【紫薯燕麦粥】Purple Sweet Potato Oatmeal

燕麦除了拿来做芋头燕麦粥，燕麦玛芬、燕麦曲奇以外，拿来做这款紫薯燕麦做早餐也非常好吃，加了紫薯的燕麦粥颜值真的太棒了。

In addition to making oatmeal for breakfast, old fashioned oats can also be used to make oatmeal muffins and oatmeal cookies.

Oats are also very delicious when make into Chinese sweet soup/dessert. Adding purple sweet potato gives the dish a very vibrant color, not to mentioned the rich nutrients that comes with it.

【大米松糕】Rice flour Steamed Cake

大米松糕是我很喜欢的一款糕点，糯米粉和大米粉混合蒸出来的口感非常特别，加上红豆的特殊香气，味道更是特别香甜。

Steamed Rice Flour Cake is a type of steamed cake that I like very much. 

This steamed cake has a very special texture, a little chewy and fluffy at the same time. The special aroma of red bean paste also makes the cake taste even more fragrant and sweet.

【龙眼冰粉】Ice Jelly with Longan

夏天没什么胃口就想吃点清凉开胃的，今天个简单的龙眼冰粉，方便又好吃。

Ice jelly is a very refreshing snack/dessert in this hot weather, it goes well with my son's favourite canned fruit and it is easy to make too.

【南瓜鹹味龜粿】Pumpkin Salted Angku Kueh

龟粿模子是我妈多年前去潮汕旅游时买的，带来美国都超过十年了才动手做了这款龟粿。一直没做的原因是因为我一直想还原小时候吃的咸味龟粿的味道。近些年来流行的甜馅龟粿花样很多，但我的心头好仍然是馅料炒得比较干，入口粉粉的、咸香美味的这款咸味龟粿。

所以后来我小批量地调整了好几次馅料的口味和皮的配方，这次做的最满意，馅料味道美味，粿皮软糯Q弹，第二天早上都还是软的，真的非常棒！所以今天特意写下食谱记录一下。

The Angku kueh mold was given to me by mom, she bought it  when she traveled to Chaoshan, China many years ago. It took me more than ten years after bringing it to the United States to start making this Angku kueh. 

The reason why I hadn't made it for a long time is because I always wanted to make only the salty version of this Angku kueh, the type that I used to have as a child. 

There are many types of popular Angku kueh around in the market with sweet stuffing in it, but my favorite remains the salted-sweet and slightly powdery version of the stuffing type.

I had to try adjusting the flavor of the filling and the recipe of the skin several times in small batches before I finally came to this one today. 

The filling tasted delicious and the kueh skin was soft and Q, and the kueh stays soft to the next day.  I am truly happy with the result !

【摩摩喳喳】Bubur Cha Cha

摩摩喳喳其实做了很多很多次，但是每次做的时候都是为了聚餐或者有朋友来家里吃饭，所以几乎每次都没机会拍照写食谱。

某天发现家里做这款糖水的材料全有，就做了这款糖水做点心，真好吃。

I have made Bubur Cha Cha many times over the years, but failed to take pictures to write a recipe mainly because I normally made this sweet dish either for party or get together with friends, so I was always in a rush.

One day couple of weeks ago I realized I have all the ingredients needed for this Sweet dish at home, so I decided to make Bubus Cha Cha for snack time, and this time I can quietly enjoy this sweet dish without having to rush!

Lauki Halwa (लौकी का हलवा) 【瓠瓜甜品】

My aunt Annie planted some vegetables and called for me to pick a few from her garden.  I was shocked by the bottle squash she planted, it was so long that it is even higher than my 8 year old!

I used 1/3 of the squash to make Lauki Halwa and it turned out really good.

去年夏天阿姨让我到她家拿点她自己种的蔬菜 , 结果我一去到就被她拿出来的一根瓠瓜吓到了.

阿姨钟的瓜居然比我儿子还要高! 真正的厉害.

我把1/3的瓠瓜拿来做这个俊爹很爱吃的甜点 Lauki Halwa。成色很好,味道也很棒噢!

【紫薯发糕】Purple Sweet Potato Steamed Cake

前阵子在超市买了几只紫薯打算烤了吃，剩下的两小只我拿来做了这款紫薯发糕当早餐，成品颜色非常让人惊艳，味道也非常好吃。真是一款赏心悦目的糕点。

I bought a few Purple sweet potatoes as snacks and made this steamed cake with two of them, the color of this cake is so enchanting that it is almost sad to eat them! LOL

Pumpkin Steamed Cake 【红枣南瓜发糕】

A few pumpkin plants came from our compost last spring and grew into a very healthy plant that gave us handful of pumpkins. Though the yield is not large but the fruits are very sweet and tasty.

I made a  couple of dishes with my homegrown pumpkin and this Steamed Cake is one of that.

去年春天的时候我家前院的土里自己钻出几棵南瓜苗，间苗时我只留了一棵，后来长成好大一丛南瓜藤。可能前院的土壤不算特别肥沃，所以后来一共才结了5只南瓜。自己种的南瓜绿色无污染，味道特别甜美好吃。

今天取小半只做南瓜发糕，特别香甜美味。

Homemade Preserved radish/Chai Poh 自制菜脯

Back home whenever mom/grandma makes porridge/congee, there will definitely be a plate of preserved radish  omelette.

