On a cold winter’s night, I crave a big bowl of taro coconut black rice dessert. The creamy taro and coconut milk flavor is a traditional Asian combination and is one which I grew up with. In Chinese food culture, black rice is thought to promote hair growth and to keep the hair black. Whether it is true or just an old wives’ tale, I love the taste of this dessert soup! The lychee chunks are optional but adds an extra dimension to the flavor, and make this dessert extra special. Hope you and your family will enjoy this too!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup black rice
1.5 lbs taro (about 3 cups)
1/2 stick of brown sugar (1 full stick for sweeter dessert)
1 can of coconut milk, full fat or light (14oz or 400mL)
1 can of whole lychee in syrup (optional)
Salt and sugar to taste
Rinse and drain 1/2 cup of black rice.
Add the black rice into the instant pot along with 2 cups of cold water.
Seal the lid. Set instant pot to high pressure for 15 minutes.
While the rice is cooking, prepare the taro. Skin and cut the taro into large chunks, about 1 inch cubes. Set aside.
When the instant pot is done, natural release for 10 minutes. Then, release all the remaining pressure. Carefully remove the lid.
Now add the 1.5 lbs of taro chunks, 1/2 stick of brown sugar (or the full stick for a sweeter dessert), and 1 cup of cold water into the half-cooked rice mixture, in the instant pot.
Gently stir so that the taro sits evenly in the liquid.
Close the lid. Set instant pot to high pressure for 3 minutes.
When the instant pot is done, natural release for 10 minutes (or until you want to serve the dessert up to an hour; I went and took a nap and forgot about it). Then carefully release the remaining pressure and remove the lid.
Turn on the saute function and pour a can of coconut milk into the instant pot.
Drain the canned lychee chunks and reserve the lychee syrup. Add the lychee chunks into the instant pot. Gently stir to mix.
Turn the saute function off once the soup comes back to a boil. Do not overheat as this will curd the coconut milk.
Taste and add a pinch of salt or more sugar to suit your tastes.
If the dessert soup is too thick for your liking, add the lychee syrup in 1/4 cup increments until desired consistency. I didn’t need to add any to mine but some of you might like a thinner soup.
Serve immediately to have it warm! Or you can refridgerate and serve this chilled, which is also delicious. Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for 3 days. Enjoy!
This traditional postpartum soup recipe was the main reason I bought an instant pot. It is a savory and sweet broth made from silkie chicken, lean pork and mature coconut meat, double boiled in a ceramic pot inside the instant pot. My postpartum doula requested I have an instant pot, so that she could double boil special soups for my recovery after giving birth. Ever since then, my instant pot runs at least once every other day, if not daily for other dishes!
I want to take this special opportunity to personally thank Dorothy, my postpartum doula, who took such good care of me during my postpartum recovery, and who taught me so much about Chinese traditions and the use of the instant pot.
This post came as a request from a friend who needs this recipe. There are preparations that need to be done ahead of time in order to make the double boil process faster. So this isn’t a quick recipe like my other posts. But once the ingredients are prepared and stored in the freezer, preferably while you are pregnant, then during postpartum recovery, you can easily double boil this soup in the instant pot. I had these soup ingredients frozen in my freezer for 6 months after my postpartum doula completed her time with me. It was such a treat to make this soup when I wanted to drink it.
The double boiled soup is only 1-2 servings which can be consumed by 1 person, and not meant for everyone in the family. My husband after having consumed a small bowl of this soup, had night sweats because it was too “warm” for his body type. This soup is perfect for postpartum recovery and for those who always feel cold.
A small piece of lean pork is added to the soup base as traditional Chinese medicine believes that the pork activates the herbs to make the herbs even more effective. The mature coconut isn’t easy to crack open! I needed to enlist the help of my husband to hammer it open. It is important to use a mature coconut because it has more nutrients than the young coconut. The mature coconut meat is thicker and more fibrous. If you can find this in the freezer section make sure it is from a mature coconut. The coconut water from a fresh coconut is edible but considered “cold” for the body. It is best not to include in the soup for this reason. The coconut water was good for my husband to drink based on his body needs. Hope this recipe is easy enough to follow and bless those who need it! Click here to see how to double boil the soup in the instant pot.
Soup Base Ingredients (4 portions):
1 silkie chicken (about 2+ lbs, medium sized chicken)
The Soup Base Ingredients yields 4 soup portions, as each soup portion requires only a quarter of a large silkie chicken. The herbs listed below is only for 1 portion of soup, which means you will need 4 sets of these herbs to cover all 4 portions yielded by the Soup Base Ingredients.
