Having a serious bout of flu for the past two weeks. Started off with a minor sore throat which quickly followed by an on and off fever. Later develop spasm of gut-wrenching cough that last for a minute or so a session and leaves me with a husky vocal like Rod Steward :p. Latest verdict - the minor sore throat grew into energy-zapping bronchitis.There were many tips as to what to eat and drink to soften the cough but I did this because these were the only ingredients I could find at home. Just too exhausted to have gone out shopping for pears or whatever these recipes call for.
Just wash and soak some white fungus, about 1 cup. They double in size after a few minutes in water. Get rid of any hard parts that doesn't soften up after 10 minutes or so of soaking. Drain.
Wash a handful of red dates. Get the stones out by flattening each date with the side of the cleaver.
Wash a tablespoon each of wolfberry (枸杞) and dried longan meat.
Boil 2 litre of water in a pot, add fungus and red dates. Simmer for about an hour. Add longan and wolfberry, cook for 2 minutes. Add rock sugar to taste. I add a small piece of gula melaka (palm sugar) to give it a richer aroma. Off heat.
Drink it warm or cold. Warm if you are in my condition but I really like it cold straight from the fridge on a hot afternoon. I don't think it did much to ease the cough but it did help lift my spirit.
Jo
13 comments:
oh u poor dear. the worst is over. good thing is u prob lost weight so now can eat like mad.i expect a lot of 'boo' (strengtening) dishes next. hey, btw, the old lady next to my mom's hse made the sweetest rice wine i've ever ever tasted! she's selling them RM6.50 per bottle.
eh..this is really what i need right now. but i dont have the ingredients :( though..i have this korean red date tea i bought last week at the asian supermarket. all i have to do is just pour in hot or cold water, stir, mash the sliced dates a little to sweeten and drink. kinda cool, actually. but ya, get well soon! i think u've had one too many hawker stall food for now. :p and naughty of u to indulge in cold foods and fried foods, eh??
terri: wahhh...my mum say it is hard to find good rice wine, but apparently she has found a substantial one. maybe i'm a bit doozy, but is rice wine used in "wong jau gai" (yellow wine chicken)??
terri, don't think i lost much weight. but would like to eat like mad if only someone else could do d cooking...
talking bout rice wine made me rmber my aunty(my dad's sister)who used to made d best rice wine i needed for all my confinements. shall give this lady's a try. have been buying from this chinese lady at d Tanjong aru market for years.
moodie, u sounded like my mum lah :p. Tq, yes, i know i need to take better care of myself.
ya, wong jui is rice wine and that is used in the chicken wine soup normally taken for our chinese ladies after giving birth.
hahahaha...me sound like ur mum?? aiya....feel so old now!@ ^^; (tho i could in reality be.....o_O)
oohh...i loveeeeeee huang jui ji/wong jau gai! i used to hate it coz it was too spicy, but now i've grown too accustomed to the taste of ginger. i love it when my mum makes it at home. she also has a supplier she gets her wine from...i'll ask her sometime later (she's overseas atm).
terri: where does this lady live? hehe, if u dont mind me asking.
moodie foodie: she lives at Tmn Faber in Luyang Phase 1 next to my mom...she rears the best chicken but we have to beg her to sell them. 2 weeks ago she sold me 2 chickens alongwith 2 bottles of her wine n i immediately made wong jieu gai--it was sooo good, the wine soup intense and sweet, the freshly killed chicken was totally devoid of any sickening smell and tasty. heaven.
oh yum!!!!!! now i'm craving for home food. i wanna go back to kk!! *bawls* too bad i might be staying back in melb coz of work :(
but thanks terri for that info. i'll keep in mind if my mum ever needs some rice wine...hehe
Poor Jo, am glad you're better now, and hope you remain well for as long as possible.
My granny used to make pots and pots of the young cane sugar tea, the ingredients straight from the Chinese medicine hall. Rinse away the dust, and boil merrily away for hours.
The other was barley water, with the dried melon strips, absolutely used to zap heatiness to timbuktu.
Stay well :)
TQ frank
hi jo (?), do u know of any more chinese 'tong shui' recipes that you could post/send me? it's very difficult to find them especially since typing/pronounciation is different on the internet when typed in alphabets. thanks!
moodie, do u want d 'loh hon ko'cooling drink? My favourite. Maybe I'd get round to blog it. easier with pics especially with ingredients tt have different terms. wat tong sui would u like? let me know, if i don't know how 2 prepare there are always many ppl i can consult.
Oh, u are too kind! Yes, 'lo hon ko' is a good one. Pictures would be an added bonus!
Well, I'm looking for tong shui which are 'leong' (cool) because I feel I am getting very 'heaty' in my internal system, and i dont really want to resort to canned drinks. What would u suggest?
I just bought a pack of dried soup ingredients for 'ching bo leoung' and some sugarcane with dried carrots. My mistake though, coz I don't really know how much water and sugar to boil them with. *cringe* Hope you can help!
Thanks so much, Jo!
so sorry, moodie, didn't see this comment here. don't know how big is ur packet but it doesn't really matter. just add enough water to cover the ingredients and add a few cups more of water - no rules just how thick u like ur tong sui, i guess. ching boa leong would take a while to cook on simmer most probably an hour or so until soft (i like the ingds super soft).
oh its ok, i am happy to read as u post. but thank u for that tip (as u can tell i'm quite a newbie with this)
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