Healthy and Natural Tang Yuan for Winter Solstice

I could not remember when was the last time I blogged. But then I think I should start blogging all the healthy and delicious recipe for future references.

Yesterday is Winter Solstice. I discovered a healthy tang yuan recipe so I decided to give it a try. It is not Phin Zhe first time making tang yuan, but it is the first time he ate some. It uses only two simple ingredients and the texture is very nice.

Ingredients(4-6 servings):
200g orange sweet potatoes/purple sweet potatoes/chinese yam
100g lotus root powder
brown sugar(optional)

Method:
1. Roughly mash the lotus root powder.
2. Steam the sweet potatoes/chinese yam and mash with a fork.
3. Add the lotus root powder to the mashed sweet potatoes or chinese yam.
4. If you want extra sweetness, add some brown sugar at this point.
5. Mix well and knead a little bit until the lotus root powder can not be seen. Add a bit of warm water if needed.
6. Roll into ball shapes.
7. Bring a pot of water to boil. Put in the tang yuan, cook until it is floating on the water.
8. Serve with pandan ginger sugar water or sweet soy milk.

Chinese New Year's meals for a 3 years old

Phin Zhe is 3yo now and he is more alert with what is happening surrounding him, so he knows exactly what is being served on the dining table. To keep him away from all the Chinese New Year's sinful dishes and snacks, I served similar home cooked food to him.

Hubby's family had steamboat for reunion dinner. I cooked separately for him.  In the chicken broth, it had ramen, mushroom, toufu, prawn, fish, squid, shabu shabu meat and few veggies. He liked it and finished up the whole bowl.

That morning, I baked a pandan vco chiffon. Right after the dinner, he brought out the cake and shared with everyone in the house. Yes, I have a big eater at home.

Pandan VCO chiffon

Pandan VCO chiffon recipe:

5 egg yolks
20g sugar
90g pandan juice
70g vco
125g low protein flour

5 egg whites
70g sugar
1tsp lemon juice

1. Whisk egg yolks and 20g sugar until light color.
2. Add in vco and pandan juice, mix well.
3. Add in sifted flour and mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites and lemon juice until foamy. Gradually add in sugar and beat until soft peak formed.
5. Use a spatula and add 1/3 of the meringue to the egg yolk mixture. Mix well.
6. Repeat until step 5 until meringue finish. Do not over mix.
7. Bake in 150-160'c preheated oven for around 40minutes.
8. Once down, turn the chiffon tin upside down for cooling.

meesua and hard-boiled egg

On first day of Chinese New Year, hubby's family had meesua and red hard-boiled egg for breakfast. So, I prepared meesua with black fungus, dried mushroom and minced meat for him. I also tried to dye the hard-boiled egg with beet root, but failed. The color just won't stick. Does anyone know how to dye hard-boiled egg in a natural way?

Cashew nut ice cream

At 11am, all the kids were eating ice-cream. So I brought out the cashew nut ice cream which I had prepared. He was so happy and of course he did not complain that he was eating a different ice cream.

Hazelnut ice cream recipe

180g cashew nut
3 tbsp vco
2 tbsp honey
240ml water

Use high speed blender to blend until smooth. Put in freezer overnight.

Adult had steamboat for lunch again, so I cooked something similar to the first picture in this post, thus I did not take a picture of it.

bak kua waiting to go into oven

Bak Kua

Bak Kua is a must for Chinese New Year, so I decided to bake one small tray for him. Even though I have skipped some seasonings, he still enjoyed it and finished all the bak kua within 3 days.

Bak Kua recipe:

300g minced meat
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp honey
1/8 tsp five spices(I skipped this)
1tsp rice wine(I skipped this)

1. Marinate the minced meat with all the seasonings.
2. Use a chopstick or fork, stir the meat in one direction until the meat become gooey.
3. Lay parchment paper on baking tray.
4. Spread the meat on the parchment paper.
5. Bake ar 100'c with oven door opened for 15 minutes.
6. Take out the tray, cut the bak kua into smaller pieces.
7. Bake at 200-220'c for about 10-15minutes.

kid version nasi lemak

Every 1st day of Chinese New Year, hubby house will have buffet dinner. This year, they ordered Nasi Lemak. So I cooked a kid version nasi lemak for Phin Zhe. 

Steamed rice with lemongrass and vco, topped with pumpkin seeds

Stir fry french bean

Prawn and fried egg in tomato sauce

Watermelon

breakfast plate

On second day, Phin Zhe had cheesy scrambled egg on bread, Greek yogurt with Manuka honey and Japanese cucumber. But he asked me why one of the compartment was empty. So, I put 2 pieces of cranberry butter cookies in it.

Cramberry butter cookies

Spaghetti with mushroom and capsicium

For lunch, we went to hubby's grandma's place. Again, they were serving spicy food. So, I cooked spaghetti for Phin Zhe.

cracker waiting to go into oven

Seaweed and White Sesame cracker

Seaweed and white sesame cracker

80g milk
4g yeast
30g oil
150g low protein flour
1/8tsp baking soda
1/8tsp salt
2 tbsp seaweed
1tbsp white sesame

1. Melt yeast in warm milk.
2. Knead everything together except seaweed and white sesame. Knead until smooth.
3. Add in seaweed and white sesame. Knead to mix well.
4. Roll into 2mm thickness, cut into desired shape.
5. Use a fork to make holes.
6. Bake at 180'c preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Rice with baked chicken and soup

Hubby family went to restaurant for dinner that night. I was quite tired after the outing. So, I prepared something simple for him.

Baked chicken thigh(marinated with lemon, olive oil, sea salt and mixed herbs) 
Mixed veggies and mushroom soup

After the dinner, we went back to my mum's place. From then, Phin Zhe's meals were taken care by my mother.