Adjust the amount of portions by the size of the silkie chicken. For example, if the silkie chicken is very small, less than 1 lbs, I recommend using the whole chicken with 1 portion of the herbs below, instead of splitting the chicken for multiple soups. If the chicken is about 1.5lbs, then perhaps split the chicken for 3 portions.
If you’d like to save a few minutes, you can collect and store the right amount of dry herbs in individual bags. You will need a total of 4 herbs sets. Do not include fresh ginger until the time of cooking. Rinse and prepare the herbs only right before cooking as the moisture will spoil the herbs.
When you’d like to drink the soup, you will double boil 1 set of herbs with 1/4 of the Soup Base Ingredients to yield 1-2 servings of soup. During my postpartum recovery, I drank this soup only once or twice a week, not everyday. There were many other varieties of soup but this recipe was my favorite because it felt luxurious and rich. The broth from this double boil method, felt extra nutritious and warmed up my body. Click here to see how to prepare the herbs.
Cut Up Silkie Chicken:
Using a sharp pair of kitchen shears or a chef knife, cut off the neck and feet at the joints. Toss the chicken head.
Trim each digit and remove the toenails from the chicken feet. Set aside.
Slicing at the joint, detach the chicken wings, chicken drums and thighs.
Follow the joints and further detach each section of meat. There should be 4 dark meats, and 4 wing pieces. These will be separated into the 4 portions of soup. Set aside.
Cut along the rib bones on both sides of the body. Remove the back bone from the breast of the chicken.
Cut the breasts into half and then into quarters. Each portion of soup will have one breast meat.
Halve the backbone piece.
Rinse and thoroughly clean each piece of chicken. Set aside.
Parboil Chicken and Pork:
Cut the boneless lean pork into large inch sized chunks. I was able to cut 6 pieces. Each soup portion requires 1 piece of lean pork. Additional pieces could be reserved for other soup recipes.
Place all the chicken and pork pieces into a large soup pot. Add enough cold water to just cover all the meat.
Turn the heat to high and bring the water to a rolling boil. Once boiled turn the heat off.
Be careful the pot is extremely hot! Drain the meat into a colander.
Rinse off any fats and scum from the meat. Set aside.
For each portion of soup, I like to have 1 piece of dark meat, 1 piece of wing, 1 piece of breast meat and 1 piece of either the backbone or chicken feet. This way, each soup will have 4 different parts of the chicken.
Plastic wrap each portion of chicken along with 1 piece of pork. Place all the sets into a large freezer bag and freeze immediately.
Since I was able to cut 6 pieces of lean pork, I reserved the extra 2 for other soups in a separate bag.
Tips to Pick a Good Coconut:
The recipe calls for a mature coconut because the mature coconut has more flesh and less liquid. The coconut flesh is more appropriate to “warm” the body. The young coconut hasn’t had much time to develop the flesh, so it is full of liquid. The mature coconut has a brown husky exterior unlike the smooth green young coconut.
There are 3 pores at the end of coconut that are like eyes into the health of the coconut. The shell is thinnest at these 3 eyes, so you don’t want to pick a coconut that has mold or holes in these eyes. If there is a hole, bacteria could have developed and bugs might have crawled inside. If there is mold, the meat might have gone bad and might be rancid. The deeper, darker, more defined yet intact holes means it is an older coconut without contamination.
Shake the coconut and get a feel of the amount of liquid that is inside. As a coconut ages, it develops more meat, while this liquid gets reduced. So more liquid inside the coconut means it is a younger coconut with less meat. You want to pick a coconut with some liquid, meaning the liquid remained intact without contamination, but not the most liquid from the batch. If there are no liquid at all, carefully inspect the 3 eyes, whether there is a puncture in the lining. If there is no puncture, then perhaps it is a well aged coconut with no liquid left!
Hope these tips help you find a good mature coconut! Good luck!
Prepare the Coconut:
Preheat oven to 400F.
Sterilize the tip of a screw driver with rubbing alcohol or wash thoroughly with soap. Use a screw driver that has no signs of rust.
Hammer the screw driver into one of the three holes of the coconut. Make at least two holes to allow the liquid to flow.
Drain the coconut water into a bowl. Filter the water to drink or discard.
Gently hammer around the outer rim of the coconut. Turn the coconut after each tap, to continue hammering along the equator of the coconut.
Hammer until a clean crack occurs.
