Sweet Watercress with Luo Han Guo Drink

Pardon my disappearance as I was away on a last minute trip to Perak, Malaysia.  It was so last minute that I wasn't able to book any hotel accommodation and had to stay with a relative.

The furthest we've traveled on a road trip to Malaysia was to Genting.  I didn't expect myself to agree to this road trip, which took us almost 8 hours from Tuas custom to Kampung Koh, Perak.  And we had 7 pax in a 6 seater car.  I remember very clearly DH requesting a road trip back to his parents hometown last year but I refused to compromise because the kids must be buckled up, thus having 7 pax is out of the question.  So how and why on earth did I agree to this?  Beats me...  Anyway, we didn't compromise on kids' safety as DD1 and DS2 squeezed onto one seat and buckled up too :-)

There is basically nothing much where we were, Kampung Koh, Sitiawan, Lumut, Pangkor and Pantai Remis.  BUT, it was a fruitful trip.  My urban kids had the chance to experience life @ kampung.  Having no toys but to self entertain with whatever natural things they could find (mainly seashells and rubber seeds).  With so many relatives there, we had the chance to visit their plantations and bird house.  It was truly an eye opening experience for all of us.

I'll blog more about our road trip when I have more time, there's so much to show and tell.  I love Perak!

Back to food stuff.  This looks like some bitter herbal drink but it isn't.  If you've been following me, you might have seen my Watercress with Luo Han Guo Soup.  But instead of cooking the savoury version, I sweetned it with rock sugar and it is another hit in my family.

It's a no-brainer recipe, just dump everything into a pot and boil.

If you like, you may add some agar agar powder/jelly powder and turn them into jellies ;-)

Sweet Watercress and Luo Han Guo Drink

Ingredients
500g watercress
1 Luo Han Guo (羅漢果, 罗汉果), smash the outer shell
2.5 - 3 litres water
2 - 3 dried honey dates (蜜枣)
rock sugar to taste (I used honey rock sugar)

  

Method

1. Wash watercress and cut into half. Rinse honey dates.
2. Rinse Luo Han Guo and smash the outer shell.
3. Add watercress, honey dates and Luo Han Guo in a pot with 2.5 - 3 litres of water. Bring to boil. Reduce to small flame and simmer for 1 hour. 
4. Add rock sugar to taste. 
5. Sieve and serve, either warm or chilled. 

Sweet Watercress Drink

School holidays are finally over!  I was looking forward to the day to send DD1 and DS2 back to school :P  Of course I enjoy having them home but to have them 24/7 is literally killing my brain cells everyday.  I need to take a breather, I need some fresh air.

It had been 2 weeks since school started and DH is back to his hectic flying schedule.  I've learnt to take things more positively, and is able to cope better now.  Afterall, he joined the Regional team 2 years ago, and by hook or by crook, I need to adapt.  If I'm not being understanding, I'll be giving him unnecessary stress.  I'm also thankful that I was working in the Regional department and this made me understand that traveling is inevitable.  In fact, I'm glad he is flying again as absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Anyway, I haven't been baking lately.  Sometimes I just feel lazy and didn't even bother to cook dinner.  Whatever is happening to me?  I don't know, probably age is catching up as I get tired more easily.  Pregnant?  I wish but unfortunately not.  Hahaha!

Feeling lazy to post something "complicated" so I went to my harddisk to search for the simplest recipe and found this.  So I'm just going to share this simple drink that I made several months ago.

Couldn't get your kids to eat enough greens?

Drink it ;-)

My children like the savory soup (here, here and here) but they simply love this sweetened drink.  I have a few other watercress related recipes but I'll leave that to future postings.  If you do try this out, I hope your family will like it too.

Sweet Watercress Drink

Ingredients

500g watercress

2.5 - 3 litres water

2 - 3 dried honey dates (蜜枣)

rock sugar to taste (I used honey rock sugar)

Method

1. Wash watercress and cut into half.  Rinse honey dates.
2. Add watercress and honey dates in a pot with 2.5 - 3 litres of water.  Bring to boil.  Reduce to small flame and simmer for 1 hour.
3. Add rock sugar to taste.
4. Sieve and serve, either warm or chilled.

Watercress with Luo Han Guo Soup

School holidays is here and I've got 3 kids at home 24/7.  To make things worse, DH is away in Malaysia for a week's business trip.  Sister C was really nice to offer a sleepover for my children so I only need to handle DD3 alone.  But DS2 developed a fever for no reason during his stay and I had to rush to pick him up, only at this point in time, I appreciate DH's absence as I can use the car.  We spent 2 days at Pasir Ris Park and the kids had a great time at the playground. Anyway, that about sums it up what I've been busy with the past 1 week.

