CHÈ CHUỐI( Plantains in Coconut milk)

Dessert with plantains is one of traditional Vietnamese dessert,especially,the South of Vietnam.

INGREDIENTS: (serving:10)
- 6 large ripe plantains

- pint of salt
- 500gr whole fresh cassava,peeled and chopped
- 500gr honey sweet potato,peeled and chopped
- 100 gr shredded tapioca

- 50gr tapioca pearl
- 600ml coconut milk
- 1.5 cup sugar (approx.)
-vanilla or banana essence
- 50gr roasted peanut
- 20gr roasted seasame seed

PREPARATION:
-Boil the chopped cassava along with sweet potato until haft cooked.Strain and rinse thru cold water and set aside.

-Boild the shredded tapioca flour and tapioca pearl seperately in hot wateruntil they turn clear.Strain and rinse well.Set aside.

- Peel ripe plantains, slice 2cm thick

- Boil in water with some salt for 20mins or until haft soft.
- Strain and rinse thru cold water.
- In a large pot, heat together 1/2 coconut milk ,1/2cup sugar and 2 liters water, bring to medium heat.Pour in sliced plantains and cook for another 10 mins.
- Add in cassava and sweet potato, slow cook for another 10mins until they get softer.
- Add in shredded tapioca flour,tapioca pearl and the remained coconut milk.
- Adjust the taste by adding some more sugar.
-Finally drop in some banana essence/vanilla.

SERVING:hot, topped with crushed peanut and roasted seasame seed

NƯỚC BÔNG CÚC LA HÁN QUẢ(Lohan quo in Chrysanthemum water)

Chinese people sold these kind of drinks in my country. Never seen these herbs before,I thought it would be difficult to make until a friend of mine showed me the process.OMG, super easy and fast to do.It's also a fabulous drink to cool off the hotness in this summer. I read the news about the use of lohan qua as a traditional Chinese medicine.Drinking lohan quo once per day help clear off toxicant in the body and sore throat will disappear.Good for body and health too.I usually drink one cup every day with ice on top.It's much much better than cola or watever kind of soft drinks i used to addict.

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 gallon water(3.78liters)
-30gr dried chrysanthemum

- 10 cubes lohan quo

- 2-3 tablespoom sugar(optional)

PREPARATION:
-bring the water to boil
-Add in dry chrysanthemum
-Wait for 5 mins, take out the chrysanthemum,add in holan quo cube
-After the cubes dissolve in water ,add sugar to taste(it's because i have it with ice.Usually lohan quo cube already tastes sweet)
-Leave to cool and enjoy your super healthy drink.

GLUTINOUS RICE BALL IN GINGER SYRUP(chè trôi nước)

INGREDIENTS:
For the gluten rice balls:
-250gr glutinous rice flour
-50gr rice flour (can be substituted with gluten rice flour)
- 150gr mung bean

For the ginger syrup:
- 100gr fresh ginger- slice
- 150ml water (approx.)
- 200gr sugar (approx.)

For the coconut sauce:
- 250ml coconut milk
- 5g tapioca startch
- few pandan leaves
- toasted seasame seeds

PREPARATION:
For the balls:
-soak the mung bean for 1-2hr, steam until crushabel
- place the mung bean in a bowl,add in some sugar for a sweeter taste, then mash well.
-Take out small portion,roll into small ball with approx 2cm in diameter(make approx 10 balls)
- mix gluten flour and rice flour together in a medium mixing bowl
- Gradually add in water while kneading until the dough is smooth and does not stick to the bowl

- Take out small portion, roll into a ball

- flatten the ball,place the mung bean ball in the center
- wrap it.( Dont worry if the ball doesn't not look good enough,as long as the rice dough can cover the mung bean ball)

- Drop in some water onto the palm, then roll the ball until look smooth(water helps disappear lines and smoothen the ball)

- Make 10 balls, the rest of the dough will do for some tiny balls with no filling.
- Boil the water, drop in the balls, wait until the balls float onto water's surface

- then take out,immediately put in cold water(to rinse off exceed mucus)

For the syrup:
- Cook the water+sliced ginger together until boil(adjust the sugar water for desirable taste), add in gluten balls, turn to small heat and leave there for 1h for the balls absorbing sugar

For the coconut sauce:
- mix tapioca flour with 5tbsp water
- In the small sauce pan,cook together the coconut milk with pandan leaves in medium heat until boil
- Gradually add in tapioca water while stirring coconut milk constantly til' it gets thicken
- Immediately take the pan out of the heat

SERVING: pour some balls and water into small bowl, add in thick coconut milk and roasted seasame seeds on top, serve warm.