Rinse the debris off the inside of the coconut flesh. Place cleaned coconut halves onto a baking tray.
Bake for 10 minutes at 400F.
Using a spoon, scoop out the coconut flesh.
Peel off any excess husk attached to the coconut. If you prefer completely white pieces of coconut, peel all the brown skin off. The thin layer of skin is edible so I like to keep some on.
Divide the coconut into 4 portions. Wrap each portion of coconut with plastic wrap.
Place the 4 portions into a freezer bag and freeze. Coconut pieces can be kept in the freezer for up to 6 months. Defrost in cold water for about 15 minutes, when needed.
Prepare the Herbs:
Gather 2 dried red dates, 3 pieces pilose asiabell root “dong sum”, 2-3 slices radix astragali “buck kay”, 3 slices dried Chinese yam “wai san”, 1 tablespoon goji berries, 5 pieces dried longan, and 1 dried tangerine peel. Also, include 1 thick slice of ginger.
Rinse the dried red dates. Cut them into slices and remove the pit. Set aside.
Cut into bite sizes and soak pilose asiabell root “dong sum”, and radix astragali “buck kay” for 10 minutes in cold water to rid of any preservatives or dirt.
Give the rest of herbs a quick rinse in cold water before using in the soup.
Drain all the herbs and set aside.
Double Boil the Soup:
Defrost one set of silkie chicken and lean pork. Submerge in cold tap water for about 30-45 minutes. Defrost frozen coconut pieces in cold water for about 15 minutes.
Place 5 cups of cold water in the instant pot. Then place the trivet and the ceramic pot inside the instant pot. The water might be high enough to touch the ceramic pot.
Now, pour 2.5-3 cups of cold water into the ceramic pot, just enough water to cover all the soup ingredients.
Place the inner lid on the ceramic pot.
Close and seal the valve of the instant pot lid.
Set instant pot to low pressure for 30 minutes. Natural release for 10 minutes to serve immediately or let it keep warm for a few hours until you are ready to serve.
Carefully release all the pressure, remove both lids. Add a little bit of salt to suit your tastes. Enjoy!
This is a popular dessert at restaurants but this version uses cooked melon. The cooked melon guarantees sweetness in every bite and flavors the soup base. By accident, I bought an unripe melon. Nobody in the family would eat it and I didn’t want to waste it. So I made it into a dessert soup, added tapioca pearls (also known as sago), and coconut jelly cubes. Then suddenly, the sad rejected melon became the star of a dessert!
Serve this dessert warm or chilled, after a meal. The creaminess of the coconut milk and the freshness of the melon, surprisingly helps to take away the effects of eating too much monosodium glutamate, no scientific backing here, just from experience! The coconut jelly cubes adds a depth to this dessert. They can be found at grocery stores in cans or plastic tubs. I used Santa Claus melon in this recipe because it was on sale, but you can substitute with a variety of melons like honeydew, cantaloupe, or Hami melon.
Ingredients:
1 melon (4 cups of melon chunks)
1/2 brown sugar stick (about 1 tablespoon sugar)
2 cups cold water
1 can of coconut milk (400ml, full fat or light)
1/2 cup tapioca pearls
1 can of coconut jelly cubes (regular or lychee flavor, optional)
Make the Melon Soup:
Cut up the melon into large chunks, about 1 inch cubes. You will need about 4 cups of melon chunks.
Place 1/2 brown sugar stick, 2 cups of cold water and 4 cups of melon chunks into the instant pot. Seal the lid. Cook at high pressure for 2 minutes and 10 minutes natural release.
While the instant pot is cooking, drain the coconut jelly cubes, if you are using. No need to rinse!
Cook the Tapioca Pearls:
Bring 5 cups of water to a rolling boil in a small pot. Add 1/2 cup of tapioca pearls into the pot.
Stir occasionally and boil for 5 minutes.
Turn off the heat. Cover the pot with a lid and let the tapioca pearls rest for 15 minutes.
Give the pearls a quick stir to loosen them up. Rinse under cold water a few times and drain in colander. Set aside.
Bring Together:
After carefully releasing the pressure of the instant pot. Add a can of coconut milk into the cooked melon soup. Full fat coconut milk or coconut milk light works in this recipe. Both delivers the same delicious flavor.
Turn the instant pot to saute function and bring the soup to a simmer. Once the coconut milk boils, turn off the heat. Over heating the coconut milk will cause it to curdle.
Now, add the coconut jelly cubes and tapioca pearls to the soup. Gently stir together.