I cooked a yucky looking but has a bittersweet and tangy aftertaste soup - Watercress with Luo Han Guo (罗汉果) from Irene's blog.

“ The dried fruit may be bought in a market. The surface of the fruit is round and smooth, it has a yellow-brownish or green-brownish colour, and is covered by fine hairs. The fruit has a hard but thin shell. Inside, one finds a partially dried, soft substance which contains the juice and a large quantity of seeds. All components are very sweet. Their nature is cool and not toxic. The fruit can act as a remedy for heat stroke, wet the lungs, remove phlegm, stop cough and aid defecation. ”— Dai Yin-Fang, Liu Cheng-Jun, Fruits As Medicine: A Safe and Cheap Form of Traditional Chinese Food Therapy

Watercress Luo Han Guo Soup
Ingredients
400 - 500g watercress
1 Siraitia grosvenorii (羅漢果, 罗汉果, Luo Han Guo), smash the outer shell and use the inner parts
2 candied dates蜜枣
250g pork ribs/lean meat
2 - 2.5 litres water

Method

1. Wash watercress and separate out stalk and leaves.
2. Blanch pork ribs/lean meat.
3. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients except watercress leaves in a pot.
4. Using medium fire, bring water to boil again, reduce to small flame and simmer for 2 hours.
5. Remove stalks from pot and add in leaves, continue to cook for another 1 hour.

Watercress Sweet Corn Soup

I didn't forget this blog but I've been so pre-occupied with unexpected happenings.

So much happened recently and I'm starting to lose faith in people around me.  I don't have many friends but if I regard a person as a friend, I treat him/her well.  This is my taurus character.

I thought she was a friend, I shared my online bakeware sprees with her (and a few other friends) to help everyone save costs.  We weren't the best pals then but we had so much in common and can chat for hours.  But when she found someone "better", I was forsaken.  Before she started her online business, we conducted overseas sprees together, sharing cost equally.  She got adventurous and started her own online store. One day, I asked if she could help me get an item from the regular merchant.  She agreed but it will be based on her selling price.  To me, it's not about the money.  I consoled myself that I'm just overly sensitive, maybe this is the way to become a successful businesswoman.  And yes, she's doing really well with her online store now.  Maybe that explains why I'm not a businesswoman but a homemaker?

I thought he was a friend, always there for me on any financial advices (not that I made alot of investments).  Then he started to trade without my approval.  I didn't know about this until his colleague called a few weeks ago.  He is currently under investigations.  My presence was needed to verify some documents and I had to make a trip to his HQ office, lugging DD3 along.  I received no phone calls from him but on the day I was to visit his office, he called to apologise, hoping to seek mercy.  I forgive him but reminded him that he will have to face the consequences of his own actions.  Disheartened.

I thought she was a friend, whom I can chat with anytime but she lied.  I have trusted her and there were no doubts at all until DH highlighted a few discrepancies.  And yes, it's money-related matters.

Despite these hiccups in my life, I'm glad to have a few close friends whom I can confide in.  Thank you girls!

I've been lagging in my blog update so I'm just going to share a simple soup recipe I made for dinner some time back.

With 2 bundles of watercress turning yellow and 2 sweet corns hiding at the corner of my fridge, I decided to cook them together.  The combination ended up with a very sweet and yummy soup, no additional seasoning needed.  My kids love this soup :-)

Watercress Sweet Corn Soup
Ingredients
500g watercress
2 sweet corns
250g pork ribs/lean meat
2.5 litres water
10 - 15 red dates (红枣)
salt to taste (optional)

Method

1. Wash watercress and separate out stalk and leaves.
2. Blanch pork ribs/lean meat.
3. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients except watercress leaves in a pot.
4. Using medium fire, bring water to boil again, reduce to small flame and simmer for 2 hours.
5. Remove stalks from pot and add in leaves, continue to cook for another 1 hour.
6. Season with salt before serve.

Watercress Soup

My kids love any melts in the mouth vegetables and a good way to get them to eat more greens is to cook them in soup!

Watercress was on offer at our local supermarket and I bought 2 bundles.  We don't like the stalk so I usually cook it with the meat first, dish out the stalks 1 hour later and throw in the leafy portion to cook for another hour.

Watercress Soup
Ingredients
500g watercress
500g pork ribs/lean meat
2 litres water
15 - 20 red dates (红枣)
salt to taste (optional)

Method

1. Blanch pork ribs/lean meat. 
2. Bring 2 litres of water to boil and add all ingredients in a pot.  Using medium fire, bring water to boil again, reduce to small flame and simmer for 2 hours.
3. Season with salt before serve.