Interesting beverages

The asian market near my house has an variety of strange and exotic beverages that I have never tried before. Mangosteen, soursop, penny wort... Eventually want to try them all!

1.basil seed drink

Similar to chia seeds. Full of nutrition by with lots of sugar and a cream soda flavor! Lol 

I couldn't help but stop to chew on some of the seeds as I drank this. They have a gelatinous texture surrounding the seed. A bit sweet for my taste-it might have been better over ice so I could water down a little.

Supposedly you could use basil seeds as a diet aide if you drink a basil seed drink before eating- probably a less sugary version. I will admit I did feel full for a while after drinking this.

2. Chrysanthemum tea

This one tasted floral and earthy with a hint of sweetness. 

Supposed to help with circulation,  alertness, reduce fever, prevent sore throat and a variety of other ailments.

3. Soursop

I neglected to take a photo of this one. It was good! Tasted very light-kind of reminded me of pear. Not sour at all really...

4. Mangosteen 

I love the name of this one! It was sweet and delicious like lychee

5. White Gourd 

This one I didn't care for too much.  It had a flavor reminiscent of burnt caramel. Couldn't finish it!

6. Grass jelly

Lychee flavored beverage with small cubes of grass jelly. Was not too sweet with a taste I can only describe as earthy. I had to swirl the can to shake it up and get any chunks of jelly. The chunks tasted mild and earthy. When a chunk of grass jelly got left on the lip of the can I was suprised to see that it was more brown than green. It made me feel that the flavor was more like mud or dirt. Not bad, but also not my favorite. 

7. Bird's Nest White Fungus Drink

I have been too scared to try this one after reading reviews that other people have posted online. I will update this post if I ever summon the courage to drink this!

Roasted carrots

I was looking for recipes to use fresh herbs from my garden when I came across a recipe for roasted carrots with thyme.

I had been wanting to try rainbow carrots so I decided to go with a colorful veggie selection.  First step is to peel the carrots

Fresh thyme from my garden. My grandma gave me an herb garden for my birthday.  The basil and oregano have since died, but the thyme and parsley are still going strong.

Toss carrots with a bit if oil, salt, pepper, and thyme and roast away.  

My carrots came out a bit underdone so I was a bit disappointed. I'd say when in doubt, cook longer if you are hoping to achieve the coveted carrot caramelization  

Chinese New Year

My one regret is that I didn't take nearly enough pictures of this feast!  I had the expertise and assistance of my friend Lauren, who shared a whole notebook of recipes and ideas and helped me create this memorable menu!

Sesame cookies

Whole steamed fish- symbolizes abundance

Pork and ginger Dumplings with dipping sauce

Moon cakes- lotus, mung bean, red bean

Longevity noodles- long life. 8 different vegetables or ingredients 8 is Lucky number. Don't break the noodles. Long noodles =long life

Dragon eye pudding

Tea eggs

Leafy tangerines- must have leaves. The leaves symbolize money!

Pomellos with salt

Duck

Plum wine and lychee wine

Chiquita inspecting my leafy tangerines and Pomolos.

Tea Eggs

I took pictures of the process, but not the finished product.  They actually didn't come out how I wanted them to.  They are supposed to be dyed where the eggs are cracked to create a marbled or spiderweb effect, but for some reason mine were only dyed very faintly.

First boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Remove from water and let cool.

Use whole star anise

Cinnamon

And black tea and salt

To create a broth. This will dye and flavor the eggs

 

Crack the eggs all over, add to broth and simmer on low heat for 1 hour.  Shell eggs and serve.

Dragon Eye Pudding

Only 2 ingredients in this recipe!

Lychees in syrup and rice flour.

Reserve 2 cups of lychee syrup. 

In a saucepan cook syrup and 2 Tbsp rice flour until mixture thickens.  Add fruit and serve.

Pineapple upside down cake

Canned pineapple slices and maraschino cherries are the star ingredients in this fabulous retro recipe.

Pineapple upsidedown cake! What's not to love?