Serve immediately if you prefer this dessert warm. Or chill for 3-4 hours in the fridge to serve cold. Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days. Hope you will enjoy this dessert!
When pork ribs goes on sale by the pair in vacuum packs, I often buy it to serve on our “fancy Friday” meals to celebrate the week’s end. It’s easy to make ahead in the instant pot, and finish off in the oven before dinner is served. The kids love it because the meat is tender, juicy and tasty with light smoky flavor.
I don’t have time to use a smoker, nor slow bake in the oven. Liquid smoke is my short cut to achieve the smoky richness in the meat. It is brushed directly on to the ribs before they are cooked in the instant pot. If you know you will be pressed for time for tomorrow’s dinner, make the ribs ahead in the instant pot, and store in the fridge. Then, next day for dinner, finish the ribs in the oven brushed with sauce.
It was hard to take a opening photo because when the ribs were cut into individual ribs, the meat was so tender, it was falling off the bones! Good thing I always make this recipe with 2 racks. Hope you and your family will enjoy this simple recipe.
Ingredients:
2 pork back ribs (full racks)
1 tablespoon garlic powder (unsalted)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon liquid smoke (star of this recipe but can be omitted)
Clean, rinse and pat dry 2 pork back ribs. (Cooking time will be the same if you are cooking only 1 rack, but halve the spices in the list above.)
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon of ground black pepper on the top of the ribs. No need to season the bottom!
Brush thinly 1 tablespoon of liquid smoke all over the top of the ribs.
Place the instant pot trivet along with 1 cup of cold water into the instant pot.
Bend and roll the ribs into a “C” shape and place them linked to each other on top of the trivet. Be sure the bones are facing upwards so that once cooked, the bones won’t get tangled in the trivet.
Seal the instant pot lid and cook at high pressure for 12 minutes and 10 minutes natural release.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Carefully release the remaining pressure from the instant pot, before opening the lid.
Gently remove the cooked ribs onto an aluminum foil lined baking tray. (Or if you want to serve the ribs later: cool, plastic wrap the ribs, and store in the fridge for up to 2 days.)
In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup BBQ sauce and 1/4 cup Hoisin sauce together.
Brush the sauce generously all over the top of the ribs.
Bake the ribs at 400F for 10 minutes or until the sauce is reduced and golden. (If the ribs were stored in the fridge, bake for 20 minutes or until the ribs are warmed through.)
Let the ribs rest for 10 minutes before carving. Enjoy!
Is your throat feeling dry lately? Try this dried monk fruit tea to soothe your throat. I used to buy this tea in powdered form in individual packs, but now I can make a big batch for the family. Also, this way, I know it is made from real dried monk fruits with no sugar or preservatives added.
The sweetness of the tea is all naturally brewed from the dried monk fruit itself. The dark brown almost black color of the tea initially put off my kids, until they had their first sip! Hope you and your loved ones will enjoy this tea together.
Ingredients:
2 dried monk fruits (whole)
6 cups cold water
Clean and rinse 2 whole dried monk fruits. Using a sharp knife or kitchen shears, break open the outer shell. Then break them into smaller pieces.
Place all the dried monk fruit pieces into the instant pot, along with 6 cups of cold water.
Set instant pot on high pressure for 15 minutes. You can release the pressure to drink immediately or you can leave it to keep warm for a few hours until you want to drink it.
Strain out the tea. Serve immediately.
Store the leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave to drink warm, for best results.
I like to prepare this tea in the instant pot during breakfast and drink it during my morning break. It is best to drink this tea warm. But if there’s no coughing, you can also drink this tea as a cold beverage. Enjoy!
When the weather gets cooler, this simple meal is my comfort food. The hot congee warms me up like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold day. But it can be eaten like a meal with additional toppings like century eggs, Chinese fried dough, green onion pancakes, peanuts etc.
Since some family members don’t like the smell and taste of cilantro, and some of my kids are not a huge fan of century eggs, I like to serve these as a side dish at the table, instead of boiling them into the congee. But if you prefer to heat up the cilantro and century eggs in the congee, simply add them to the congee at the very end and simmer for a minute before serving.
Ingredients:
2 tilapia fillets (about 1 pound)
3-4 century eggs
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
3/4 cup jasmine rice (standard measuring cup, which is the same as 1 cup from the rice cooker measuring cup)
7 cups cold water
Quick Fish Marinade:
1 tablespoon cooking oil (canola)
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
pinch of ground white pepper
Congee Seasoning:
1 teaspoon unsalted garlic salt
1 teaspoon soy sauce
salt and pepper
Rinse 1 cup of jasmine rice and drain water. Repeat until the water drained is clear.
