat lower to prevent dumplings from opening. They're done when float to the top...best if keep in for another 1-2 minutes.
6. Drain the dumplings and serve with syrup water.

Ready to eat my dragon fruit!

2011-10-14T18:58:00.003-04:00

So after many years of disappointment, my dragon fruit finally hold it's fruit. Yes, just one this year. I have three different variety, magenta, red, and yellow. Well, I thought this one is the magenta one....but I was wrong after cutting it in half. It's not pink or red...but white! Not sure what happened but the size of the fruit is small but inside is not pink. The fruit was ripe on the vine so it was very sweet. I wonder what variety is this. Small in size, pinkish skin, and white inside.

Banh bo (Vietnamese steamed rice cakes)

2011-09-24T15:10:00.003-04:00

I recently received a few questions about my banh bo. I then question if my recipe works or not, so I decided to use the recipe and make some banh bo. I followed the recipe step by step. At the end my banh bo turned out delicious!!

Here is the recipe to the banh bo: Click

My dragon fruit finally fruited!!!

2011-09-09T09:35:00.003-04:00

I am so shock as my dragon fruit finally fruited for me here in PA! I have this plant for 5 years and this year it fruited. It was funny because I told myself I will give it a severe pruning if it doesn't fruit this year since it was a pain to drag it in and out of the basement.

I hand pollinated the flowers every year at around 5 am but this year I pollinated them at 6 or 7 am. I guess I didn't do it right before with the time? I will from now on pollinated the flower at 7 am. I think this dragon fruit is the magenta color. I could not wait for it to mature so I can taste it. YAY!!!!!!!

Homemade Grass Jelly (Suong sam )

2011-08-14T22:58:00.006-04:00

I am so happy and excited because my plant grass jelly finally had enough leaves for me to make some fresh jelly. Yes, this grass jelly is not made from powder but from a plant. The grass jelly is also called suong sam in Vietnam . It is a vine with heart shaped leaves. The leaves are extracted with water using both hands rubbing on leaves back and forth until all the green part in the leaves are out in the water. Strain and collect the green liquid water. Then put a little of the cuttlebone powder to make into jelly. This jelly is very different than any jelly from the store. It is very refreshing, chewy, and it have a cooling effect on the body. The botanical name of this plant is called tiliacora triandra. This is such a natural and yummy dessert!!!

My Potted Figs

2011-08-10T01:50:00.005-04:00

It's the fig season here in PA. My fig trees are loaded with figs! The ronde de bordeaux is the early fig because I already getting some ripe figs. The figs this year are larger than last year. I have six different fig trees. These fig trees grow so fast!

Figs are so sweet when ripe and good for your health. It is rich in potassium and calcium which helps to maintain blood pressure and prevent bone thinning. The soluble fiber, called pectin, in figs helps in reducing blood cholesterol. Consuming figs also helps in aiding digestion and taming various stomach and bowel-related problems. It's also a good source of dietary fiber that have a positive effect on weight management....meaning a sweet way to lose weight! I'm going to eat a lot of figs now....hehehehe.

My Potted Sugar Apple Trees (Man Cau)

2011-07-31T23:01:00.006-04:00

I have a lot of tropical fruit trees and I have quite a few sugar apple trees (5 +) because the fruit is my family favorite. There are a few variety of sugar apple but the best one is the one that is chewy with more flesh than seed ratio. The green variety seems to be the best but the kampong mauve sugar apple looks very pretty. So I have both varieties and also planted a few green variety from seeds. They are pretty easy to grow and fruit in 2-3 years. I think I will get a lot of kampong mauve sugar apple this year. :)

Kampong Mauve Kampong Mauve

Thai Lessard

Seed from Vietnam

Fruiting at 2 years

More seedlings

My Potted Mango Trees

2011-07-23T03:53:00.004-04:00

I'm so excited as my two potted mangoes are fruiting. I have the Carrie and Nam Doc Mai mango trees. Got the trees from Nipa Hut Garden last year (May 2010). Both tree flowered and fruiting. I think I will only leave one fruit on each tree if the fruits stay. But I think most of the fruits will drop by themselves since the tree can not support all of them. As you can see the flowers on each tree is different. The Carrie flowers are closer together in clusters compared to the Nam Doc Mai. The color of the flowers are also different.

Carrie

Nam Doc Mai

Benefits of Young Coconut Water for Pregnant Women

2011-05-18T21:22:00.004-04:00

I am 35 weeks pregnant and after some research I find that drinking young coconut water is very beneficial. I start to drink the young coconut water at 34 weeks. I drink one young coconut water every day or every 2 days. It was said when drinking young coconut water to regularly -especially in the third trimester of pregnancy- the amniotic fluid will be clean and babies born will have clean skin, bushy hair and clear eyes. Young coconut water is not just good for pregnant women but for all ages.

List of benefits:

A natural isotonic beverage with similar levels of electrolytes as the human body.
Helps prevent dehydration and relieves exhaustion by replenishing the natural salts lost by the body.
It is high in chlorides, potassium, and magnesium and has a moderate amount of sugar, sodium and protein.
Potassium helps regulate blood pressure and heart function.
Coconut water is also a good source of dietary fibre, manganese, calcium, riboflavin and Vitamin C.
It is essentially fat free and has zero cholesterol and some studies have reported that it can have some effect on improving "good" cholesterol levels (HDL) in the body.
Coconut water is a natural diuretic and so increases the flow of urine; this helps prevent urinary tract infections (UTI) as well as reduces the incidence of kidney stones.
Coconut water also helps relieve constipation, improves intestinal function and promotes digestive health -– it is often recommended to people suffering from acidity and ulcers.
Young coconut water contains lauric acid, an acid that helps fight disease. Lauric acid contained in coconut water the same as those found in breast milk and has the characteristics of antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral, so maintaining the health of mothers and infants from viruses such as herpes and HIV, protozoa, giardia lamblia and bacteria chlamydia and heliokobater.
Coconut water can help increase the speed of digestion.
Pregnant women drink young coconut juice as it will give their babies strength and vitality.
Good for feeding infants suffering from intestinal disturbances. It kills intestinal worms.
Eliminates swelling in hands and feet

Jackfruit and Cherimoya

2011-05-09T17:35:00.003-04:00

My recent craving is for jackfruit and cherimoya! This is a great time to order cherimoya and lots of jackfruit available at our local Asian stores. The cherimoya is so good and sweet! Same with the jackfruit. I've been eating them for a couple days....hehehe

Homemade Wontons

2011-04-12T16:25:00.004-04:00

Wonton is very easy to make and you can either fry them for appetizer, eat them as dim sum, or eat with noodles soup. I add in water chestnuts for a crispy crunchy taste. I also add in more shrimps so it's more flavorful.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork
1 lb shrimps
2 glove garlic minced
2 stalks scallion chopped
1/2 cup or 10 water chestnuts (canned or fresh) smashed and chopped
1/2 cup water + 2 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp oil
1 egg white
1 pack wonton wrap

Seasonings:
2/3 tsp salt
3 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 tsp msg (optional)
1/4 tsp five spice
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp grounded pepper

Method:

1. Place ground pork on chopping board and use a heavy knife to continuously chop the pork until it's sticky and somewhat glutinous. Set aside.

2. Peel and devein shrimps. Place on chopping board and smash each shrimps. Then chop them coarsely. Add to the ground pork.

3. Place whole water chestnuts on chopping board and smash individually. Then chop them in small pieces. Add to ground pork.

4. Add minced garlic to ground pork. Hand mix everything together until well combined. Then add in seasonings. Mix well again.

5. Add in 1/2 cup water + 2 tbsp cornstarch mixture, 3 tbsp oil, and egg white. Mix well. Then add in chopped scallions.

6. Place some 1 tsp meat with each wonton wrap.

7. Bring a pot of water to boil. Place wrapped wontons in and give it a stir to prevent wonton sticking to bottom pot. Cook until wonton float to the surface. Should be 3-5 minutes.

8. Add wontons to your wonton soup or noodles soup.

For Frying: Just heat a pot of oil and add in wrapped wonton. Fry until golden where wonton float to surface. Dip with sweet and sour sauce.

For dim sum: Boil the wonton and eat them with hoisin sauce + Sriracha hot sauce.

Ham Sui Gok (Fried Crescent Dumplings)

2011-02-07T23:19:00.007-05:00

I finally know how to make these ham sui gok! You usually get these from the bakery or at dim sum. They are really not that hard to make....but then you can not find the recipe anywhere. I know some make with ground pork, dried shrimps, dried shiitake mushroom, chives, and jicama. But I decided to make it a little different and omitted dried shrimps, chives, and jicama. I replaced them with fungus, scallions, and onion. My ham sui gok turned out great just like the the one at the bakery with crispy and chewy shell with tasty filling. I'm so proud of myself!!! I forgot to measure the seasoning so you will have to work on it. The filling should be a litt
le sweet.
I made the fillings ahead of time and the fillings can make 50 dumplings. I usually save the rest in refrigerator and make fresh dough for dumplings each time. I find it easier to do it this way than to make all a once.

Fillings:

1 cup ground pork
3 dried shiitake mushroom (soaked 4 hrs or overnight)
1-2 pieces dried fungus (soaked 4 hrs) should yield 1/4 cup
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 stalk scallion chopped
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp cornstarch or tapioca starch +3 tbsp water

Seasonings:
salt
fish sauce
sugar
msg
oyster sauce
five spices powder
grounded pepper

Method:

1. Heat some water to boil the mushroom and fungus for a couple minutes. Then rinse and chop into small pieces.

2. Heat wok with some oil and add in ground pork. Stir until almost cook and add in chopped mushroom and fungus. Stir for couple minutes and add in seasonings. Then add in water.

3. Slowly add in cornstarch mixture to thicken sauce. Remove from heat and add in chopped onion and scallion. Stir and leave to cool.

Dough: This dough only make 10 dumplings. The above fillings can make 50 dumplings.

1 cup glutinous rice flour
1/3 cup wheat starch
1/3 cup hot boiling water
1/2 cup water
4 1/2 tbsp sugar

Method:

1. Place wheat starch in a large bowl and add in hot boiling water. Stir with chopsticks until dough cooked.

2. Stir in sugar and mix well.

3. Mix in glutinous rice flour. Stir and add in water to form a dough. If too wet then add in just a little glutinous rice flour. Knead into a dough.

4. Divide into 10 pieces.

5. Fatten dough in rough shape and add in fillings. Form into dumpling like shape.

6. Heat oil on medium heat and fry dumplings until golden. No high heat as the dumpling might explode.

Pineapple Tarts

2011-02-06T01:16:00.003-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year!!! I saw that a lot of people made pineapple tarts for new year so I made some too. I usually buy the one at the supermarket that cost $0.99. But making your own is even better because you get to taste the real pineapple. I only had two cans of pineapple chunks when I want to make these tarts. So I decided to try them and they turned out well. I used less sugar because the pineapple was already sweet from the cans.

Fillings:
2 cans pineapple chunks
1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1. Place pineapple chunks into a food processor to blend until fine but not liquefy.
2. Use a strainer and strain off excessive liquid.
3. Heat a pan, add in pineapple pulp. Stir for couple minutes and add in sugar and salt. Cook until mixture is thicken like jam. Let cool for couple hours or overnight.
4. Form into small balls.

Dough:
1 1/2 stick unsalted butter (soften at room temp.)
1 egg yolk
60 gm icing sugar
1 tsp salt
290 gm all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp custard powder + 2 tbsp water
1 egg yolk + 2 tbsp water for eggwash

Method:
1. Combine ingredients except for egg yolk. Form into a dough. Add in egg yolk at the end and knead well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hr.
2. Divide the dough into pieces enough to cover the pineapple balls. Use a piece of dough to cover the pineapple and flatten into shape. Cut lines to make it look like pineapple. Continue with the rest of the dough. Place on baking pan with parchment paper.
3. Preheat to 350 F.
4. Mix egg yolk and water to make eggwash. Brush over tarts.
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Spring Cherimoya

2011-01-18T19:52:00.003-05:00

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. :(

Che Khoai Mi Khoai Mon (Tapioca Taro Dessert)

2011-01-17T18:40:00.004-05:00

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.

What I ate for Christmas

2010-12-25T14:38:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas to all. Wishing you and your families a safe and happy holiday season!!!

This Christmas was like all the other Christmas. We ate dinner with our family and the food were pretty similar to the previous year. Even though it was just a few items but we weren't able to finish the food until the next day.

Mayo sauce for mayo shrimps. Too bad I accidentally deleted the picture of the shrimps. :(

Taiwanese Peppered Pork Pastry

2010-09-29T21:00:00.005-04:00

Thanks Lily for sharing the peppered pastry video. I didn't understand everything so I had a friend to translate some of the ingredients. I didn't totally follow the instruction since I have a lot more meat and decided to use all the meat. I've never tried the pork pastry from Taiwan so I'm not sure if my version is similar or not. However, these were pretty good since I ate three for dinner. The dough is light and flaky. The peppered filling was a little spicy and good. The video ask for medium and low protein flour. I didn't have any so I made my own by mixing all purpose flour and cornstarch. The more cornstarch, the harder and crispier the pastry. Next time I might mix a little less cornstarch for medium protein flour so the dough can be more chewy.

