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The sweet snow ear dessert (糖水) is a Chinese delicacy cooked with white snow ear fungus (雪耳), lotus (蓮子), lily bulbs (百合) and dried red dates (紅棗) in sweet rock sugar (冰糖) soup. The girls will especially love this dessert as it is claimed to be beneficial for facial beauty because of the ingredients used are highly nutritious.

The white snow ear / snow fungus / silver mushroom is a kind of edible jelly fungus used in Chinese cooking mostly in dessert. It is shaped like a ear or flower and white in color. It has no taste itself but it will absorb the liquid from other ingredients when it is cooked with and take on the taste. The snow fungus contains protein, fat, various amino acids, minerals and glycogen that are great for whitening and maintain one’s beauty.

The red date or jujube is sweet and warm-nature, they are very popular in Chinese cooking to be used in soups, poultry dishes and dessert. The red dates can nourish energy and enrich the blood, great for women to help to replenish after menstruation.

The other ingredient used is lotus seed. It is crunchy in texture and rich with dietary fiber and vitamins. While the lily bulb is starchy in texture more or less like the potato, which is great to reduce internal heat.  All these Chinese herbal ingredients can be easily found in the Asian market, mostly in dried packet form.

I don’t recommend to eat this kind of dessert everyday because it is sweet that can make you fat, but if you can selective use some of these ingredients into your daily cooking, such as porridge or other meat dishes that will help in maintaining your health.

Ingredients:

2 White Snow Ear Fungus (soaked, trimmed the hard yellow part, cut into smaller pieces)
15-20 red dates
1/4 cup dried lily bulbs
1/4 cup dried lotus (seeds removed)
Rock Sugar

Serve: 4 people

Cooking Method:

1. Soak the dried white snow ear fungus for half an hour or till soft to cut. Trim the hardened yellow part on the bottom and cut into smaller pieces. Rinse the other ingredients.
2. Heat up a pot of water and bring to boil.
3. Add the snow ear fungus, dried lily bulbs, dried lotus and red dates, reduce to low heat and cook for one hour or more, until all ingredients are soft and tender.

Add the rock sugar based on sweetness preferred.

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The Cantonese watercress soup (西洋菜湯) is one of my favorite slow-cooked soups that I grew up with. Slow-cooked soup, or lo for tong (老火湯) is a Cantonese specialty which is a broth produced by simmering meats, bones, vegetables and other ingredients for 3 to 6 hours. Essentially, most of the Chinese soups are great for health benefits and the watercress soup is good for releasing heat in our bodies and clearing sputum in our lungs.

Watercress is normally used in sandwiches and salads in the States and interestingly, I also found out the watercress is one of the main ingredients in V8 Vegetable Juice few days ago before preparing this soup. For me, I just know how to utilize it for the soup and yes, nothing is more comforting than having a bowl of hot watercress soup in the winter.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb baby back rib or rib (cut into chunks)
1/2 lb pork loin (cut into cubes)
4 bunches of watercress (washed and drained)
2 honey dates (蜜枣)
12 red dates (红枣)
1 handful goji berries
2 ½ gallons water
Salt to taste

Serve size: 6-8 people

Cooking method:

1. Fill the big pot with the water and boil it with high heat.
2. Blanch the ribs and loin in another pot with boiling water for few minutes until the scum has come out. This will give you a clear soup.
3. Remove them from the pot and rinse the ribs and pork with cold water before putting them into the big pot.
4. Add watercress, honey dates, red dates and goji berries into the pot right after the ribs.
5. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 2-3 hours.
6. Add in salt to taste.

Serves hot.

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Daikon is a white East Asian radish that could be easily found in the Asian market. It looks like a giant carrot but in white color with roughly 10 to 14 inches long. In Chinese,  we called it bai luo bo (白萝卜). It can be cooked in a variety of methods but this time I’ve used it to make the daikon soup.

I remember I disliked this soup when I was small. Every time when my mom cooked it, I would try to find an excuse for not taking it. I thought the taste is weird but I guess my sense of taste changes as I mature and I love it now. One thing you might not like is the smell of it during simmering. Believe me, bear with the smell and enjoy it after.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb baby back rib or rib (cut into chunks)
1/2 lb pork loin (cut into cubes)
2 daikons (peeled, cut into chunks)
12 red dates
1 handful goji berries
2 ½ gallons water
Salt to taste

Cooking method:

1. Fill the big pot with the water and boil it with high heat.
2. Blanch the ribs and loin in another pot with boiling water for few minutes until the scum has come out. This will give you a clear soup.
3. Remove them from the pot and rinse the ribs and pork with cold water before putting them into the big pot.
4. Add daikons, red dates and goji berries into the pot right after the ribs.
5. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 2 hours.
6. Add in salt to taste.

Serves hot.