Place cleaned rice into instant pot along with 7 cups of cold water. Seal the lid.
Set instant pot to 15 minutes low pressure and natural release (about 15 minutes).
Clean and dry the tilapia fillets. Cut into 1/2 inch thick slices on a diagonal.
Place fish slices into a large bowl with 1 tablespoon cooking oil, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce and a pinch of ground white pepper. Mix well and set aside.
Gently crack the century egg shells. Place them in a bowl of cold water to loosen the shells.
Remove the shells and cut into quarter wedges.
Rinse and drain 1/2 cup cilantro leaves. Coarsely chop the cilantro and serve with the century egg wedges. Serve the cilantro and century egg wedges at the table as a side dish, or set aside to simmer in the congee at the end.
After releasing the pressure from the instant pot, carefully open the lid. The rice will looked cooked with excess water at the top. Once the congee returns to a boil and cooks the fish slices, it will thicken.
Place the marinated fish slices into the instant pot. Set instant pot to the saute function. Gently stir to cook the fish slices evenly, so that they won’t clump together.
Stir in 1 teaspoon unsalted garlic powder and 1 teaspoon soy sauce into the congee.
Keep stirring gently until the fish slices are done cooking. The fish slices should no longer be opaque but completely white. Optionally, you can simmer the century eggs and cilantro for a minute. Add salt and pepper to suit your taste.
Serve immediately with additional toppings. Enjoy!
When tomatoes are available at grocery stores by the half bushels, I make this tomato soup for my family. The kids love to eat it with ABC pasta. This soup is tangy and sweet. It can eaten alone, served with pasta or with garlic bread. (For my garlic bread recipe, click here.)
Tomatoes stored in room temperature typically only last about 1-2 weeks depending on how long it has been sitting at the grocery store. So I have to make multiple batches of this soup before the tomatoes go bad. Freeze in portion sizes and it can last throughout the winter. Imagine on a cold winter day, defrost this soup for lunch to warm you up!
Ingredients:
3-3.5 pounds Roma tomatoes
3 cups cold water
2 tablespoon fish sauce
3 tablespoon rice (I used Jasmine rice)
1/2 stick brown sugar (or 2 tablespoon white sugar)
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
2-3 dry bay leaves (optional, this is for a deeper flavor)
Salt and pepper to taste
Wash and drain 3 tablespoon of rice and place in instant pot, along with 3 cups of cold water, 2 tablespoon fish sauce, 1/2 stick brown sugar, 1 coarsely chopped onion, 3 crushed garlic cloves, and 2-3 dry bay leaves.
Wash and halve the 3 pounds of Roma tomatoes and place them in the instant pot.
Seal the instant pot lid and cook at high pressure for 3 minutes and then natural release.
Carefully take out all the bay leaves.
Using a hand blender, blend the soup until smooth. (Be careful as the soup is still very hot! To avoid splashing, immerse the head of the hand blender before turning it on. Also, switch the hand blender off before lifting.)
Add salt and pepper to suit your taste. I only added a small pinch of salt.
This dish has a long name because I couldn’t decide whether to call it Macanese or Portuguese. Hong Kong style restaurants simplify this curry as Portuguese but it is actually originated in Macau under Portuguese influence. In Cantonese it sounds like “Po Gok Gai Fan.”
This is a one pot meal. Meat and vegetables in a yellow coconut based curry served over rice. It’s not spicy at all so the kids can enjoy it too. I used chicken drumsticks in this recipe for ease of cooking and eating. You can use chicken wings or thighs too.
2 tablespoons Lee Kum Kee’s Coconut Flavored Curry Sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
2-3 garlic cloves (optional)
pinch of salt
Cornstarch Slurry (optional)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoon cold water
My mom doesn’t cook much but this is one dish she made that I remember as a child. She used a large roasting pan with a matching lid to bake this dish in the oven. But if you have an instant pot, you can set it off and walk away to do something else, until you are ready for dinner. Click here for the Instant Pot Method.
Oven Baked Method:
Preheat oven to 400F.
Wash and clean the chicken drumsticks. Place them in a deep baking tray.
Drop 2 heaping tablespoons of Lee Kum Kee’s Coconut Flavored Curry Sauce and 1 teaspoon oyster sauce over the chicken drumsticks. Shuffle and massage the drumsticks until everything is coated. Allow the chicken to marinate for a few minutes while vegetables are prepared.