A lot of the preserved radish/Chai poh sold in the market are imported, if you read the label printed on the packaging, the ingredients listed include -- “traces of nitrates”, “E211 (sodium benzoate)”, “E975 (saccharine)” and many other ingredients that I can't even pronounce. It is just making one wonders what is the implication of those chemical stuff and how they make their ways into this traditional treat.

The Radishes sold in the Asian market were really fresh and tasty around end April/May this year, with 29 cents a lbs and plenty of cold/dry air and sunshine.
I can't help but to bring some home to make homemade preserved radish.

小时候妈妈或外婆煮粥的时候通常都菜桌上都会有一道菜脯煎蛋。菜脯/萝卜干是一个非常平民的食材，可以拿来做很多不同的小吃和菜肴。

市场上卖的菜脯/萝卜干大多是进口的，如果你看菜脯包装上列出的材料的话，就会发现市售的菜脯用了很多的化学添加物，多吃还真的对身体不好哦！

过去农耕时代，菜脯是萝卜盛产时把萝卜腌制起来方便保存的一个做法，我想既然过去可以在家做菜脯，现在当然也可以在家自己制作菜脯罗！

四五月时我们这里的亚洲超市萝卜打折，一磅才两毛九。而且四五月的天气很适合制作菜脯，所以我就买了十几磅的大萝卜，自己制作好吃的菜脯。

Kee Zhang/Alkaline Dumplings 【碱水粽】

Every year during the dragon boat festival (端午节), mom will make a lot of Nyonya and meat dumplings for us. 

But for prayer purpose, she would order some Kee Zhang/Alkaline Dumplings (碱水粽）from some ladies in town. Kee Zhang is normally much smaller in size, only about 1/3 of the normal dumplings. 

The dumplings have a very unique flavor and texture after adding alkaline water/lye water, the color of rice changes and take on a yellow hue, the alkaline water also makes the rice turned firmer and finally the taste of Alkalinity, a very distinctive, slick and pleasant feeling in the mouth, it is hard to explain, but a unique experience.

I made Bak Zhang for Dragon Boat festival and was left with some glutinous rice and soaked bamboo leaves. I liked to have my Kee Zhang serve with Pandan Kaya or Caramel Kaya. 

Since I do not have Kaya ready at home, I served mine with Maple Syrup this time and it is really yummy!

小时候每逢端午节妈妈都会裹上好多的咸肉粽和娘惹粽，但拜拜用的碱水粽却总是向乡里的一些家庭主妇买的，碱水粽有股特别的碱水味，家里的小孩都不爱吃，所以一般会沾了甜味的香兰咖央，或焦糖咖央吃。

今年端午节我裹了好些肉粽和朋友们分享，还剩下一些糯米和粽叶，就裹了两串的碱水粽，沾了枫糖浆也很香，真是久违的味道！

Vegan Meringue Using Aquafaba

Aquafaba is admittedly the most important discovery in 2015!

Aquafaba, or chickpea/Bean brine, is the liquid from cooking beans being used as an egg substitute, it could function as an emulsifier, leavening agent, and foaming agent.

It was discovered by Vegan baker Goose Wohlt in February 2015 after seeing a short film by French chef Joël Roessel, where the latter showed how chickpea brine could be used in recipes much like egg whites. Goose later coined the term aquafaba ("bean liquid") to describe the liquid.

His discovery opened up multiple possibilities for the Vegan world to create recipes that called for Egg white -- food that traditionally was considered a goodbye for good for whoever chooses to turned to Veganism, such as Meringue, Macarons, Meringue lemon Pie and mousse.

I was elated to learn about this discovery from my vegan friend Pragnya. I also started working on it as soon as I have sometimes at hand! New year holidays it is!

Adzuki Bean White Fungus Sweet Soup 【紅豆銀耳湯】

I grow up eating red bean (Adzuki) soup as dessert/snack a lot. There are many ways to prepare this sweet soup, adding palm sugar, pandan/screwpine leaves, black glutinous rice are some of the variances.

But making this sweet soup with white fungus (銀耳）is something new to me, mom and I had this sweet soup made this way the first time sometimes ago at the Dharma Drum's Temple, it was part of the vegetarian feast they had over the Buddha's birthday celebration. 

We liked it instantly and thought the combination make a lot of sense, Adzuki bean being high in fiber and iron but slightly heat-y is well compensated with the cooling effect of white fungus, not only that, adding the white fungus make the soup that much more smoother and creamy!

我從小就喜歡喝紅豆甜湯，是家裡經常做的一款糖水。東南亞人還喜歡加入各種不同的帶有東南亞風味的材料如椰糖，香蘭葉和黑糯米來做這款糖水。

今年佛誕節的時候我和媽媽到法鼓山去浴佛順便在佛堂午飯，當天的糖水就是這款紅豆銀耳湯，味道非常好，入口潤滑，帶著濃濃的紅豆香，很好吃。

紅豆有很高的鐵質，維他命B和膳食纖維，而銀耳具有滋阴润肺、益气和血之功效， 實在是配搭相當合理而且好吃的糖水呢！

【奶香玉米布丁 】Kuih Kastard Jagung (Corn Custard)

这个玉米糕是小时候参加节庆和宴会的时候必有的糕点，我很喜欢玉米香甜的味道，糕点糯糯的极好入口，相信小孩子们都会喜欢。

This Jagung Kuih was one of the many yummy kuih (Pastry/cake) prepared for most parties and celebrations in Malaysia. It is easy to prepare and taste so yummy, was one of my favorite dessert when I was young.

There is just no way for me not to make this at home when I am out of the country!