Ingredients:

2 lb ground pork
1 lb ground belly pork
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp five spice powder
1 tbsp ground pepper
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 1/4 cup water
5 stalks scallion chopped
1/4-1/2 cup sesame
syrup = boil 1/2 cup water + 1/2 slab sugar

Dough 1:

3 cups medium protein flour = 2 c all purpose + 1 c cornstarch
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup water

Dough 2:

1 c low protein flour = 3/4 c self rising + 1/4 c cornstarch
4 tbsp lard

Method:

1. Mix all the meat together with the spices. Stir until homogeneous and add a little water at a time. Then add in sesame oil. Continue to stir. Wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

2. Mix the dry ingredients for dough 1. Then form a well and slowly add in the water. Knead into a soft dough. Cover for 1 hr and let it double.

3. Mix the lard with the low protein flour for dough 2. Knead into a dough. Roll out and cut into 16 pieces.

4. After dough 1 double. Roll out and cut into 16 pieces.

5. Using dough 1 and wrap dough2. Roll it flat. Then roll into a swiss roll. Then pinch the two end to the middle and roll it out again. Again roll into a swiss roll. Then pinch two ends to the middle and then flatten.

6. Place meat in center of flatten dough and add in scallions. Wrap and then dip the smooth side in the syrup and then on the sesame. Then place on a nonstick pan. Let the dough rest in the oven for about 10 minutes. Then turn on the oven for 350 F. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

7. Serve hot.

September Figs Update

2010-09-23T02:27:00.005-04:00

I bought my figs from treesofjoy on March 2010. They were still dormant when I bought them. After some care they grew beautifully and produced some delicious figs! It is hard to describe the taste and some more fruity than the other. All were very sweet. The skin on these figs were thin compared to the store bought. The taste of course is way better than the store bought. I just ate some brooklyn dark and it was so good, juicy, and fruity. The brooklyn dark fig is the largest in size compared to ronde de bordeaux, black mission, or hardy chicago. The dark portuguese figs still not near ripening. I would say the dark portuguese is a late season fig in PA or because this is the first season so the figs came a little late. If you ask me which is my favorite, I would say I like them all. If I have to pick then I would say brooklyn dark and ronde is the best because of taste, size, and color. Both have a really nice color inside. The ronde is a little prettier because of the dark purple color and reddish inside. Ronde is also a fast growing tree. I might have to change the pot again next year. Just picked a few more Ronde so I will enjoy these slowly.....hehehehe
Picture taken 9/16/10

Picked 9/22/10

9/22/10

Picked 8/22/10
Picked 8/22/10
Picked 8/22/10

Picked 8/29/10

Picture taken 9/22/10

Tropical fruits in Toronto

2010-09-19T18:47:00.007-04:00

We went to Toronto for a 5 days vacation and it was a lot of fun. We bought a lot of tropical fruits, visited the Niagara Fall during the day and night, visited some relatives, and went to dinner in the CN Tower. The only sad thing was CAD money worth more than US dollar. The best rate we got was with TD bank because they didn't charge an exchange fee. I think it was 100 US dollars for 101 CAD. There were many fruit stores and some were cheaper than the other. The fruits were a little cheaper than in the US and a lot fresher!

Niagara Fall during day
Niagara Fall at night

Niagara Fall w/ lights
Free fireworks

Chinatown on Spadina Ave. More than 5 fruit stores.
Best sugar apples
Longkong and rambutan so sweet

Best mangosteen ever.
Didn't try the sapodilla since it was still green.
Atemoya- some were good and some just ok. I still think the one we got from Florida was better.
Mangoes were so good with salt and chillies.
Try not to buy the 10 for $20 sugar apple as they're not as good as the 7 for $20.
June plum was good and not too sour.

Sour sop may looks good but the ripe one is not good at all. We got one ripe and unripe. The hard one was better and sweeter than the ripe one.
First day there and we spent $95 on fruits. For the rest of the 3 days we spent $90 each day on fruits.
Sour but yummy
Ripe sour sop not so good
Baby jackfruit chempedak was very good. The flesh was soft and sweet.
CN Tower
CN Tower at night was so beautiful with the different light.

Dinner at CN Tower was very expensive after tax and tips. But the food was good. We also get to see the city from up high. It was a beautiful scene.

Tropical Fruits in Homestead, FL

2010-09-02T16:37:00.003-04:00

On our way to Key West, we stopped by Homestead to pick up some tropical fruits. We were lucky to find a longan grove which sell longan for super cheap compared to the supermarkets or local fruit stands. They also sell other tropical fruits such as rambutan, june plum, dragon fruit, guava, other fruits that was in season. I would say this longan grove is a wholesale for the retailers. They also have vegetables for sale in bulk. We got 10 lbs of longan and 5 lbs rambutan for Key West and then went to another fruit stand for different variety of mangoes. Then before we get back home we stopped by the longan groves again and got 60 lbs of longan for family. :) We will definitely stop by this place again when we go to Florida. This was a great trip!

Got some sugar apples from the fruit stand.

These are the fruits we got for Key West. These lasted 5 days....hehehe

We found that Robert is Here fruits were more expensive than other other fruit stand. Other fruit stand sell their mango for $2.00 /lb and sugar apple for $4.95/ lb. Robert is Here sell their mango for $2.25-$2.50 / lb and sugar apple for $6.95 / lb. Even all the other fruits were more expensive compared to other fruit stand.

Dragon Fruit Blooms

2010-08-23T02:11:00.003-04:00

Enjoy these beautiful blooms. They are so beautiful. I hand pollinated the flowers at 3 am hoping they will turn to fruits.:)

Fishing at Cape Henlopen State Park

2010-08-19T15:01:00.003-04:00

Went fishing on Saturday and caught a lot of spot croakers. It was our first time going to Cape Henlopen State Park for fishing. These fishes are pretty good. I used a knife to clean the scale and also removed the gut and gills. Washed them and then cut two lines on each side of the fish. Sprinkle some salt on each side of the fish. Then use a little oil to fry them. I also like to eat scallion with my fishes so I fried some of those to place on top of the fish. I made the asian fish sauce for dipping. It was so good I can eat two fishes all by myself. Will plan to go back again to catch some more for family and friends. These store well in the freeze if you just place them in zip-lock bags and freeze them with their scale on. Now I don't have to buy fish for a year....lol

Che Bap (Corn w/ Glutinous Rice)

2010-08-04T16:21:00.004-04:00

This is a good time to make che bap because fresh corns are more available at the supermarkets. Che bap is a Vietnamese dessert and tastes very good with coconut milk. A lot of people make this dessert with tapioca but I find it better with glutinous rice. I find it best to use white corns.

Ingredients:

4 ears of corns
1/4 cup glutinous rice
4-5 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 liter water
3 tbsp tapioca starch + 1/4 cup water

Method:

1. Clean the corns and use a sharp knife to shave the fresh corn as thin as possible.
2. In a pot add in the water and bring to boil. Add in the shaved corns. Bring to boil and remove foam. Then turn heat to medium.
3. Rinse the glutinous rice and then pour in with the corn. Stir to prevent rice sticking to the bottom of pot. Cook until rice is tender and liquid almost dry and at the level of corn. Should take about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking to bottom of pot.
4. The corn and rice should thicken up at this point. Add in the sugar and salt. Stir and taste. Mix the tapioca starch with water and slow stir into the corn. The corn should be thicken but not dry.
5. Remove from heat and let it cool.

Coconut Milk:

1 can coconut cream/milk 14oz
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp tapioca starch + 1/4 cup water

1. Bring coconut milk to a slow boil. Add in the sugar and salt. Then slowly pour in the starch. Do not need to pour all starch into the coconut milk. The coconut milk should be slightly thicken with a hint of sweet and slight salty.

To serve: Pour some corns into a bowl and add in coconut milk. Serve hot or cold.

Sugar Apples (Man Cau) Updates

2010-07-24T23:28:00.007-04:00

Here is the latest update of my sugar apple trees and seedlings. They are doing very well with tons of flower on my Canadian sugar apple and one fruit on the Thai Lessard. My seed grown Canadian sugar apple have 4 fruits forming with more flowers. The best part is I didn't hand pollinate them. I think the bees or flies helped with the pollination. Now you'll be more surprised if you scroll down and look at the sugar apple seedlings. Some are over 2 ft tall and some still only 1-1 1/2 ft tall. Three are from Vietnam seeds and 3 from mauve sugar apple seeds from florida. The mauve sugar apple seedlings grow slower than the seeds from Vietnam. Can you see the flowers on the seedlings? All the seedlings have flowers on them! I think it might be because I've been feeding kool bloom fertilizer.:) The seedlings were planted on 9/08. So these seedlings will be two years old in September. Because my sugar apples are growing so well and my first fruit was great, I decided to plant more. I started some sugar apple seeds again in my mini greenhouse on May 22nd with a couple of cherimoya seeds. They are now 5-7 inches. I will have to transplant them soon. :)

Canadian Sugar Apple

Thai Lessard

Thai Lessard

Sugar apple seedlings

Flowers same size as mature tree.

more flowers. But have to remove all of the flowers since the seedlings are too small for fruit.

Newly planted seeds on 5/10.

Potted Haysa Sapodilla Update

2010-07-19T15:37:00.003-04:00

My potted haysa sapodilla fruits are getting larger and some are huge compared to the makok sapodilla. I repotted the tree into a larger pot and more flowers blooming. There are a total of 12 fruits on the tree. The largest one is already 1 1/2 size of an xl egg. I'm not sure when the fruit is ready to pick. Maybe I'll wait until August to pick the few largest fruits. :) Check out the discussion tropical fruit forum here.

Figs Update

2010-07-16T18:57:00.004-04:00

My fig trees are growing nicely and there are even figs on the trees. I constantly have to water my fig trees or they will wilt after a day without watering. I also feed my trees Kool Bloom fertilizer every other time I water. Pinching the tips of the branches after 6 leaves can induce branching and fruits. My trees are a lot fuller after pinching. I really can't wait to try some figs! :)

Ronde de Bordeaux

Ronde 1st fruit

Brooklyn Dark

Brooklyn Dark 1st fruits

Black Mission

Black Mission 1st fruit

Hardy Chicago

Dark Portuguese

Dark Portuguese fruits

Smith

Clamming Fun

2010-06-30T23:49:00.003-04:00

We went clamming for the first time and it was a lot of fun. We drove 1 hr 40 mins to NJ bay area to clam. The driving was well worth it. When it was still high tide which went in the water anyway. We used our feet to rub and dig down on the sand to feel the clams. Then reach down to grab it and place in plastic bags. We got so much clams that it took us 3 days to finish...and we gave most away to families too. We grilled the clams fresh at the bay area and it was so good with Texas Pete's hotter hot sauce. I fell in love with the hot sauce....lol. It was the perfect hot sauce for clams. Then at home I grill them again and ate that for a day. Still got so much left so I decided to make bun rieu (noodle soup) with them. I didn't really measure the ingredients so no recipe here. But it's the same way you make the regular bun rieu.

Sweet N' Spicy Lobsters

2010-06-15T22:23:00.003-04:00

Shoprite lobsters are on sale. They had the 3-6 lbs average lobsters. These lobsters are the largest I've ever seen. I got two lobsters and one at 3.5 lb and the other smaller because they ran out of the large one. Both came to a total of over 5 lbs. I cleaned the lobsters and asked my husband to chop them in chunks. This is our first time cooking lobsters and his first time chopping lobsters. So we made a little mess...lol. I had to divide the lobsters in two since my wok is too small.

Ingredients:

5 lbs lobster
1 onion sliced
4 stalk scallions (sliced 2 inch long)
cornstarch
oil for frying

Sauce:

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
11 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp fish sauce
6-8 chillies
2 tbsp shrimp paste
1-2 tbsp XO sauce
400 ml water

Method:

1. Brush clean the lobster over running water to clean the shell. Chop lobsters in pieces and clean again. Divide the claw from the head and body. Larger sizes require more cook time.
2. Drain off water and coat the lobsters with cornstarch.
3. Heat enough oil for frying. Fry lobsters until 80% cook.
4. Mix all the sauce ingredients together and set aside.
6. Heat the wok with the XO sauce. Add in the shrimp paste. Stir for a second and add in the onion. Then add in the lobsters. Stir fry for a minute.
7. Add in the sweet n' spicy sauce and continue to stir fry. The sauce will become thick. Taste. Then add in the scallions and remove from heat.
8. Serve with rice.