Coarsely chop 1 onion and 1 pepper. Peel and chop the carrots and potatoes into 1 inch chunks. Coarsely chop 2-3 garlic cloves and scatter everything over the chicken drumsticks.
Add 1 cup of water, and give everything a final toss and close the lid. Bake for 45 minutes at 400F.
Check the thickest part of the chicken for doneness. If there’s any pink, place the lid back on and return to oven to bake for another 5 minutes. Serve with rice and enjoy!
Instant Pot Method:
Wash and clean the chicken drumsticks. Place them in the instant pot.
Drop 2 heaping tablespoons of Lee Kum Kee’s Coconut Flavored Curry Sauce and 1 teaspoon oyster sauce over the chicken drumsticks. Shuffle and massage the drumsticks until everything is coated. Allow the chicken to marinate for a few minutes while vegetables are prepared.
Coarsely chop 1 onion and 1 pepper. Peel and chop the carrots into 1 inch chunks. Peel and chop the potatoes into 2 inch chunks. (Potatoes need to be a little bit bigger in this method because it can become disintegrated under the pressure.)
Coarsely chop 2-3 garlic cloves and scatter everything over the chicken drumsticks.
Add 1 cup of water to the instant pot. Give everything a final toss and seal the lid.
Set instant pot on high pressure for 8 minutes. Natural release or release the pressure when you are ready to serve.
If you prefer a thicker sauce, set the instant pot on Saute. Prepare the Cornstarch Slurry by thoroughly dissolving 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoon of cold water. Add the Cornstarch Slurry to the instant pot. Once the sauce thickens, turn off the power and serve immediately.
Sometimes, I crave something sweet and sour. This recipe is easy to make in the instant pot with simple pantry ingredients, and my boys love the sweetness and tenderness of the meat. Even the toddler asks for more!
Similar to my Pork Short Ribs Race Cars recipe, I like to cut the ribs with two bones attached. This way the short ribs look like race cars. The boys love to pretend they are eating race cars, motorcycles or large SUVs!
Ingredients:
2 pounds pork short ribs
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 stick brown sugar
Cut the ribs at every second gap so that there are two bones attached together in one piece. Rinse the ribs, drain and place in the instant pot. No need to pat completely dry as water will be added to the pot.
Now add 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/3 cup soy sauce and 1/2 stick of brown sugar into the instant pot. Give it a quick stir to coat every piece of rib.
Close and seal the lid. Set instant pot for 12 minutes high pressure and 10 minutes natural release.
When my throat feels dry after talking too much, this is my go-to dessert. The sweetness of this dessert soothes my throat and I feel I can sing again!
Ingredients:
4 cups water
3 coin-sized dried white fungus
1/4 cup dried lotus seeds (optional)
1/4 cup almond seeds (also known as “lam hung” or “south almonds”)
3 candied jujubes (also known as candied red dates)
2-3 cups papaya chunks (green colored skin)
1/4 cup dried goji berries
Soak 3 coin-sized dried white fungus in a large bowl of cold water. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes until it has doubled in size. Tear apart into smaller pieces and carefully cut and remove the dirt. Drain excess water and set aside.
Soak 1/4 cup dried lotus seeds in hot water for 5 minutes. Cut each lotus seed in half to check for seeds. Remove any stems or seeds inside the seed. Drain excess water and set aside.
Rinse and drain 1/4 cup almond seeds and 1/4 cup dried goji berries separately, and set aside.
Place the white fungus, lotus seeds, almond seeds, and 3 candied jujubes into an instant pot with 4 cups of water. Set instant on high pressure for 15 minutes and then 10 minutes natural release.
After the pressure is fully released, carefully remove the instant pot lid. Add goji berries and papaya chunks into the instant pot. Close and seal the lid. Set the instant pot to high pressure for another 2 minutes, and 10 minutes natural release.
Taste and add sugar to your desired sweetness. I didn’t need to add anything for my family.
Stove Top Cooking Method: Simply add an extra cup of water to the recipe to account for water evaporated during cooking. Bring 5 cups of water to a boil. Add all the ingredients minus the papaya into the boiling water and turn the heat down to simmer for 45 minutes. Then, add the papaya chunks and simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Check at the 10 minute mark: using a fork pierce a large piece of papaya for doneness. If the papaya is still sturdy, simmer for another 5 minutes. Enjoy!
Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for five days. Boil on stove top to reheat or microwave until warm. You can also try this dessert chilled for a different experience.
Carmen Cooking Diary 