Bubur Cha Cha

My friend's son was celebrating his Big One this Sunday, so I helped prepare one of the Malaysia specialty sweet soup Bubur Cha Cha. In Hong Kong they usually cook it with Taro and sago, but Malaysia version we put sweet potatoes, taro and sago. It's has been a while since I had this yummy soup kinda miss it.

To make the dish looks more colorful, I used Japenese sweet potatoes ( yellow), American sweet potatoes or yam ( orange), taro and sago. There are many way to cook this dish. my family use to steam all the roots until they become tender before they add everything in the sweet soup base. Some people put everything in the pot and cook until the roots get tender. I find that American sweet potatoes we get from regular groceries store tend to get soft and mushy quicker then the sweet potatoes we get from Asian. So to prepare this, I cook the Japaneses sweet potatoes and taro over night with my slow cooker and finish up the reminding ingredients on stove the next morning before the event.

Here are the ingredients I used:

• Japanese sweet potaoes ( yellow)
• American sweet potatoe or yam ( orange)
• Taro
• Sago
• Sugar to taste
• Thick coconut milk
• Water

Strawberry Sorbet

Ingredients

• 2 lb of fresh strawberries
• 160 ml water
• 135 grams sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

• Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan, over low heat, and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
• Boil the mixture for one minute then remove from heat and let it cold.
• Place strawberries in a blender and puree the berries until smooth.
• Add the lemon juice and the sugar mixture and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled.
• Freeze the mixture according to the instruction provided from your ice cream maker. Usually it takes about 20-30 minutes.

Tofu Fa - Take 3

Third time's a charm. That's right.. Look at my Tofu fa. Aren't they looks good? Smooth and silky texture, even my 8 month old son loves it. hmm..

Alright, here's the truth. I cheated. I made this from the instant Tofu mix I bought from an Asian store. This mix was recommended from a blogger. Thanks to little corner of mine shared her secret recipe for tofu fa.


I am very excited that the tofu fa turns out great. While I was cooking, I was so afraid that I will screw up again so I carefully review the instruction to make sure I done everything correctly. The cooking process was very simple and the whole process probably takes less then 1 hour from unpacking the mix to ready to serve. Even though I can get this ready mix from the store but I am still interested in learning the original way of cooking tofu Fa. Since my husband and son love it so much, I am planning to try again the original recipe in the future. Until then, instant ready mix definitely can satisfy my craving for it.

Sweetened Red Bean and Mung Bean Soup

Sweetened Red Bean and Mung Bean Soup with Coconut Milk


Sweetened Red Bean and Mung Bean Soup without Coconut Milk

I like dessert especially for tea time. Last weekend, I hosted a small gathering for my son’s play group and I decided to cook something sweet for everyone to enjoy. Sweetened Red Bean and Mung Bean soup was my first creation for everyone. According to Chinese, red bead has the warming effect to the body and mung bean on the other hand has the cooling effect. So every time when my family cooks this dessert, they love combine both together to get a neutral version of the dessert. In South East Asia, we also love to add some fresh coconut milk to most of the dessert to make it richer and creamier taste. So I prepared a separate bowl of coconut milk for those who love to enjoy more complex flavor of the dessert.

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup of mung bean
• 1 cup of red bean
• ¼ cup of tapioca
• 1 medium piece dried tangerine peel (not display in the picture)
• Rock sugars
• Optional Screwed pine leaves (pandan leaves)
• 8 cups of water

Optional coconut milk:

• Mix coconut milk powder with some warm water to make a thick coconut milk consistency
• Add a small dash of salt

Rice Cooker method (my no fuss version cooking method – Multi-functional Rice Cooker):

• Combine red beans, tangerine peel, screwed pine leaves and water into the pot.
• Set the rice cooker to slow cook soup option for 3 hours and press cook button. You are all set for the first hour.

…an hour later..

• Add mung bean to the soup and give it a few stir and let the rice cooker do the job for you for the remaining 2 hours.

… ½ hour before done..

• Check the soup to make sure all the beans are soft and cooked, add more water if needed.
• Finally, add tapioca, and rock sugars to taste and let it cook for another 15 minutes to make sure the tapioca turn from white to clean and all the rock sugar are dissolved.

Traditional Method:

• Combine red beans, tangerine peel, screwed pine leaves and water into the pot, bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to simmer, cook uncovered till beans started to get tender (about 1 hour)
• Add mung bean to the soup and continue cook for another hour or until all beans are tender.
• Add tapioca and rock sugar cook until the tapioca turn from white to clean and all the rock sugar are dissolved.