White Fungus w/ Rock Sugar Dessert

2010-06-14T19:59:00.009-04:00

White fungus is said to have similar medical value as bird nests. And it tastes pretty good with rock sugar, longan, and dried dates. I wanted to add eucheuma too but I will have to soak it for a day first. So I just cooked these four ingredients together and it's very good and it tastes very similar to bird nest. I cooked this a little longer so the soup got thicken a bit. This dessert is best eaten chilled and with a couple cubes of ice. So refreshing!

Ingredients:

50 grams white fungus (soak for 30+ minutes)
80 grams dried longan (soak 1+ hour)
70 grams dried dates (soak 1+ hour)
200 grams rock sugar
4 liters water

Method:

1. Cook soaked dried dates with water for about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Rinse the dried longan first to get rid of dirt and then soak with 2 cups of water. Save the clean part of the water to add into the soup later.
3. Clean the soaked white fungus and cut into small chunks. Remove the hard yellow center.
4. Boil the 4 liter water plus the clean longan water. Add in the white fungus. Bring to boil. Then add in the red dates and then on medium low heat to slow boil for 20 minutes.
5. Add in the longan meat and boil for another 10 minutes.
6. Add in the rock sugar to taste and cook for another 10 minutes.
7. Cool and then refrigerate. Serve chilled with ice.

Chicken Stir-fry Chinese Broccoli Tips (Kai Lan)

2010-06-09T20:11:00.003-04:00

Another stir-fry idea to eat with rice for lunch or dinner. Very simple dish but tastes great! Adjust the taste seasoning to the amount of vegetable and meat.

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs Kai Lan Tips
1 cup chicken breast shredded
1 tbsp XO sauce (optional, use garlic to replace)
1-2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1/4 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch + 3 tbsp water

Method:

1. Marinate chicken breast with 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp fish sauce, and 1 tsp oyster sauce. Marinate for 15 minutes.

2. Rinse kai lan well. Boil a pot of water enough to fit all kai lan in. Once the water is boiling, pour in kai lan. Wait for 1 minute and then drain kai lan. Rinse over cold water and drain.

3. Heat the wok and pour in XO sauce with some oil. Then add in the chicken to stir-fry. Stir until chicken is cooked.

4. Add in the kai lan and continue to stir-fry for couple (3-4) minutes until the kai lan is hot but not soft. Add in the water if the wok is dry. Add seasoning and taste.

5. Mix cornstarch with water and add to wok to thicken the sauce. Remove from heat.

6. Serve hot with rice.

Durian Sticky Rice in Coconut Milk

2010-06-06T23:22:00.006-04:00

I bought a frozen durian today and it was so sweet and creamy. Durian is good by itself or with sticky rice. I learned to eat durian sticky rice in coconut milk from a frozen Thai dessert sold at the supermarket. It was so good I had to make some. :) This dessert taste best when hot. Leftover can be refrigerated and microwave later. Still tastes great after 2 days. :)

Ingredients:

2 cups glutinous rice soaked for 4 hrs
2 cups coconut milk
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients together and cook in ricer cooker. Stir the rice after rice cooked.

Durian in Coconut Milk:

2 cups durian pulps
3 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup water
2-3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Heat the coconut milk, water, sugar, salt. Pour in 3/4 of durian and cook for 4 minutes. Then pour in the rest and cook for 1 minutes. Taste and remove from stove. *Can use some cornstarch if sauce too soupy.

Serve hot durian coconut milk on top of sticky rice.

Place left over rice in individual containers and then durian coconut milk on top. Refrigerate the dessert and microwave hot to serve later.

Mango Trees from Nipa Hut Gardens

2010-05-30T00:16:00.005-04:00

After long research and reading about mango tree, I decided to get the nam doc mai and carrie mango trees. I ordered two mango trees from Nipa Hut Gardens. They are 2 ft tall. The trees came pretty fast with ground shipping. It came in 3-4 days and no damage. The nam doc mai is a newer graft than the carrie since the trunk is still green. I'm pretty satisfied with my order from Nipa Hut and their shipping is a lot cheaper than other nursery. Let's see how well I can grow mango trees in PA. :)

Left is Carrie, right is Nam doc mai

right NDM, left Carrie

Picked 1st Makok Sapodilla

2010-05-27T01:54:00.009-04:00

I picked my first makok sapodilla on May 22nd. It was somewhat soft on the tree but I still have to let it ripe on the counter for couple more days. The taste is sweet but not as sweet as the alano. The smell is just like a sapodilla. The color of the inside is light brown. I think it's supposed to be a darker brown, but maybe being planted in a pot and no direct sun for a couple months in the winter affected the color. There might be a lack of fertilizer too. I would say the flower started around July of last year. So it took about 10 months for the fruit to ripe and ready to eat. I think it took this long because of not enough heat and sunshine. The fruit is larger than a large egg. The tree is flowering again.:)

I should have leave it for another day. Still a little green on the edges. But this is still good.

Tips for picking: To test if the fruit is mature to pick, try to scrape hard into the skin. If it's not ready then you will see the latex coming out. Also, when it's ready then it come off easily from stem.

Gefner Atemoya from Plantogram

2010-05-24T02:08:00.002-04:00

I know I'm not suppose to get anymore tree but I can't help it because I'm addicted to tropical fruit trees. This is my first time ordering from Plantogram nursery. The customer service was fantastic with Mickey the owner. He is a really nice guy and I can call him anytime of the day...even after 5 pm. On their website they have a 24/7 service. The gefner atemoya is about 5 ft tall and he already topped some off. He also threw in a free barbados and surinam cherry trees. The barbadaos is a nice looking tree with really nice purple flowers. My overall experience is very good and their tree is larger than most nursery.

My trees came in this huge box without any damage.

Nicely wrapped so no soil falling out.

Cream Cheese Sponge Cake

2010-05-18T02:05:00.003-04:00

I got this recipe from the web a while ago so I don't really remember where I got it. This is a really good sponge cake with cream cheese flavor. It is moist, soft and so yummy when hot. It's also good the next day or after refrigeration. We love this cake and I make this every once in a while. I modified the recipe a little since I want to use the whole stick of cream cheese instead of 190g.

Ingredients:

225 g cream cheese
155 ml heavy whipping cream
4 large eggs
150 g sugar
55 g plain flour
55 g self-rising flour
55 g cornstarch
2 tbsp lemon juice (optional)

Method:

1. *Using the double boiler method, heat the cream cheese and whip cream together until the cream cheese melt. Remove from heat and whisk or stir the cream cheese until smooth. Set aside to cool.
2. Sift the three flours together three times.
3. Heat the oven to 325 F at this time.
4. Beat eggs for about 1 minute and gradually add in sugar. Beat until creamy and thicken leaving trail of ribbon.
5. Gradually fold the sifted flour into the egg batter.
6. Now gradually fold in the cream cheese batter. Mix in lemon juice.
7. Pour in nonstick pan and bake for 50-55 minutes until cooked. (8 or 9" pan)
8. Serve hot or cool.

* Double Boiler- upper pan containing the substance to be cooked with the lower pot of boiling water at the bottom.

Alano Sapodilla

2010-05-12T19:03:00.004-04:00

I ordered some Alano sapodilla from Harry in Florida. I got 7 lbs and they were delicious! My mom say this is better than the one we get from the supermarket. The Alano is very similar to the one she ate in Vietnam. The fruits came in different sizes and shapes. Some larger, some rounder, some more elongated. The inside is reddish brown and super sweet. I just have to eat one and I'll be all happy and energetic! There is a lot of sugar in this fruit and so yummy. Thanks Harry!

White Sapote

2010-05-05T23:11:00.005-04:00

I ordered some white sapote with my cherimoya last week. I've never taste or seen this fruit before and nor did my mom. But the name sapote sound so similar to the sapodilla. In Vietnam, we call the sapodilla "sapote" too. But as you can see these are totally different fruits. The white sapote is green to yellowish and the sapodilla is brown. The texture of the two is totally different too. The one thing they have in common is that both are super super sweet! These white sapote are so sweet that I could only eat half of the fruit each time. No one in my family can eat more than half. If so, we need to have good health insurance like they have here just in case somebody goes into a diabetic coma.

The white sapote looks just like a green apple. The skin is very thin and smooth. The inside texture is very similar to an avocado, except more juice than the avocado. It's very buttery like the avocado too. The taste is like custard with a little of peach flavor. You can say it's somewhat creamy when you bite into it. There are 4 seeds in each fruit. The fruit is ready to eat when yellowish and soft.

Harvested June Plum in PA

2010-05-01T01:39:00.007-04:00

Today I decided to harvest my dwarf june plum. The total weight of my harvest is 1 lb 7 oz. This taste very similar to the big june plum. The fruit is sour and crisp. The dwarf june plum is not as crisp as the big one but still good. A lot better when eaten with the sauce.

One dip is chillies w/ salt. The other is 2 tbsp sugar + 2 chillies + 3 tsp fish sauce.

Small seeds. Some seeds so small you can eat them too.

Late Season Cherimoya

2010-04-30T15:53:00.003-04:00

The season for cherimoya is coming to an end soon. This is my second order for cherimoya. They are a little different in sizes and shapes compared to last week order. This could be because this is considered a late season for the cherimoya. I will have to wait until they are ripe to eat. This will take maybe 3 days. I will check them everyday just to make sure my cherimoya is not overripe. Feel and press the fruit to check if they are ripe or not. If it's soft when you press it then it's ripe. Make sure you check a couple spots on the fruit. Usually closer to the stem is where you can press to check. Then check the sides. Remember to wash before cutting the fruit!

The Pierce is sweet with some tart and graininess. Seedy compared to other varieties.

Cherimoya Taste

2010-04-27T18:46:00.007-04:00

After waiting for 3 days my cherimoyas are finally ripe. I'm very surprise of how sweet these fruits are. I got three varieties from Cherimoya.com. Now you probably want to ask which on is my favorite. Well, I have to say I like them all. They have a very slightly different taste to them.

Bays- Large, sweet, smooth, some chewiness, juicy. Flesh is white. Seed count is similar to Fino. (Bays can be crunchy when not ripen, but still sweet.)

Fino de Jete- Large-X large, stronger sweet than the Bays, smooth with grainy texture near the skin, a little of acidity, juicy. Flesh is cream color.

Lucida- Medium size, sweeter than Bays but not Fino, smooth, very chewy, juicy, slight acidity similar to Fino but more refreshing. Fewer seeds from Fino and Bays. Flesh is white like the Bays.

My family like the Lucida best because of it smooth, chewy, and sweet flesh even with that slight acidity. The acidity in the Lucida is actually refreshing. The second would be the Bays and then Fino. I think we didn't like Fino as much because it's more grainy. However, the fino is the sweetest of all and a softer fruit. I just placed another 3 orders of the cherimoya and 1 order of the white sapote.

Ok, ate the 3rd Fino and my mom now like the Fino better. So I conclude that each fruit is different even if they are the same variety and all of them are good.

Cherimoya Fruits

2010-04-24T22:13:00.012-04:00

I ordered some cherimoya on 4/20 and I got the fruits today. I have to say this is super fast shipping. I ordered from cherimoya.com. They also included 10 free lemons for me to make lemonade. :) The fruits are quite big. The largest one weigh more than 2lbs. The smallest one weigh about 1 lb. I got 2 orders so they weigh a total of 10 lbs. I requested for them to label these fruits but I guess they forgot. So I arranged the one that look alike together. I also numbered them so my tropical friends can help me identify which is which. I will now let them ripe for a couple days at room temperature. You will see how they look like on the inside later.:)

Can you identify them?

After asking Dario from cherimoya.com, he identified the cherimoya as the follow:

1. Bays

2. Bays

3. Fino de Jete

4. Fino de Jete

5. Fino de Jete

6. Fino de Jete

7. Fino de Jete

8. Lucida

Homemade Spicy XO Noodles

2010-04-23T22:36:00.007-04:00

This noodle is super good. I like it super spicy. Use less chillies if you don't like it spicy. Actually super hot is even better. So good and so hot it numbed my mouth...lol. Even my husband and sister-in-law like it. Yum Yum

Ingredients:

XO Pork Sauce:
1 cup ground pork
3 stalks green onion chopped
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 cup homemade xo sauce
2 1/2 cup water
2 tbsp ground dry chillies
Dried shallots

Method:

1. Heat pan with some oil then add in grounded dry chillies. Then add in pork. Stir fry until cook.
2. Add in oyster sauce, salt, sugar, dark soy sauce, and water. Cook for couple minutes.
3. Add in homemade xo sauce and stir fry. Do not let it dry, add some water if dry.
4. Add in chopped green onions.

Serve on noodles. Garnish with dried shallots.

Homemade Noodles:
2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp oil
1/3 cup water
couple drops yellow color

1. Combine all ingredients to form a dough. Knead for 15 minutes and let rest for 30 minutes.
2. Sprinkle table with flour. Use a rolling pin and roll dough out to very thin. Sprinkle flour as needed.
3. Roll the flat dough for easy cutting. (see pic)
4. Boil water and then add in the noodles. Boil until the noodles float. Test the noodle by taking a bit. It should be clear in the middle if it's cooked.
5. Rinse with cold water.