Start by melting 1/2 cup butter over low heat.

Pour butter into 9" pan and sprinkle 3/4 cup brown sugar.

Arrange pineapple slices and cherries.

Mix dry ingredients (1 C. Flour, 3/4 C. sugar, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt) and then mix wet ingredients (1 egg, 1/3 C. sour cream, 1/2 C. buttermilk, 3 Tbsp oil, 2 tsp vanilla) then mix together. 

 

Carefully pour cake batter over arranged fruit.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.  Remove and set on rack to cool. Immediately run a knife around the edge. 

Let cake cool 10 minutes, then careful invert onto serving plate.

This cake is soft and moist on the inside and the top and sides get a little bit caramelized and crunchy in the best way possible.

I had 2 slices! 😜

Sausage veggi soup

We don't have soup weather often around these parts, but when we do I like to take full advantage. Here is one if my favorite recipes as of late.  My mom made this soup one time and I aquired the recipe from her. Lots of veggis and flavor in this one!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 pound Kielbasa-halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch slices

1 cup chopped yellow onion

3 ( 14 1/2 once ) cans chicken broth

2 carrots sliced

1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

1 15 ounce can red kidney beans drained and rinsed

4 ounces ( about 3/4 cup) small macaroni

4 ounces fresh spinach. chopped

In a large pot over medium heat warm oil. Add kielbasa and onion and 

saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Raise heat to high. Add broth, 

carrots, squash, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium low and simmer uncovered until vegetables tender, 

about 15 minutes. Add beans and macaroni and simmer until macaroni 

tender about 15 minutes.

Add spinach and cook until spinach wilted 5 minutes longer, stirring 

several times.

Panna cotta

I have wanted to try making this dessert for a long time! Little did I know just how simple it would be- and the results were delicious!

Many recipes for this use a mold to set the panna cotta which you can then flip out onto a plate to serve.  Other versions serve the pana cotta in a ramekin or wine glass.  I used some glasses that came with my punch bowl. Similar to a stemless wine glass, but slightly smaller.

First time using unflavored gelatin! So exciting! Lol

So I browsed through several recipes and found that panna cotta can be made with milk, cream, half and half, almond milk, soy milk or any combination of these. I used a recipe that called for half milk, half cream. 

So you sprinkle the gelatin on top of cold milk and wait for it to bloom. Then you heat through- warming but not boiling, add sugar and cook until dissolved.

Then you remove from heat, whisk in the cream and vanilla, pour into designated vessel and refrigerate until set somewhere between a couple hours and overnight.

I toyed with the idea of a fancy fruit compote, but settled on fresh blueberries and strawberries to top this masterpiece. 

It was light- like a cross between pudding and jello. Not too sweet. Would make again!

Jamaican food

So there was a Jamaican restaurant we used to go to that was so good, but it is no longer open.  So to satisfy my jerk cravings I decided to take matters into my own hands.  Luckily there is an African/Carribean market a few blocks away from my house. It is a tiny market, but they had everything on my list that I was hoping to find.  

They had numerous jerk seasonings to choose from.  I went with this one:

It was good, but very spicy. We used it to marinate chicken that we grilled. We also bought a dry jerk seasoning that we used on some steak.

At the market I was also able to get kidney beans, coconut milk, plantains, and ginger beer. For the plantains I just sliced and fried in some vegetable oil.  They came out ok, but next time I would want to try a different recipe I saw where you bake the plantains with rum and sugar for a dessert.

Here is the recipe I used for the rice and beans:

Ingredients

1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

3 fresh thyme sprigs

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 cup long-grain white rice (such as jasmine)

1 (15-ounce) can dark kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Preparation

Combine the first 7 ingredients (through garlic) in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil. Stir in rice; reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook 20 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed. Remove pan from heat; remove the thyme sprigs and garlic, and discard. Gently stir in the beans. Cover and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Overall a successful experiment! It didn't taste the same as the food I remember from the Jamaican restaurant, but it was still delicious.