Snow Fungus Dessert Soup

This is an incredibly healthy + nourishing sweet soup we eat in Asia all year round. It’s served from street-side dessert shops to high-end buffet places as a light dessert after a big feast. The nutritional benefits of this soup are endless. To those who have never tried snow fungus — it’s also known as Silver Ear Mushroom. The name is a lot more intimidating than the taste, which resembles and soft jelly. You can pick it up at Asian grocery stores in dried packets. Look for snow fungus that is yellow in color, as the white ones might have been bleached.

Snow fungus is full of Vitamin  D and collagen that gives you plump skin. Red jujube (dates) is the most popular beauty fruit for Asian women. When I lived in China — I had friends who would religiously eat eight per day!

Benefits from these ingredients include:

• Red Dates — lots of vitamin C, iron, and minerals. Great for your immune system

• Rock Sugar — good for healthy lungs, soothing to the stomach

• Dried Longan — warming, builds an appetite, helps with insomnia, and is great for your skin

• Lily Bulb — detoxes your body, good for blood flow and immune system

• Lotus Seeds — Lowers blood pressure and is good for your heart

• Dried snow fungus and ingredients

Dried snow fungus and ingredients

Snow Fungus with Lotus Seed Soup 冰糖银耳莲子湯

Serves 6 | prep time: 30 mins | cooking time: 2-hours stove top, 30-mins instant pot

Ingredients

• 30 grams dried snow fungus 

• 80 grams Lotus seeds 

• 50 grams Red dates

• 30 grams Lily bulb (optional)

• 20 grams dried Longan (optional)

• Rock sugar or any mild sugar of choice, to taste

Instructions

1. Soak the snow fungus, lotus seeds, and lily bulb for 1 hour or overnight. Remove the stem and tough parts of the snow fungus and cut them into small pieces. If there are lotus hearts in the lotus seeds – remove them as they are bitter in taste.

2. Rinse the red dates, goji berries, and set aside.

3. In a pot over medium-high heat, add water, snow fungus, lotus seeds, and goji berries. After the soup comes to a boil, lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 1-2 hours.* The snow fungus will soften and the soup will become gelatinous and jelly-like. If the snow fungus tastes crunchy, continue cooking until it softens.

4. Add the rock sugar to taste and stir to dissolve. Serve straight away or chilled.

Cooking notes:

1. For Instant Pot, add everything into the pot, seal, and set on high for 30 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally.

2. For winter, I added a small handful of dried longan to add heat to the soup. You can add it in step 3 with all of the ingredients.

Sweet Potato Congee

sweet potato congee with house edible flowers

I hope it’s been a good June for everyone. It’s been particularly cold in Vancouver so I have been firing up the stove for a lot of congee. For those who are new to congee — congee is the Asian version of chicken soup, for the soul, and so much more. A warm and nourishing meal known to boost your chi — congee is the remedy food for colds, flu, stomach aches, and bad days. It’s also a popular breakfast food for all ages and served in multiple flavors at congee noodle restaurants in Vancouver. 

This sweet potato congee is sentiment to Taiwan — the beautiful island I call home. Geographically shaped like a sweet potato — the Taiwanese take pride in what we call a “sweet potato spirit / 番薯精神”. A spirit determined to take root and bear fruit wherever we are planted, even in the harshest environments. A life force that propelled the island to prosperity in the early farming days.

In Taiwanese, one of the few words I know is “Muai” which means congee — a breakfast item I would request every time I visited grandma in South Taiwan. Cooked from leftover rice and served with a humble fried egg, soy sauce, and pickled vegetables — it was a breakfast to wake up to.

In Taiwan, there are plenty of restaurants that serve plain congee with a wide selection of dishes known as “清粥小菜” meaning “light congee, little dishes”. To make a congee spread — top with anything you like to eat. The possibilities are endless. 

Ideas for congee toppings:

• Fried eggs, or eggs any way

• Stir-fried vegetables

• Spicy cucumber fans

• Stir-fry lotus root

• Furikake

• Pork floss

• Braised tofu and vegetables in soy sauce

• Pickled cucumbers(I like 金蘭 Kamlan brand from T&T)

Congee bowl topped with everything I like to eat — spicy lotus root, braised tofu, egg and vegetables in soy sauce, pickled cucumbers and fresh greens

My idea of a congee feast — furikake, pork floss(for the meat-eaters), pickled watermelon radish, fried egg, stir-fried vegetables, and tofu

Sweet Potato Congee Recipe

Serves 2 to 3 people

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice (short grain rice or jasmine rice for extra flavor)

• 10 cups water

• 1 medium-sized sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces. 

Instructions

Rinse 1 cup of rice until the water runs clear. Soak for 1-hour or overnight. Drain and set aside. Peel and chop 1 medium sweet potato into 1-inch pieces. Set aside.

1. Bring 10 cups of water to a boil, add the rice, cook and bring to a boil again. Adjust the heat to simmer and cook for 45 mins to 1-hour. Stirring the bottom of the pot constantly. Cook until the rice is mushy, softened, but still retains its shape.

2. Add the sweet potato and bring it to a boil for 5 mins. Cover the pot with a lid, turn off the heat and let sit for 20 minutes. The heat from the rice will cook the sweet potato while keeping its shape, we don’t want it to get mushy here.

3. Serve and enjoy the congee while it’s hot. This sweet potato congee keeps in the fridge for 2–3 days.