My Potted Sapodilla

2010-04-16T19:46:00.004-04:00

Time for some update on my two sapodilla trees. They are doing pretty well on pots. But I have to say it took a while for the fruits to get this size. I believe the flowers bloomed around summer of 2009 and then they were indoor for winter. So without the hot sun these fruits can take a year before they get full size.
This is the Hasya sapodilla. There are 12 fruits on this tree right now. The tree is 4-5 tall in a 7 gallon pot.

Hasya

This is the Makok sapodilla and it only have one fruit, but this is the largest fruit compared to the Hasya. The tree was bigger but then most of it was the seedling tree so I pruned a couple months ago. The grafted branches are growing new leaves. I think this fruit should be ready to pick in May. This tree is slower grower so it stayed in the 3 gallon pot for not.

New Indian Jujube

2010-04-09T18:29:00.003-04:00

I ordered this Indian jujube in December and it arrived today. I repotted the tree and I'm happy with the height of the tree. I'm somewhat upset with the broken branches. A few branches are broken not due to shipping but the person who tie it bent it too hard. I'm hoping the broken branches will heal later so I didn't cut them off. The leaves on the trees are young leaves so they got beat up during shipping.

I got my replacement gefner atemoya too. I'm a bit disappointed because there are only a couple strings of roots. I hope it will survive.

On the left is the Gefner atemoya.

Couple broken branches

Roots of the atemoya. Very little.

Peach Blossoms

2010-04-06T18:09:00.006-04:00

Who needs cherry blossoms when peach blossoms are so beautiful. :) I love cherry blossom and peach blossoms. I planted many dwarf peach blossoms and one weeping cherry blossom tree which it still didn't bloom. I planted 2 weeping peach blossoms and this one on the side of the house is just too beautiful. The blooms are double bright pink color.

These dwarf bonfire peach trees changes color from light pink to darker pink. They also bear edible peaches! So beautiful.

Wife Cakes (Loh Poh Peng)

2010-04-05T21:43:00.005-04:00

I love to eat these cakes. I love the coconut and the winter melon candies inside it. The skin of the cake is flaky and inside is chewy. I just love it. Thanks to Lily's Wai Sek Hong for sharing this recipe. I did modified it a little since I love more coconut and winter melon in the cake.

Ingredients:

Water dough

100g cake flour

25g icing sugar

25g butter (soften at room temperature)

40g water

Oil Dough

100g cake flour

50g shortening

Filling

60g Candied winter melon (chopped to bite size)

45g sugar

70g (Koh Fun)

18g shortening

15g roasted white sesame seeds

20g dessicated coconut

120g boiled water

Egg wash
1 yolk + 1 tsp water + pinch of salt

Method:

Filling:

Put all ingredients except winter melon candies into a big bowl and mix well. Then add in the winter melon. If too watery then you can cook it to slightly thicken.

Divide filling into 12 equal portions.

Water dough:

Knead soft butter with flour and icing sugar and then add in water to form a smooth dough.

Wrap dough and rest for 30 minutes.

Oil dough:

Rub shortening into flour to form dough.

Wrap and leave it aside to rest for 30 minutes.

Roll the water dough out and place the oil dough on top. Fold, press and roll out dough.
Fold again and roll out. Roll it up swiss roll-style and divide into 12. Try to form dough into balls. Fatten into a circular shape and place filling in the center.

Wrap it and flatten the cake a little. Preheated oven at 395°F.

Brush egg wash on each cake. Re-brush egg wash again for an even color.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Do not over bake as it will be more flaky and crispy.

Tips: I didn't have cake flour so I mixed all purpose flour with cornstarch. I also didn't have koh fun so I used glutinous rice flour and pan fry it on low heat.

Cake flour= 2 tbsp cornstarch+ all purpose flour=1 cup

Macapuno Ube Ensaymada

2010-03-29T21:24:00.006-04:00

This is such a delicious bread. My husband and I love to eat them! He asked me to make them again and again. But I need to stop since these are pretty fattening. I can only eat this once a month....lol. Thanks to Manang for sharing this recipe. I only make half the recipe each time since it usually takes us 3 days to finish them. I usually wrap each bread in a sandwich bag and eat them each day.:)

Here is the link to the recipe: Supersoft Ensaymada
I used macapuno and ube paste as fillings for these bread. After the bread is cooled I used whipped butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Please follow the instruction and not be like me.....:)
I realized that I didn't follow directions...lol. I forgot to divide the flour into 3. I poured all the liquid into the flour and started mixing it with my chopsticks, then I realized why the dough is so hard...lol. Then I went back and read the directions..lol. Oops. So I went and melt the butter and add in the egg and 2 egg yolks. Then mix everything together and leave it to let it rise for 2 hours. Then I beat it down and let it refrigerate for just another hour...hehehe

My New Fig Trees

2010-03-25T23:29:00.005-04:00

Hello everyone. Recently I got the fig bite and kept on wanting to own a couple fig trees. Not sure why either since I have not eaten a fig maybe over couple years. Why am I like this? Well, maybe because I went to the fig forum and saw that many people are growing these trees. So it must be good since many people are growing them and they own so many varieties...right? And plus after looking at hundreds of pictures and read hundreds of posts, I am convince that these are delicious fruits so I got to plant a tree or two. Deep into my research on fig trees I realized there are over hundreds of varieties. It gave me so much headaches trying to decide what to get. Originally I only plan to get 2, because I have no room for more since I have a lot of tropical fruit trees. But like the rest of the collectors I want and want.....so I ended up with 5. Thanks to Bass from TreesofJoy I get to spend a lot of money for a new hobby. My husband say I'm crazy!!! Sadly, I might have to agree with him.

Bass is from Bethlehem, PA and he is a really nice guy who grow hundreds of fig trees...in his backyard, front yard, greenhouse, and garage! He also have what I wanted pawpaw and jujube. He got some really good varieties and I'm sure I will be back this summer to help him eat his jujube and pawpaw....maybe I'll get to taste some fig too if my fig trees need another year to fruit. Before I met Bass, I thought he lives near or in a farm since he have so many trees. And I thought my gps too me to the wrong place when I was in front of his house....LOL

So here are my new babies. I do want to plant them in the ground but I might have to wait until they are larger since I am new and not sure how to protect them from frost. This is how they look like after I repotted them.

This is how they look like before I repot them.

This is how the Ronde de Bordeaux looks like when I took it out of the pot. Bass- you seriously needed to repot this tree a while ago.

I got two of the larger fig trees since I really want to taste some fig this year. But I really want to taste other good varieties so I got 3 small ones too. These were from the greenhouse.

This is how they look like without the pots. I was surprised since they were rooted with only perlite. I mixed those perlite with my potting soil, peat moss, and some slow release fertilizer. I read somewhere saying they like ph of 6 or 6.5 so I added some sulfur to slowly change the ph. I will need to get some garden lime next time. The sulfur was here since I needed to use on my lychee tree.

Steamed Milk Custard (Dun Nai)

2010-03-18T21:07:00.004-04:00

Another Hong Kong style dessert I must try. I made the steamed egg custard the other day and now I made the milk custard. I used some coconut milk and it tastes great. It's suppose to be healthy too!

Ingredients:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 egg whites
15 slices of ginger
3 tbsp sugar

Method:

1. Boil the coconut milk with ginger and sugar. Remove from heat and slowly add in the milk. Strain to remove the ginger. Try to squeeze out the ginger juice.
2. When milk is cooled then add into the egg whites. Using a fork to beat the egg whites and milk together. When almost all egg whites dissolve then strain again. Careful not to beat too hard to cause bubbles.
3. Pour the milk into 4 bowls and then cover with aluminum foil. Steam for 20 minutes.
4. Serve hot or chilled.

Stark Bros Trees

2010-03-17T16:29:00.003-04:00

So I ordered two persimmon trees, Hachiya Oriental and Ichi-Ki-Kei-Jiro. I also ordered Pennsylvania Golden Pawpaw. When I saw the box I was like wow, so tall. The trees must be tall too.... Well, I was disapponted after I opened the box. The trees are so small and all stick-figure.:( I had to wait for the trees to adapt to the outdoor weather before planting. Now it's time to dig some holes. Hopefully my trees will grow fast and fruit for me in another 2 years. I know pawpaw will takes at least 5-6 years. I will get another pawpaw but somewhere else.

Steamed Egg Custard (Dun Dan)

2010-03-15T20:08:00.005-04:00

I was watching this movie and in the movie they eat this steamed egg custard and it looks so good. So I had to make my own to try. I do like it and it's good hot or chilled. It is just like the silken tofu, so smooth and soft. This was very easy to make and eating it was even faster. This is the Chinese version of steamed egg custard. Dun means steam, dan means egg.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
340 ml water
60 gm rock sugar
5 slices of ginger
1 tsp custard powder (optional)

Method:

1. Boil the rock sugar and ginger in water. Strain out the ginger small particles and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.
2. Using a fork and slightly stir the eggs together.
3. Stir the custard powder into the syrup and then pour into the eggs. Stir and strain.
4. Heat a pot of water.
5. Pour the egg mixture into 4 small bowls or cups. Remove any bubbles. Cover the bowls with aluminum foil or plastic film. Do not let the foil touch the liquid.
6. Steam for 20 minutes.
7. Serve hot or chilled in the refrigerator.

***Adding the custard powder gives a darker nicer yellow.

Homemade XO Sauce

2010-03-08T19:06:00.003-05:00

I made this XO sauce and it's so good for noodles or stir-fry veggies. I love it!!! Save it in the refrigerator and you can use it when ever you want to stir-fry or mix with dry noodles.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried small scallops
1/2 cup dried small shrimps
1 1/2 cup olive oil
15 dried chillies
4-5 small shallots sliced
2-3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp msg
1/2 cup already fried shallot

Method:

1. Soak dried shrimps and scallops in different bowls for 6 hrs or overnight.
2. Drain the dried shrimps and place in chopper to give it a couple chop. Chop it coarsely.
3. Using hands tear the scallops in fine shreds. Then place in a pot and bring it to boil. Strain and squeeze out the water.
4. Place the dried chillies in chopper and chop finely. Set aside for later.
5. Slice the shallots thinly. Chop garlic finely.
6. Heat a wok and fry the shrimps for a minute and then scallops. Fry until lightly golden and then add in chillies. Fry for a minute and then add in shallots and garlic. Fry until shallot and garlic is somewhat dried.
7. Add in the salt, sugar, msg, and then oyster sauce. Now add in the fried shallots. Turn heat lower and stir until brown. Remember not to over cook as the scallop and shrimp will be too dry.
8. Let cool completely then refrigerate. This can keep refrigerate for at least 1 month.

Sugar Apple 1st fruit (Man Cau)

2010-03-05T16:56:00.003-05:00

I'm so excited because my first sugar apple fruit tastes so sweet and chewy!!! I planted this tree from seed three years ago. I call this tree the Canadian sugar apple because the seed was from the sugar apple we ate in Canada. It's just so exciting because the fruit is actually sweet, chewy and have a nice aroma. I love it!!! The best thing is I didn't pollinate the flowers for it to fruit. I think the flower was pollinated by the bee sometime in September. I picked the fruit in March 1st. So it took about 6 months for the fruit to ripe. Maybe it took this long because the tree was in the house since November. I'm surprise the skin is so thick but the meat close to the skin is sweet too.:) Now I will need to take extra care of this tree...hehehehe

Soybean Custard (Tau Fu Fa)

2010-03-03T18:50:00.005-05:00

Today I made this delicious soy bean custard. It is so smooth!!! I only made enough for me...hehehe. So if you want to make more then double the soy milk, gypsum powder, and cornstarch.

Ingredients:

1 liter soy milk
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp gypsum powder
1/4 cup water

Method:

1. Boil soy milk. Remove any bubbles.
2. Mix gypsum powder, cornstarch and water together. Mix well.
3. Pour the hot soy milk and gypsum mix together into a large bowl. Give it a real quick stir. Then cover with wet cheesecloth and cover. Let it sit for 1 hr without moving it.
4. Serve the custard with sugar syrup.

Sugar syrup:
1 cup water with 1 slab brown sugar. Boil until slightly thicken. (optional: add a couple slice of ginger if you want ginger taste.)

****Microwave the custard for a super hot dessert. It's so smooth that it'll slip down your throat before you know it.

Steamed Banana Cake (Banh Chuoi Hap 2)

2010-03-01T18:04:00.003-05:00

This banana cake is even better than the first version. You can use the regular banana and still tastes great!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 cup rice flour
2 cups water
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 bananas
yellow food color

Method:

1. Mix the starch and flour with water, sugar, salt, and yellow coloring.
2. Slice the ripe bananas into about 1/2 inch. Make sure not too thin. Stir the bananas into the flour mixture.
3. Heat a pot of water for steaming. Oil pan and steam the pan for a couple minutes. Now stir the banana mixture and pour into the pan. Pour about 1 inch high. Cover and steam for 5-10 minutes until the top is harden to pour in another layer. Repeat until all banana mixture is gone.
4. After finishing all the layers then steam for at least 40 minutes. Remove any extra water on top of cake. (Remember to add more water to the pot!!) Let the cake cool before cutting.
5. Serve with coconut milk, roasted peanuts and sesame.

