Perhaps the most popular Asian dessert.  Sticky, chewy, sweet, salty, sour.  Truly a great texture + flavor combo.  If you can find black glutinous rice, it makes for a dramatic presentation.  And it’s so simple to make.

Chef’s tip: You would ask, why is there salt in this dessert recipe?  Salt brings out the full flavor of coconut.

Rice:
2 cups sweet glutinous rice, soaked overnight
4 pieces of pandan leaves*
2 ½ cups coconut milk
¾ cup coconut milk, reserve
¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Fruit:
3 large ripe mangos
2 limes, zest only

Preparing the rice:
1.  Wash the rice and cover with water.  Set aside at least 6 hours to overnight.
2.  Prepare a large pot of boiling water with steamer.  Line steamer with cheesecloth.
3.  Drain rice.  Place rice evenly on the cheesecloth.   Place a knotted pandan leaves in the rice.
4.   Steam for about 20 minutes.  Test for doneness ie rice is tender and cooked through.
5.  In the meantime, combine sugar and salt with the coconut milk and bring to boil until sugar is dissolved.  Make sure you don’t over boil the mixture.
6.    When rice is done, quickly transfer to a serving bowl.  Pour the coconut mixture into rice mixture and stir.  Leave to stand 10-15 minutes.

Preparing the fruit:
7.   Peel the mango and cut the flesh into slices.
8.   Using a rind peeler or a peeler with a knife, make fine lime rinds strips.

Serving:
9.   To serve, place the fresh mango on top of a scoop of rice, drizzle the reserve coconut milk and garnish with lime strips.

Serves: 12

Tags: Dessert, Thai.

We always eat Tang Yuen during the winter solstice  - December 22 to be exact.  That’s the date for the Chinese family reunion dinner – similar to Thanksgiving here.  As a child, I remember helping my grandmother roll these balls.  We would of course, make them in all sort of shapes – I remember making a dice, too.

Chewy and sweet, it gives you a satisfying burst of flavor when you bite into one of these glutinous rice balls.  You can serve it with a simple syrup cooked with ginger, or in this recipe below, Shanghainese style with fermented rice wine.  Served this way, it is also supposedly a good galactogogues.  Don’t worry if you don’t know what that means, if you had needed it, then you would already know what it means!

Chef’s tip: Make a batch to freeze.  Place them on a small baking sheet, freeze.  When it is frozen, transfer to a ziplog bag.

½ lb glutinous rice flour
1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
½ cup boiling water
½ cup room temperature water

Red food coloring, optional

½ cup mashed red beans filling, from a can or prepare from scratch

8 cups water

½ cup rock sugar
½ cup dried longans
¼ cup red dates, pitted
2 eggs
1 cup store-bought jiu niang (fermented glutinous rice and wine)

Preparing the dumplings:
1.     Whisk together the rice flour with the powdered sugar.  Form a well in the center. Gradually add the boiling water, stirring to mix.  Slowly add the room temperature water and keep mixing until the dough comes together as a ball and no longer sticks to your hand.
2.     Transfer to a lightly floured board, add food coloring and knead for 2 minutes until dough is soft, smooth and malleable.
3.     Divide the dough into 2 balls. Roll each piece of dough into a ½ inch cylinder.  Cut each cylinder into ¾ inch pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.  Cover dough with a damp tea cloth as you work.
4.     Take a ball and flatten it into a 2 inch round, about 1/8 inch thick with a rolling pin.  Place the wrapper in your palm. Place ½ teaspoon of filling into dough.  Bring the sides together, pinch to seal and roll between your palms to create a smooth ball, making sure filling is totally concealed,
5.     Bring a large pot of water to the boil and drop in the balls. Once they float, they are cooked.  Remove and plunge into a bowl of room temperature water.
Preparing the sweet soup:
6.     Bring water, rock sugar, longans and red dates to boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat.  Break the eggs into the sweet soup, wait 20 seconds, then stir very slowly to break the yolks to form “egg flower”.  Add in the jiu niang and stir once.
7.     Ladle the sweet soup into bowls and ladle in the rice balls.  Serve piping hot.

Serves: 4

Tags: Chinese, Dessert.

Sticky, chewy Chinese rice cakes are definitely a textural affair.  These Chinese gnocchi make a great base for many flavors – leeks with lamb, salted egg yolks with crab roe or simply in a clear soup.  This simple Shanghai-style stir-fry recipe, which I recreated from eating the nian gao that my friend Geraldine’s mom makes, is a truly satisfying comfort food.

Chef’s tip: Well, Mrs.Liu recommended the Korean-made rice cakes over the Chinese made ones since it doesn’t require parboiling or soaking.

Marinade:
4 pieces chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, trimmed of fat, thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2  Tablespoon shao xing wine
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 Tablespoon oil

Sauce:
4 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon shao xing wine
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cup chicken broth (and more if needed)

3 Tablespoon canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 slices ginger, thinly julienned
1/2 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 small red bell pepper, thinly sliced
4 cups napa cabbage, stems and leaves separated, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
16 oz rice ovaletts (fresh, refrigerated ones, preferably Korean made), toss to separate
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 stalk green onions, green parts only, thinly sliced

1. Marinade chicken strips with soy sauce, oyster sauce, shao xing wine, sugar, cornstarch and oil for 20 minutes.
2. Mix sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Heat a wok or a non stick pan over high heat.  Add half the oil, when hot, add garlic and ginger.  Saute for 30 seconds until fragrant.  Add marinated meat and onions and brown meat, about 2 minutes.  Push to the side of the wok.
4. Add napa cabbage stems and red bell pepper and saute until limp, about 2 minutes.    Push to the side of the wok.
5.  Add remaining oil, then add the rice cakes.  Drizzle in part of the sauce mixture, being careful to not soak the rice cakes.  Toss all wok ingredients together.  Add in cabbage leaves.  When the sauce has cooked off, add remaining sauce in parts, each time being careful not to soak the rice cakes.  Continuously stir fry until the rice cakes are tender, about 6 minutes.
6.  Drizzle in the sesame oil, and toss with green onions.  Serve immediately.

Serves: 4

Tags: Chinese, noodles, Shanghainese.