Chè bưởi(Pomelo Rind Tong Sui)

Finish up the pomelo?How about the rind? Don't throw it away, you're gonna miss this amazingly mouthwatering dessert........
To start up with, you need to peel off the pomelo grind. Here is the efficient tip for you in case you dont know how to deal with it.


1/cut off the top of the pomelo
2/With the point of a sharp knife, cut lines from stem end downwards, the lines meeting at top and bottom of the fruit but about 5 cm (2 in) apart around the middle
3/Prise one section of rind loose and it will then be somewhat easier to remove the remaining sections.

- Exceptionally for this dessert, you will need to chop the rind into chop stick strip size,about 2 inches long. Wat you need is to discard the green cover outside,as well as the inner part,then slice.


-To get rid of excess bitterness, squeeze the rind with 2 tablespoons salt for 2 minutes, then soak in cold water for several hour and drain.



-Repeat the step 2 -3 times(depends how bitter your rind is)
-Bring to boil, simmer for 5 minutes with a 1 small rock of alum(optional) and drains

- For the sweet taste, mix the rind with 5 table spoon sugar and 3 tbsp tapioca starch,shake well,leave for several hours.

INGREDIENTS:
For the soup
- 200gr mung bean
- 7-8 tablespoon tapioca powder
- pandan leaves/pandan essence/mali flavor/pomelo essence
-sugar to taste
-1.5litre/6 cups water (approx.)

For the coconut cream
- 1 can of coconut milk
-2 table spoon tapioca powder
- 1 tsp vanilla


INSTRUCTION:
For the soup

- Soak the mungbean overnight or for several hours
- Steam the mung bean until tender(the beans should remain their shape,not crushed)
- Dissolve tapioca starch with one cup of water
- In the pot, boil together water,pandan leaves*, and sugar
- Take out the pandan leaves, gently stir in the tapioca starch until the water gets thick and clear
- Add in pomelo rinds and wait until they turn clear
-Add in the mung bean and stir gently.
*If you dont have pandan leave, add in few drops of pandan essence/mali flavor or pomelo essence at this stage

For the coconut cream
- dissolve tapioca starch with 4 tablespoon water
- bring the coconut milk to boil, gradually add in the tapioca and stir constantly until thicken
-Add few dops of pandan essence/vanilla

PREPARATION: serve hot or cold, pour the mungbean mixture into small bowl,add in the coconut cream.

Chè sương sa hạt lựu(Vietnamese sweetened pomegranate seeds in coconut cream)

Hola, i'm back! The blog hasn't been taken care for nearly two months already.That doesn't mean i stopped baking but having no time to post the recipes(school stuff drives me nuts!) I've just finished the last exam today(Wat a relief!) so i'm gonna let myself relax for the next two weeks before starting spring quarter haha....
This recipe was asked by one of my friends from HaNoi.She's curious how the taste likes cuz' this dessert really attracts the eyes with colorful mixture in rich coconut cream. The name sounds strange as if the real pomegranate seeds are put into the sweet mixture.By following the instructions, I'll show you how the chestnut coated by tapioca powder will give out nice looking(but fake) pomegranate but crunchy taste inside and chewy cover outside. A great icy dessert for hot season,fun to eat,yet easy to handle!

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 can of water chestnut

-100gr tapioca powder
- food colors(yellow,red,green)
- 200g mung bean

- 1 package of agar powder
- 1 can coconut milk
- 200g bar sugar/chinese brown sugar
- vanilla,pandan essence,durian essence (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:
1/mung bean: soak for few hours. Steam(or cook with water in low heat) until smashable
2/Agar:Dissolve 1 package of agar powder and 4 tablespoon sugar in 2liters water and cook in a pot until the mixture gets thinken. Pour in 1tablespoon vanilla
- Mix 1 part of agar with the green color and few drops of pandan essence, the rest mixed with durian flavor or leave blank. Pour into the moulds and leave in the refrigerator for half an hour.Take the agar out and slice.
3/ sugar syrup:Dissolve 200g sugar in 1.5 cups of boiling water.Set aside.
5/tiny cube pomegranate seeds
- chop the chestnut into tiny pieces( for a better look, i chop them into small cubes)


- Divide them into 2 equal part, mix with red and yellow food colors, leave for 15' for the colors to absorb into chestnut.

- Coat with tapioca powder

- Pour the chestnut in boiling water,wait until the chestnut floating on the surface then take it out, straining through cold water. Place the chestnut into the cold water for a few minutes to avoid sticking. You will have such beautiful little seeds......


PREPARATION: place a desirable amount of mung bean on the bottom,follow with pomegranate seeds , agar ,thick sugar syrup and coconut cream. Topped with ice crushed and enjoy!!