Coconut Dip:

1 can 560 ml coconut cream
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp cornstarch
4 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

1. Mix everything together and stir constantly over heat. Once the coconut milk become thicken then it's done. Remember to taste and see if you need more sugar.

To serve:

1. Slice the cake side way so it have the diamond shape. Pour coconut milk over and sprinkle some roasted sesame and peanuts. Sesame can be roasted in mini oven on 350F until golden. Same with peanuts. Enjoy!!!

Rice Wine Dessert (Com Ruou)

2010-02-18T19:17:00.008-05:00

I had a craving for these rice wine after trying them in Texas. I really like the aroma of the rice. They're so sweet and smell so good. The one I bought is not chewy compared to the one I made. The reason for this is because I cooked my rice with the rice cooker instead of steaming. Steamed rice is too dry. Sometime you can taste some of the rice not cooked fully. Plus it is a lot easier to use the rice cooker. But the right way to do it is to steam the rice. This way your rice balls can be in perfect shape even after 3 days. You probably wonder what's that yellow stuff on top of the rice wine. The yellow stuff is osmanthus syrup, which smell really good too. :) I think I wanted to eat this because it have health benefits. Eat the rice wine in the morning to kill parasites in your body....:) I heard this is also good for woman after giving birth.

Ingredients:

2 cups glutinous rice
1 cup water (minus 2 tbsp)
1 tbsp sugar (optional)
1/2 tsp salt (about)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp ground ragi yeast

Method:

1. Wash the glutinous rice and cook with 1 cup water in the rice cooker.
2. After the rice is cooked, spread the rice on a plate. Add in the sugar and mix well. *Sugar for sweeter result.
3. After the rice is cooled, add in the yeast. One tbsp on top layer and one on the bottom. Try to mix the rice well.
4. Mix the salt with 1/2 cup water. Dip hands into the water and then take a piece of rice to form into a ball. Repeat for all the cooked glutinous rice and place in a container. Place the container in a warm area for fermentation.
5. You can serve the rice wine after 3 days or continue to ferment. Rice wine tastes best after refrigeration.

Fatt Koh (New Year Rice Cakes)

2010-02-16T19:10:00.007-05:00

For this New Year, I made this delicious fatt koh which means lucky cakes. Got to have some lucky cakes for New Year. This is also a good gift for for family and friends. This is my first time making this and I'm very happy it turns out well. It's great when it's warm. I have to say that it will get a little harder when it's cooled. But all you have to do is microwave for 20 seconds and it's nice and soft again. I used couple flavor to make the different color. I used some ube powder to make the purple, rose paste to make the darker pink, and strawberry jelly powder to make the lighter pink. I'm not including it in the recipe as you can just add coloring. These cakes are so good I'm going to make it again for my family. I think you can eat this any time of the year! The sugar amount is just good so it's not too sweet. Best of luck to everyone!

Fermenting yeast:
100 gm cooked rice (cooled)
1/2 tbsp ragi (chinese yeast ball pound into powder)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 - 1 tbsp water

Mix everything together and let it ferment for 3 days. The rice should be soften by then. ***I usually make some extra and after fermenting I just leave it in the refrigerator. It will last a long time and you can use it any time after. This way you don't have to wait for the fermented yeast when you need it right away.

Ingredients:

400 grams rice flour (about 1 bag minus 3 tbsp)
175 grams sugar (1 cup minus 2-3 tbsp)
415 ml water
90 grams fermented yeast (about 4 big full tbsp)
4-5 blades of pandan leaves (tie into knots)
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Boil the water and add in the sugar, salt and pandan leaves. Boil until all sugar melted. Remove the pandan leaves and let the sugar water cool.

2. Take some of the sugar water and blend with the 90 grams of fermented yeast. Then mix with flour and the rest of the sugar water. Mix well and then cover and leave at a warm area to ferment overnight or 10 hrs. After 8-10 hrs the mixture should bubble up and light.

3. Stir the mixture and then add in the baking powder. If you want to make different color then divide it into 4 parts. 60% for white since it will be used as the base. Then you can divide the other 3 equally. Let the mixture sit for another 15 minutes.

4. Heat the water for steaming. When the water is ready then you can place cupcakes paper into your molds. Now pour the base in first, at least 80% full and then add the other 3 colour on top. The molds should be 90% -100% full.

5. Steam over high heat for 15-20 minutes depending how large your mold is. Do not open when steaming.

***Note: If you want your cakes to have a extra big smile then use 1 tsp lime juice with 1 tsp water mix. Then use the toothpick to dip into the lime juice and then make a cross on the mixture before baking. Dip again for each cross.

Without using lime juice to make cross.

Used lime juice to make crosses before baking.

Happy Chinese New Year 2010!!!!

2010-02-13T03:17:00.004-05:00

I'm very happy this year as I got the ochna flower tree which is the New Year flower. This is a popular flower in Vietnam for New Year and they call it bong mai vang. Guess where I got this tree from. I got it when I went to Houston, TX to visit my brother-in-law on January 26. It was the day before we flew back to Philadelphia. I have to say I was so lucky...hehehehe. We got this tree from a Vietnamese nursery. They also sell them at the Asian supermarkets. There were some really big ones and one of them cost like $1000. It was a really old bonsai....so beautiful and tall. Too bad I could not afford to spend that much money on a tree. My tree cost $35 and it came with lots of flower buds. I got the shorter dwarf type since I could not fit the taller one in my suitcase. I wrapped it the morning before we leave with plastic film and removed the bottom half of the soil. I placed it in a carry on bag and carried all the way home. I lost some flower buds after unwrapping it but no broken branches. :) The tree is so beautiful when it blooming. I read that another name for this flower is called mickey mouse flower because it produce black seeds and it looks just like the mickey mouse. But the true Vietnamese Ochna does not produce black seeds. I observed the tree for a couple days after some of the flowers die and there was no black seed. I guess I got the real thing or maybe my tree is not old enough. However, I'll be more happy if I got the one with 7 or 9 petals which is more beautiful and have larger flowers. I'll keep on hunting until I get one of that. :) Happy New Year all. Wish this will be a prosperous year for everyone!

Chicken Sausage Sticky Rice (Xoi Man)

2010-02-10T17:09:00.004-05:00

Here is another great sticky rice. I think this is a great dish for Chinese New Year.

Ingredients:

2 cups glutinous rice (soak 4-6 hrs)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 links chinese sausage sliced
1 boneless chicken breast sliced
1/4 cup dried shrimps soaked 1 hr
1/4 large onion chopped
2 scallion onion chopped
2 shallots sliced
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp oil
2-3 tbsp water

Method:

1. Drain the glutinous rice and mix with 2 tbsp soy sauce. Steam for 20 minutes until rice is cook. If the rice is too dry then sprinkle some water on it.
2. Oil the the pan and fry the sausage then remove from pan.
3. Oil the pan again and fry the shallots until golden. Then add in the chicken and then dried shrimps. When chicken is cook then add in the onions.
4. Now add in the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and water. Mix well and add in the green onions and sausage.
5. Place all the cooked ingredients over the sticky rice. Serve warm.

Mung Bean Sticky Rice (Xoi Vo)

2010-02-02T17:55:00.004-05:00

Here is another Vietnamese sticky rice. I've never eat this before but my husband like it since it have a lot of mung bean with it. I like this after trying it. This it's very good since it have the aroma of the mung bean and chewy too. Add in some sesame sugar and it's super good.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup glutinous rice (soak 4+hrs or overnight)
1 1/2 cup split mung bean (soak 4+hrs)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3-4 tbsp coconut powder (optional)

Sesame sugar:
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp roasted sesame

Method:

1. Drain mung bean and steam for 20 minutes. After steaming then mash it finely.
2. Drain the glutinous rice and mix with the mashed mung bean. Add in the salt and mix well.
3. Steam the mung bean rice on a cheesecloth for 15 minutes. Then add in the sugar and coconut powder and stir well. Steam for another couple minutes until the rice is tender. The rice should taste and a little sweet. The rice should also be separated and not stick together.
4. Serve alone or with some sugar sesame. Remember to pound some of the sesame to give it more fragrance.

(Note: The right way to eat this is to press the sticky rice with hands before eating. For me I just use the spoon eat this.)

Homemade Soy Milk

2010-02-01T01:16:00.004-05:00

Nice hot soy milk is the best in this cold weather. Soy milk is also good when cold. Homemade soy milk is the best since you can taste more of the soybean and add your own sweetness. It's also cheaper to make your own.

Ingredients:

2 cups soybeans (soak 6 hrs or overnight)
5 liters water
1 cup sugar
6-8 pandan leaves (tie in knots)

Methods:

1. In a blender add in 2 cups of soaked soybeans and about 1 liter water and blend it well. Puree it for a couple minutes. (Remember not to fill the blender all the way as it will spill when blend. Do not need to use the full 1 liter water at a time. Can always add in at the end.)
2. Strain the liquid in a cheesecloth over strainer. Squeeze out the milk. (see below pics.)
3. Repeat until finish with soaked soybeans.
4. Strain the milk again before cooking.
5. Boil the the milk until slowly boiling with pandan leaves. Stir constantly to prevent burning to the bottom of pot. Also, need to keep an eye on the pot or it will boil and spill. Turn heat lower when milk become boiling. Add in sugar and stir well. Taste and add in more sugar if needed. Simmer for another couple minutes before removing from heat.
6. Strain hot soymilk again over cheesecloth before drinking. Let milk cool completely before storing in refrigerator.

Peanut Sticky Rice (Xoi Dau Phong)

2010-01-31T00:20:00.005-05:00

I have not eat this for a while and was craving for it. It is very easy to make. Make sure you cook the peanuts well.

Ingredients:

2 cups glutinous rice
1 cup raw peanuts

Garnish:

8 oz shredded coconut
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

1. Soak glutinous rice for 4 hours or over night.
2. Soak peanuts for 3 hrs and boil it for 40 minutes. Drain. (You actually don't need to soak the peanuts, but just cook longer.)
3. Drain glutinous rice and mix with peanuts. Steam the peanut glutinous rice for 20-30 minutes.
4. Steam the frozen shredded coconut for 15 minutes and let cool.
5. Roast sesame by frying in a pan until golden. Stir constantly when frying to prevent burning.
6. Mix the roasted sesame, sugar, and salt together. Pound the sesame for a little so it's more fragrance.
7. Serve the sticky rice with some shredded coconut and sugar mix.

Ensaymada Bread

2010-01-21T17:49:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Manang I can finally make my own ensaymada. I think this is a Philippines bread. The Korean store sell these breads and it cost like $2 for one. The one at the store is pretty good but kind of hard. It is always better to make your own. So hot off the oven and so soft when it's still warm. You can also add your own fillings. I made a mung bean filling for mine. I will try to make the super soft ensaymada with potato for the extra soft texture. I will try to add coconut and yam as fillings next time. Mmmm......

If you look at my recipe and method you can see I'm being lazy compared to Manang. I cut out a lot of steps since I was lazy....hehehe

Here is the similar recipe from Manang which I used my bread maker to knead the dough for me. This recipe makes 12 ensaymada. So if you think you can not finish this in one or two days then cut the recipe in half.

6 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar + 1 tbsp
2 envelopes FLEISCHMANN'S Instant Yeast
1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup milk ( I added couple tbsp of milk powder)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 large egg
3 egg yolks

Topping:
Softened butter at room temperature
Granulated sugar
grated white cheese (optional)

Method:

1. Heat the milk, water, and butter until warm and butter melted. Add in the sugar and stir well. Pour this warm but not hot liquid to the bread maker.
2. Add in the eggs to the bread maker. Then add in the flour and salt. Now close the bread maker and select for dough which it will only help you knead and prove the dough.
3. After the bread maker finish kneading the dough, take the dough out and cover it and let it prove for couple hours (4 hrs) or overnight until the dough double.
4. Now you can make your own fillings. The bread is still good without a filling.
5. When the dough is ready, divide it into 12. Using your hands, try to roll the dough out (see pic below) and add in your filling. Use some flour for dusting to prevent sticking to hands.
6. Dust your baking pan with some flour. Make the coil and then let the dough rest on the baking pan for another 20-30 minutes. Cover the dough when letting it rest (see pic below).
7. Heat the oven 350 F. Bake the dough for 15-20 minutes until golden. Remove from heat and let it cool on a rack to prevent bottom from sweating.
8. When the bread is just warm you can now spread it with butter. You will notice if the bread is too hot then the butter will melt away. So only spread when it's warm. After spreading with butter then dip the bread in the sugar. Or you can sprinkle the sugar all over the bread.
9. Serve warm or on the same day if you want that soft texture. The bread will be harder the next day or two but still good. I put the left over in individual sandwich bag to store for the next day.

Hollow Breads (Banh Tieu)

2010-01-19T18:29:00.011-05:00

Here is one of my favorite snack! Banh Tieu is a Vietnamese snack. It should be round, slightly sweet and crunchy with a hollow center. I call this a hollow bread since I used bread flour to make this. And it does taste like fried bread...lol. I like mine sweeter so I added more sugar to my recipe. Sweeter does taste better...hehehe. I can eat this for a couple days. I usually just put the left over in the oven to heat up and it'll be crunchy again. Yum Yum...

Ingredients:

290 g bread flour (2 cups)
150 ml water
100 g sugar (about 1/2 cup, add another tbsp for sweeter)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp baking powder
Sesame seeds

1. Take 50 ml water and microwave for 20 seconds or until the water is warm. Add in 1 tbsp sugar and the instant yeast. Let the yeast double or bubble up. Should just be a couple minutes.
2. Mix the left over sugar with 100 ml and stir until the sugar dissolve.
3. Mix the baking powder with the flour and salt. Then mix in the sugar water and then yeast water. Knead into a soft dough. If it's too dry then add in just a little bit more water.
4. Cover and let the dough rest for at least couple hours (3-4 hrs) or overnight until the dough double or triple in size. If you want it to prove faster, put it in the oven with the oven light on. Remember you must cover the dough.
5. Take the dough out and knead for one minute. Then divide the dough into 10 balls. The balls should be a little larger than a extra large egg. (Cover those that is not being used.)
6. Dip the ball in the sesame seeds on both sides. Then coat with some extra flour and roll the balls into flat circles. The flatness should be less than 1/2 inch. If your circles are thicker then you'll have a thicker filling. If it's too thin then you'll have nothing in the middle.
7. Heat a frying pan with enough oil to fry. Slide the flat dough into the oil and it will start to float. Gently try to push it with your chopstick and it should puff up. After it puff up then flip to fry the other side. Fry until golden. Frying should be quick so don't leave it alone or it'll be black!

Note: The longer you prove the dough the easier it will puff. Try to wiggle the flat dough when frying in hot oil. This will helps it puff.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-15T20:01:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! Wonder why I've not been posting lately? Well, it took me a week to finish the left over after our New Year party. Even though friends took some food home I still had so much food left! It was a great party with mostly Vietnamese food and desserts. Too bad I didn't get to take a picture of everything.

Hope every is having a great start for 2010.

Sweetheart Lychee Blooming- December 2009

2009-12-27T18:23:00.008-05:00

What an exciting year this is. The lychee bloom spikes started mid November. There are a lot of bloom spikes for my 6 ft tall sweetheart lychee! It was disappointing at first since there were only female flowers and no male flower at all. Female flowers bloomed on December 14 and not until December 27 where I got some male flowers. I think there are only 10% of male flowers. It's not easy to pollinate these flowers. A brush will not work since there are some nectar around the flowers causing the brush to get very sticky. So what I did was to collect some male flowers with my tweezer and then use the tweezer to clip the male flowers and brush it on the fresh female flowers. Cross my fingers and hope I will get some fruits. I will continue to do this pollination for the next few days until all my flowers are gone.

December 1. Still just bloom spikes.

12-14. Some female bloomed.

12-18. Still just female flowers.

12-21. More female flowers

12-15. More female flowers

12-25. The bloomed female ovaries are larger.

12-27. Finally some male flowers!!!

Here are a lot of female flowers without pollination since there was no male flower. Somehow the ovaries still swell up. We will see if these will fall off later or not.

Me trying to pollinate with my tweezer...lol

Flaky Taro Mooncake Pastry

2009-12-24T21:40:00.007-05:00

I just had a feeling of wanting to eat some puff pastry. So I went and google some recipes for flaky pastry. There are some recipes for yam pastry but I only have taro. So I decided to make my own taro pastry. The truth is I've never eat this pastry before. I think they do sell them as mooncakes but never had a chance to taste these. The result is very good...except the color was gone after I fried the pastry! I need to bake them next time instead of frying. I think this is also good if I make a salty fillings. Got the dough recipe from auntyochana blog. Sure will make these again next time.

Fillings:

500 gm steamed and mashed taro
145 gm sugar
1 cup water
4 tbsp all purpose flour

Method:

1. In a pot heat the water and sugar together. You can add a little purple to give the filling a darker color. Then add in the mashed taro.
2. Stir well and then turn heat low. Taste and if you need to add more sugar then add more. Now slowly add in one tablespoon of flour at a time until the mixture is thicken but not so thick that you can't stir.
3. Remove from heat and let it cool down before forming balls. After cooling the taro will be harder and easier to shape. Make 16 balls then place them in the refrigerator to continue cooling. (Note: If it's too sticky then use some flour on hands before handling the taro.)

Water Dough:

200 gm all purpose flour
1/2 tsp white vinegar
50 gm shortening
30 gm sugar
100 gm water

Oil Dough:

180 gm all purpose flour
100 gm shortening

Method:

1. For water dough, mix water, sugar, and vinegar. Mix to flour and add in shortening. Knead to a soft dough. Let rest for 20 mins. Divide into 4.
2. Knead flour and shortening together for oil dough. Divide into 4 parts.
3. Know flatten the water dough and place the oil dough in the middle. (see pics below). Roll it out and then fold and roll out again. Then roll it into a swissroll and cut into 4 pieces. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
4. Flatten each piece of dough and you will see the spiral. Place the taro ball in the middle of the dough and wrap it. Remember the pretty side on the outside so when you fry you can see the spiral.
5. Heat oil and fry until golden. It should only be two to three minutes since we do not need to heat the filling. Only need the dough to cook.

Sago Dumpling w/ Mung Bean (Che Bot Bang)

2009-12-17T15:35:00.009-05:00

Here is another Vietnamese dessert which my hubby loves to eat. He can eat four of these at one sitting. And he wanted more the next day. This must be really good...lol. I had some left over mung bean from my fried glutinous rice balls so I decided to make this good dessert. Remember to cut this recipe in half if serving for less than 4 people...:)

Ingredients:

2 cups of green tapioca pearls (soak in water for 1 hr or more)
4 tbsp tapioca starch
4 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp pandan paste

1 can 19 oz coconut cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp tapioca starch

Filling:

200 grams hulled mung bean
1/4 cup+ 1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp all purpose flour

Method:

1. Cook the mung bean with some water until tender. Remove excessive water and continue to cook until very soft. Take the mung bean out and use a potato rice to mash the mung bean.
2. Place the mung bean back in the pot and add in sugar. Mix well and continue to cook until dry. Slowly add in the all purpose flour until the mixture is thicker. Remove from heat and let cool.
3. While still warm, rub your hands with some flour and make the mung bean paste into small balls. It should be a size of half an egg or as small as you want. Let the mung bean balls to cool and place in refrigerator.

4. Drain soaked tapioca pearls and add in the tapioca starch, sugar, pandan paste. Mix together gently.
5. Oil some small bowls and place some tapioca pearls into the bowl. Then place the mung bean in the middle. Add some more tapioca pearls to cover the mung bean (see below). Just add enough and not too much.
6. Steam for 8 minutes or until the tapioca is translucent. Do not over cook this!

7. Heat a pot and add in the water, coconut cream, sugar, salt. Bring to slow boil and taste. Add more sugar if necessary. In a bowl add in tapioca starch and 3 tbsp water. Slowly add this mixture into the coconut sauce to thicken it. Remove from heat.

8. Now scoop the sago dumplings into the coconut soup. (Note: if you know you could not finish the dessert then do not add all of the sago dumplings into the soup. You can always make more coconut milk for the sago dumplings later.)

9. Serve with some roasted sesame.

Fried Glutinous Rice Balls (Banh Cam & Banh Ran)

2009-12-15T23:12:00.008-05:00

I've been wanting to make my own fried glutinous rice balls. I was actually craving for the one with syrup on it. The rice balls is like $0.75 each at the store....guess it's a lot cheaper to make my own. These taste pretty good. Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The sweetness is just perfect. My first time making this snack too! Yummy yummy.....

Ingredients:

3 cup glutinous rice flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1 cup mashed yam (about 125 grm)
250 ml water
65 grams sugar (about 5 tbsp)
1 tsp baking powder
Sesame

Filling:

200 grams hulled mung bean
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp all purpose flour

Method:

1. Cook the mung bean with some water until tender. Remove excessive water and continue to cook until very soft. Take the mung bean out and use a potato rice to mash the mung bean.
2. Place the mung bean back in the pot and add in sugar. Mix well and continue to cook until dry. Slowly add in the all purpose flour until the mixture is thicker. Remove from heat and let cool.
3. While still warm, rub your hands with some flour and make the mung bean paste into small balls. It should be a size of half an egg or as small as you want. Let the mung bean balls to cool and place in refrigerator.

4. Mix the glutinous, rice flour, baking powder, and mash sweet potato together. Mix sugar in water and stir well. Then mix water with flour. Knead into a dough. (I used the bread maker to help me knead). Leave dough to rest for 2 hrs.

5. The dough should be soft but not wet to handle. Divide the dough into balls double the size of the mung bean ball.
6. Flatten the dough (see pic below) and place the mung bean in the middle. Wrap it up and roll it in the palm into a round ball. Then roll it on the sesame. Remember the skin should not be too thick.
7. Heat enough oil to to cover at least halve the rice balls. The heat should be medium and fry the rice balls slowly. With the heat on medium, the dough can slowly expand and not explode. Fry until fluffy and golden brown.

(Note: It'll be crispy while still warm. When the glutinous rice balls get soft, you can heat it in the oven and it will by crispy again.) You will have some mung bean balls left. You can save this and make more dough for it the next day or make sticky rice dumpling with it.

Sweet Mung Bean Soup w/ Coconut Cream (Che Tao Xon)

2009-12-14T02:44:00.005-05:00

Time for more dessert again. This is a Vietnamese dessert. If you love mung bean then this is the dessert for you. For Vietnamese, almost every dessert eats with coconut milk. This is a big pot of dessert that you can eat for two days or maybe three if it's just you and another person. I think this pot can serve at least 6 people. Reduce the amount if you're just planning for two people.

Ingredients:

300 grams split hulled mung bean (soaked for overnight or at least 2 hrs)
270 gram rock sugar (use the yellow type)
6 cups water
1 tsp yellow coloring (just about)
7 tbsp tapioca starch
1/2 cup water

Coconut Sauce:

1 can 19 oz coconut cream
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp tapioca starch
1/4 cup water

Method:

1. Drain soaked mung bean and steam over cheese clog until soft but not mushy. Maybe 20-30 minutes is enough. The mung bean should still hold it's shape.

2. Boil 6 cups of water. Add in the rock sugar and stir. When rock sugar melt, add in the yellow food color and stir. It should be light yellow but not too light.

3. Now mix 1/2 cup water with 7 tbsp tapioca starch and set aside to use later.

4. While the sugar water is boiling, pour in the steamed mung bean slowly. Us the chopsticks to stir gently.

5. Now stir your tapioca mixture and pour it in slowly and the other hand should keep on stirring the mung bean soup. Reason for not pouring in all at once is because we do not want chunks of tapioca forming. We want the soup to be smooth. Stop pouring in the tapioca mixture once the soup is thicken. We do not want the soup to be too thick or too watery. If the soup is still watery after you pour the whole tapioca mixture in then mixture some more tapioca mixture to add to the soup.

6. Remember to turn off the heat once the soup is thicken. We do not need to cook this any longer since the mung bean is already cooked. We want the mung beans to still have its shape.

7. In a separate pot, mix 1 can (19oz) coconut cream, with 1/2 cup water, 2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and bring to slow boil. Remember to stir. Mix 1 tbsp tapioca starch with 1/4 cup water to thicken the coconut sauce. If you still have the left over starch for the mung bean then use some of that. You do not need to use the whole mixture, just use enough to make the coconut sauce thicken and creamy.

8. To serve, pour some mung bean soup in a bowl and top with lots of coconut sauce.

Of course I add more coconut sauce than this! :)

Time to eat my Priestly Atemoya (Man Cau)

2009-12-04T11:48:00.002-05:00

So I picked some more of the fruits on my priestly atemoya two days ago. The fruits are finally ripe and ready to eat. But I think it's more exciting to look at the fruits than to eat it. This tree I got from Top Tropicals is supposed to be Priestly, but now I'm not sure if it's a 48-26 or priestly because the fruit is pinkish. The smell of the fruit is good but not as strong as the sugar apple. The taste is not so sweet...but around the seed around is sweeter. It's also chewy. Guess next year I will fertilize the tree more. I will also change the pot to a larger pot. The two largest weigh around 7.7-8.5 oz.

2 in 1 Taro/Tapioca Sweet Soup (Che Khoai Mon Khoai Mi)

2009-12-03T02:51:00.009-05:00

Feel like eating dessert and I have taro and tapioca at home. So I created this special 2 in 1 combo of taro and tapioca together. It's very interesting because you can taste the flavor of the taro and the chewiness of the tapioca. The tapioca pearl and coconut milk is a great soup for this dessert. Eat it cold and the taro/tapioca is even more chewy.

Ingredients:

1 lb taro
1 1/2 lb grated tapioca (yuca)
1 cup glutinous rice flour
1 cup coconut cream
4 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup tapioca pearl
4 cup water
1 can 19 oz coconut cream
1 1/4 cup sugar

Method:

1. Chop the taro into chucks and steam it until soft. Approximately 30 minutes.
2. After taro is soft, mash it with a potato ricer or with a big spoon.
3. Mix the mashed taro, grated tapioca, sugar, and salt together.
4. In the cup of coconut cream, mix 6 drop of red and 4 drop of yellow coloring together to make purple. Mix this with the glutinous rice flour into paste and add into the taro/tapioca. Mix well.
5. Heat a pot of water to steam. Oil the pans and steam the cake for 30 minutes.

6. In a pot heat some water to cook tapioca pearl. Cook it until it's somewhat translucent and strain.
7. In a pot boil 4 cup water and add in the coconut cream. Add in the cooked tapioca pearl and sugar. Put it on simmer.
8. Cut the taro/tapioca cake and drop each piece into the coconut soup. The soup is finish after adding the taro into the soup. *Do not cut the cake too small as it will be mushy.

Note: This soup will become thicken once it's cool. Cook another can of coconut milk with water and some sugar to add into the soup. Once you cook this again the next day it tastes even better. Very creamy and have the taro aroma.

Homemade Chinese Knife Shave Noodles (Dao Xiao Mian)

2009-12-02T20:30:00.004-05:00

Today I made the famous Chinese Dao Xiao Mian, which means knife shave noodles. This is a very popular noodle where you use a knife to shave the dough into thin flat noodles and into the hot water. I have never eat this noodle before but saw this in movies and everyone seem to say it's good. So I got to try it for myself since it's hard to find a Chinese restaurant that sell this. It's actually not too hard with the knife I got back from China. I think if you have a thin sharp knife you can do it. Or you can roll it out flat and then cut it into thin flat strips. The noodle is good and chewy. This soup I just made it to eat with this noodle. Not sure how the original soup taste like. A great success today and will make this again in the future.

Ingredients: Dough

3 cup all purpose flour
1 cup rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
about 2 cup water
1 tsp salt

Method:

1. Mix everything together and knead into a dough. Knead it for 10-15 minutes. If it's too wet then add a little more flour. The dough should not be too soft. 2. Let it rest for another 15 minutes. (I cheat on this and use the bread maker to knead it for me. Use about 1 2/3 water for this. Just let the machine knead into a smooth dough. Should be 10 minutes or so.)
2. Boil water to shave noodles in. *Wait and do the soup first.

Soup:

1 1/2 lb ground meat
1 cup dried shrimp soaked for an 1 hr or more (use 2 cup water)
10 cup water
6 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp crab paste

1. Mix the ground meat with 2 tsp oyster sauce, 2 tsp fish sauce, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp ground pepper, and 2 tsp of the minced garlic. Mix this well so the meat stick together.
2. In a pot heat 2 tbsp oil. Add in the 2 tsp minced garlic and stir to prevent burn. When turning brown add in the dried shrimps. Do not throw the water away and use it after you stir the shrimp a little.
3. Now add in the water. Let the soup bring to boil then turn fire down to let it simmer.
4. In another pan heat about 2 tbsp oil add in the crab paste. Stir it and then add in the meat. Stir until it is half cook and then add into the soup.
5. Bring the soup to boil and then add in taste. I add in about 2 tsp salt, 3 -4 tsp fish sauce, 2 tsp sugar. Add more fish sauce to taste. Just let the soup simmer while you boil water for the shave noodles.

Serving: Place strained noodles in a bowl and add in some chopped chives. Then add in hot boiling soup.

Baked Tapioca Cake w/ Coconut (Khoai Mi Nuong)

2009-12-02T00:17:00.007-05:00

Since I have not eat this for a while I decided to make this and I like it with grated coconut because it gives a more chewy and firmer texture. Plus the added coconut milk really make this a great dessert. I think if the cake is thinner then it will also be chewier. I like the top brown part as it's the chewiest part of the cake. :)

Ingredients:

2 lbs grated tapioca (yuca)
1 1/2 cup grated coconut
1 cup sugar
1 cup coconut cream (try not to shake the can and use only the top part)
2 eggs slightly beaten first
1/4 cup oil
1/2 tsp salt
yellow coloring

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 350F.
2. Mix everything together and add in yellow color.
3. Oil a pan or pans. Remember too thick is not good so 1 to 1 1/2 inch is good enough.
4. Bake the cake for at least 1 hr or more depending on how thick the cake is. Bake until brown. (Usually if the cake is thick then bake for 1 1/2 hr.)
5. Take cake out and let cool completely before cutting.

(Note: If you want a faster baking time then you should microwave the mixture 1 minute a time for about 8 time. This will make the mixture thicken and reduce the baking time by about half.)

***To save time from grating the tapioca, you can purchase the frozen grated tapioca. With this you should drain the excess water if you don't want your cake to be too soft.

A Surprise With My Atemoya (Man Cau)

2009-11-25T01:44:00.003-05:00

Hehehe... I was just talking to my husband if we should pick the two largest atemoya from the tree and let it ripe or not. So I went and look at the 10 fruits on my so called Priestly tree. I notice one of them at the stem part was a little open...as an expert..lol...this is a sign of the fruit being ripe. So I touch it and pull on it gently. Hahahaha...to my surprise the fruit came off. But it was just this little fruit. So I open it up and taste it...lol. It smell great and chewy too. It could be because it's not fully ripe the fruit was not that sweet. But it was white and at the texture that I like. I hope the other is chewy and sweet. :)

New Bread Maker

2009-11-24T22:17:00.003-05:00

So I finally got a bread maker. I've been wanting one so I don't have to knead dough anymore...lol This is my first white bread and it's not bad. I made it extra sweet so I can just eat it plain. In the future..maybe tomorrow, I will use this to knead dough for steamed buns. My life will be easier now that I don't have to knead dough...hehehehe. This bread maker was on sale for $60 at Macy's. It actually look pretty nice.

November Update of Tropical Fruit Trees

2009-11-23T01:22:00.006-05:00

This is an exciting year as many of my trees are doing very well. I might get to eat some of the fruits this December.

My guava have tons of fruit on it. However, since it will not receive any sunlight for the next couple months, the fruits might not reach it's largest size. Might end up like last year where the fruit will be small with no taste. But it's still a good look tree...:)

The dwarf june plume (koc) also doing very well. But not sure when is the time to eat the june plum as it is still to small for me.

My Priesty Atemoya (man cau) is doing extremely well as it bearing 10 fruits. The two largest one might be ready to eat...hehehe. I seriously think this is a Lisa Atemoya since the skin is pinkish. I also found that there is a small piece of plastic that say Lisa on it. I think the nursery sent me the wrong tree. Too late to do anything about it now...lol

Lots of flowers and fruits on my sapodilla also...but not sure if they fruits will make it or not. The largest one is bigger than a quarter now.

My seed grown sugar apple is bearing it's first fruit and I didn't even pollinate it this year! The fruit is getting larger each week...can't wait to see how this one taste.

A surprise this year as my sweetheart lychee is blooming! Yes, I got this lychee tree last year and this year it's blooming. The key is to leave it outside until middle of November then bring it in. That gives it's chilling hours and now blooming. Hope the bloom will stay on and turning into fruits. So excited.

Purple caimito need to be in a larger pot. Will need to change it in spring. Lots of leaves fell off...not sure if it's because of the root bound or not.

My santol tree is taller...but still no sign of flower. Guess I will need to wait for another year..or few...:(

Hahahha...this is my jungle in the basement. I still need to move my dragon fruit in. This place will be packed with tropicals. Maybe I should move the santol upstairs once it snow.

Steamed Banana Cake (Banh Chuoi Hap)

2009-11-02T17:21:00.008-05:00

We have some ripe bananas so I decided to make steamed banana cake. This is another Vietnamese dessert which is good with coconut milk or make it into che, sweet soup. This is my first time making it. The result is good...actually it was pretty good. I ate a big plate of it...yumm... This kind of cake is a little chewy since we used tapioca starch.

Ingredients:

10 ripe bananas
3 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup rice flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 1/2cup water
1 tsp salt
few drops of yellow color

Method:

1. Mix the starch and flour with water, sugar, salt, and yellow coloring.
2. Slice the ripe bananas into about 1/2 inch. Make sure not too thick or thin. Stir the bananas into the flour mixture.
3. Heat a pot of water for steaming. Oil two large pans and steam the pans. Now stir the banana mixture and pour into the pan. Pour about 1 inch high. You can make the cake thicker but this will take longer to steam. Steam for at least 40 minutes. Remove any extra water on top of cake. Let the cake cool before cutting.

Coconut Dip:

1 can 560 ml coconut cream
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp cornstarch
4 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

1. Mix everything together and stir constantly over heat. Once the coconut milk become thicken then it's done. Remember to taste and see if you need more sugar.

To serve:

1. Slice the cake side way so it have the diamond shape. Pour coconut milk over and sprinkle some roasted sesame and peanuts. Sesame can be roasted in mini oven on 350F until golden. Same with peanuts. Enjoy!!!

Note: You can cook some tapioca pearl to add into the coconut milk to make sweet soup. For this you do not need the add cornstarch to the coconut milk. The tapioca pearl will thicken the soup. Remember to add more sugar for taste.

Steamed Rice Cake with Dried Scallops (Banh Duc Man)

2009-10-29T20:14:00.005-04:00

Had a craving for this cake since I have not eat it for a while. So I decided to make this my way based on what I have at home. Usually my mom make this and make it with fresh rice. But then you have to soak the rice overnight and blend it. Making it with rice flour is so much easier. My first time making and the result was great!!! You can always replace the dried scallop with ground meat.

Ingredients:

1 bag rice flour 400 grm
50 gram cornstarch (about 1/3 cup cornstarch)
50 gram of cooked rice
1.6 liter water
1 can coconut cream (400 ml)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

Topping:

1 1/2 cup dried shrimps soak overnight
7-8 XL dried scallops soak overnight (and shredded after soaking)
1 1/2 cup fried red onion
4-5 cloves chopped garlic
1/4 cup chopped fresh scallion

Seasoning:

1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp fish sauce

Method:

1. Combine rice flour and cornstarch to with 1 liter of water and mix well.
2. In a blender blend the cooked rice with 600ml water. Place the mixture in a pot with 1 scoop of the rice flour mixture and heat until hot but not boiling. Remember to stir as it will stick to the bottom of pan. Add this hot mixture into the rice flour mixture and stir will pouring. Mix well.
3. Add in the coconut milk and stir well. Add in the salt and sugar.
5. Heat a pot of water for steaming. Oil a 12 inch pan. The pan should be at least 4-5 inches high. After the water boil, place the pan in to heat.
6. Once the pan is heated up, stir the rice flour mixture and pour in about 2 cups. Cover and steam for 10-15 minutes until the top is firm enough to pour a second layer. Repeat until all mixture is gone. Remember to add more water for steaming as it will dry up.
7. After the final layer, steam it for another 30-40 minutes until the cake kind of separate from the pan. Let the cake cool a little.

Topping:

1. While the cake is steaming, shred the soaked scallop. Heat a small pot of water and boil the shredded scallops for 1 minute and then drain.
2. Chop the dried shrimps in small chunks.
3. Heat a pan with some oil. Fry the garlic until golden and stir in the dried scallop and shrimps. Stir until the scallop and shrimp are brownish and somewhat dry. Add in seasoning and stir will. Taste and add more if needed. Now add in the scallion and stir. Add in the fried red onion and stir. Leave to cool. Add the topping to the cake.

Fish Sauce:

10 tbsp sugar
8 tbsp fish sauce
3 cup water
1 1/4 lime
4-5 cloves of garlic
3-4 chillies

Chop the garlic and chillies finely. Add in the lime juice, sugar and water. Mix well and then add in the fish sauce. Better to add in the fish sauce slowly and taste it before adding more. Taste and add more. The sauce should be spicy, kind of sweet, and tasty with some sour.

***Eat the cake with the fish sauce. The sauce is not for dipping but to pour over the cake. Only pour over the one you're eating. The cake can be refrigerate and microwave again when eating. If you don't want to use coconut milk then just use water.

Back from China

2009-10-24T11:15:00.007-04:00

China trip was great! Ate a lot and walked a lot. Traveled to 5 cities in 11 days. We went to Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Yangshuo, and Shanghai. Visited Forbidden City, Tiananmen Gate Tower, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, Ming Tombs and Sacred Way, Imperial Garden of Qing Dynasty, Hutong Culture by Rickshaw, Terra Cotta Army sight, Xian City Wall, Shaanxi History Museum and Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Reed Flute Cave, Elephant Trunk Hill, cruised Li River to Yangshuo, cruised Huangpu River in Shanghai and visited the Site of First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. We finally walked the Great Wall of China....just a small part of it.:) The steps were over a foot high! We also visited some of the local supermarkets for snacks! A great trip! Now I have to save my vacation again so I can visit other countries. Here are some pictures to share. :)

Garden Update September

2009-09-13T22:04:00.004-04:00

I have been so busy with work, wedding, and dieting that I have no time to cook anything new. So I decided to share more pictures of my garden. Very excited that I might get more than one fruit this year....Lol.

This year there are 10 Priestly atemoya on the tree. All are growing larger but still growing very slowly. I think I will have to wait until December to eat them...if they don't fall off before then. :)

My dwarf june plum planted from seeds. This is the second year so the fruits are a lot larger than the one from last year. Maybe I can eat them this time. Last year was only for look since the fruits were like nickle size. That tree die afterward. So it's better not to let the tree fruit the first year. :)

I have 2 sapodilla trees (hasya and makok). Both have tons of flowers and fruits on it. I didn't even pollinate them. I did saw a lot of tiny flies and bees around the trees. The hasya is faster growing than the makok. The hasya is over 5 ft tall already so I pruned the tip off to let it branch out.
makok

Hasya

This year was a surprise with the dragon fruit. Not sure if it's because of the fertilizer I used or just because it's old and heavy to bud. There are at least 7 flower buds for my magenta dragon fruit. Some did fell off before I get a picture of it. Hopefully I will get to try my dragon fruit this year. :)

First time for the yellow dragon fruit to flower. As you can see it is different than the magenta one. There is only one flower so not sure how it will pollinate. :(

There are a lot of fruits on my guava tree. The first and second year was not that good. The fruits were small and tasteless. The tree seem to be happy this year plus I placed the pot out in the yard where it gets full day of sun. I also changed the pot to a 20 liter pot.

Papaya are doing great..except they kept on being knocked over by the wind. :(

Here are my Bonfire dwarf peach trees. This tree was bought for it's dwarf size and because of it's red leaves. Also, the flowers are a beauty on the naked tree in the spring. This year fruits are larger! However, the darn squirrel stole most of them. I need to order some pepper spray or net to keep the squirrel away next year. Just pruned the tree today.

This peach tree is less than 3 ft with edible peaches...lol

This is an Asian melon (dua gia). It tastes like cantaloupe and honeydew without the sugar. Since this melon is not so sweet you add sugar and ice to it. Not sure what is going on but this plant is dying. There are some white powder stuff on the plant. It could be of a disease of because of the cold nights we had lately. There are 5 large melons. I think one might be ready to eat...hehe :)

Going to eat this one soon...lol

Edible elephant ears.

I ordered this plant 2 years ago and thought it was dead since I planted on a snowy day. Since it was just leaves and branches for 2 years I couldn't remember what kind of plant it was. But good thing it bloomed this year and the flowers are beautiful. This is a hydrangea. Thought it was white but some flowers are pink. I remembered I ordered a blue....hmmmm.. I think maybe if I stick some nails in the ground it might change the acid of the soil and the flowers will turn blue.

Fresh Pennywort Drink (Rau Ma)

2009-08-26T21:19:00.004-04:00

This drink was made out of the pennywort that I planted a couple months ago. So refreshing and healthy!!!

Medicinal uses: Pennywort is used for purifying the blood and curing nervous conditions and is said to be 'good for the eyes'. It is also one of the herbs used in tonics to improve the memory. Eating 2 leaves each day is said to relieve the pain of arthritis and it is sold in plant nurseries as 'the arthritis herb'.

This drink also have a cooling effect on the body and great for the skin.

Ingredients:

Fresh pennywort (use enough to fill two blender)
3 bottle of cold water (60 oz)
9 tablespoon sugar

Methods:

1. Wash the pennywort and rinse it many times to get rid of the dirt. If the pennywort is too long then cut it shorter. Use every part of it except the roots.
2. Fill the blender with pennywort and 1 1/2 bottle of water. Blend it until it's smooth.
3. Strain the drink and place the blended leaves back into blender. Now fill the rest of the pennywort in to the blender and add in another 1 1/2 bottle of water. Blend it well.
4. Strain the drink mixture. Using your hand to squeeze out the liquid from the pennywort.
5. Strain again a second time and place some of the drink into a clean blender and add in 9 tablespoon sugar. Blend it until sugar dissolved.
6. Now mix the two liquid together stir to even out the flavor.
7. Serve as it is or with some ice. Refrigerate the left over.

Note: you can add as much pennywort as you want to make the drink more concentrated.

August Tropicals Update

2009-08-13T23:07:00.002-04:00

Ok...here is an update of my tropical fruit trees. I'm pretty happy this year as all my trees are doing well. They are growing fast and some are fruiting as well.

From second floor window looking down.

Priestly atemoya

About 10 fruits on atemoya tree.

Hasya sapodilla

Some fruits on Hasya sapodilla

Dwarf june plum

June plum with some fruits

Another dwarf june plum

Makok sapodilla

One big fruit on Makok

Sweetheart lychee more leaves

Guava with lots of flowers

Lots of fruits

Sugar apple from seed 2+ yrs old. Now have lots of flowers but I have to pinch them off so it can grow larger.

Thai Lessard sugar apple

Caimito fruit tree (purple)

48-26 atemoya

Santol

Seed grown atemoya

Soursop growing more leaves

Mix of magenta, yellow, white dragon fruit

One flower on dragon fruit

Seed grown papaya from 08

Seed grown sugar apple 9/08

Dwarf pomegranate

Mix of cactus flowers

Vietnamese Veggies and Herbs

2009-08-04T11:42:00.002-04:00

Sorry I have not been posting recipe lately.....that's because I'm on a diet preparing for my coming wedding in October. So stressful!!! Anyway...this year I have an interest in planting rare vegetables and herbs. So we built an small area in the back and planted some hard to find edibles. Actually, you can buy the veggies and herbs at the store...but of course they're not cheap anymore. I'm thinking maybe I can sell some of these rare things next year so people who want to plant them in the US can do so....and a way to support me getting more tropicals...hehehe

This is how it looks like after a month or so.

This is how they look like when I planted them in June.

Some of the seeds grew shortly after a week or two weeks in June. The yam leaves were from the supermarket. The bottom was too hard to eat so I planted them. After a month or so you can have more yam leaves to eat. Just harvested some yesterday and they were looking good.

Coffee Coconut Tofu Jelly

2009-07-17T01:04:00.007-04:00

These jelly taste so good! It's soft as the tofu fah dessert. So smooth, it slip down your throat in seconds. I feel like I'm in heaven when eating this. The taste of coffee and coconut so good together. I used the silicone ice tray mold for these delicious cubes.

Coffee Layer:

2 tsp instant coffee
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp konnyaku jelly powder
2 cups water

Boil water and add in the sugar. Then add in the coffee. Stir well and taste. Add more sugar if you want sweeter. Now slowly add in the konnyaku jelly powder. Stir until powder dissolve. Then pour in mold. Let it cool.

Coconut Layer:

1 can coconut milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup + 3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp konnyaku jelly powder

Boil coconut milk, water, and sugar. Careful not to let it over boil or it will spill. Now slowly add in the konnyaku jelly powder. Stir until dissolve. Now pour over somewhat harden coffee layer. Let cool and place in refrigerator. Serve cold.

Tips: Place mold in ice water bath to cool jelly faster. If you want a firmer more crunchy jelly then add more konnyaku power.

Pak Thong Koh (Steamed Rice Cake)

2009-07-09T20:43:00.007-04:00

Since a few of you requested for this recipe, I decided to make it again. It will take a few days of fermenting but it's very easy to make. This taste better than the one at the supermarket since it's not overly sweet. This recipe came from Auntyyochana. I modified it a little to fit my taste. If you do this right you should get lots of honeycombs in the cake. :)

Step 1: Starter Dough

100 gm cooked rice (cooled)
1/2 tbsp ragi (chinese yeast ball pound into powder)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 - 1 tbsp water

Mix everything together and let it ferment for 2 to 3 days (48 hrs). The rice should be soften bye then.

Step 2: Kuih Dough

60 gm of starter dough
100 gm rice flour
some water about 1/3 cup

Mix everything together to form a dough. The dough should not be too wet or too dry. It should be paste like. Let it ferment for a day or 18 hrs.

Step 3: Flour Mix

220 gm rice flour
30 gm tapioca starch (add a little more if you want cake to be more springy. I used 40gm)
280 ml water

Mix everything together until smooth and set aside.

Step 4: Sugar + Flour Mix

180 gm sugar
400 ml water
3-4 blades pandan leaves tied in knots

1. Bring this mixture to boil and remove the pandan leaves afterward.
2. Pour half of this into the flour mixture and stir. Let the other half of the sugar mixture to cool for about 2 minutes before pouring it in the flour mixture.

Step 5:

Measure out 80 gm kuih dough and mix it in the cooled sugar flour mixture.

Mix well and let it ferment a day or just 14 hrs. Best way to tell if the mixture is ready or not is to gently stir the mixture to see if there are bubbles coming up or not. Usually when it's ready you will see tiny bubbles.

Step 6:

1/4 tsp lye water
1 tsp water

Add lye water and oil in the flour mixture and stir well.

Heat water for steaming. Grease a 10" pan and heat up for 1 minute before pouring the flour mixture in. Remember to give the flour mixture a good stir before pouring in pan.

Steam in medium heat for 20-30 minutes until done. Leave cake to cool a little before cutting. The cake taste better when it's cooled...but warm is still good since it's softer.

Steamed or Fried Pork Buns

2009-07-07T23:08:00.007-04:00

So I made some pork buns this weekend for my brother to bring to PennState. Made everything from scratch including the dough. The dough turned out pretty well. Next time I'm going to try making with ragi yeast instead. Maybe the dough will turn out whiter. Same as last time it is better to fry the buns afterward.

Dough: for 28 Large Buns

6 cups all purpose flour
2 cups self-rising flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 bag 12 oz dry yeast +1 cup warm water microwave 30 seconds + 1 tbsp sugar
1 cup water
1.5 cup sugar
3 tbsp oil or lard

1. Mix all four, sugar, baking powder together.
2. Add in yeast mixture to flour and then add in the another 1 cup water. Knead the dough for 15 minutes until smooth. If dough too dry then add in some more water.
3. Add in oil and knead for another minute.
4. Cover dough and leave in oven with light on for 30 minutes or 1 hr until dough double.

Fillings:

2 lbs 10 oz ground pork
135 gm chives chopped
400 gm cabbage chopped + 1 tsp salt and squeeze out water
35-40 gm dry fungus (boil and chopped in small pieces)
2 bundle vermicelli noodle soaked and chop 3 times to shorten
7 eggs boiled and 1 into 4
3-4 pieces of chinese sausage cut into 28 cubes

Seasoning:

1 tbsp fish sauce
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp msg
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp ground pepper
3 tbsp oil
4 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup water

1. Mix seasoning with ground pork and mix well.
2. Add in cabbage and then chives and then fungus and vermicelli. Incorporate the ingredients evenly. (Try to taste the meat and see if need more seasoning or not.)

Method:

1. Cut out wax paper 28 pieces. 3x3 "
2. Divide the dough into 28 pieces. Cover unused dough. Take a piece out and flatten. Add in large tbsp fillings, egg, and sausage. Place bun on wax paper, in steaming tray and cover. Repeat until you have enough buns to steam.
3. Heat water and add in 3-4 tbsp vinegar and steam buns for 30+ minutes. Open the cover the first 5 minutes to release steam water then cover and continue to steam.

(Note: Fry buns in some oil until golden. Try not to fry too many at a time since it will burn fast.)

Beef Stir-Fry Chive Buds

2009-07-02T01:13:00.005-04:00

Chive buds is a lot better than the regular chive. It is crisp and sweet. Stir-fry with beef is perfect for rice.

Ingredients:

500 grm chive buds (1 big bundle)
1/2 lb beef sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic chopped

1 tbsp cornstarch with 1/4 cup water

Method:

1. Marinate beef with some chopped garlic, 1 tsp oyster sauce, dash salt, 1 tsp fish sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp oil, 2 tbsp water. Marinate for a least 10 minutes.

2. Cut the chive buds about 2 inches long and then rinse over water.

3. Heat the wok and add in 2 tbsp oil and garlic. Stir-fry garlic until golden brown. Now add in the beef and stir fry until almost done. Add in the chive buds and give it a couple stir.

4. Add in 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp fish sauce, 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1/4 cup water. Stir well and taste. Now add in some cornstarch mixture to give it a glaze.

5. Serve with white rice.

(Note: Don't stir too long or the chive buds will be too soft.)