CHINESE NEW YEAR 2007

[XiaoLing]

I want to ask about the osmanthus: What is the Chinese name for it? The pictures I googled look like our honeysuckle flowers.

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Osmanthus is called "guì huā, 桂花" in Mandarin.

It does look like honey suckle but its a lot smaller. The flower is usually around 1 cm long.

[hzrt8w]

Osmanthus is called "guì huā, 桂花" in Mandarin. 

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Translating this to Cantonese: "Gwai Fa", "Gwai" sounds the same as the "Gwai" as in "expensive" (but different Chinese characters).

[peony]

you have a lovely feast with your family, Tepee. sure ,will post recipe for you n Dejah.

thanks for explaining what's osmanthus, XiaoLing...

you r right, hzrt8w, "Gwai" as in "expensive" , this fragrant and aromatic bud is used in the Imperial household to flavour snacks and cakes in the olden days. And eating this make me feel like some Imperial lady in the palace

Well, I can dream, can't I ?

however, the younger members in my household do not like this osmanthus waterchestnut jelly, only the older generations. Guess it's an acquired taste

here's a bottle of the osmanthus syrup I used in the recipe

Ingredients :

125 g waterchestnut flour

3 cups water

3 tbsp Osmanthus syrup ( you can add more / less )

150 g sugar

8 - 10 pieces waterchestnuts, peeled & chopped

½ tbsp oil

Method :

Mix waterchestnut flour with water. Sieve.

Boil flour mixture with sugar until thicken. Stir continuously to avoid burning.

Add chopped waterchestnuts, Osmanthus syrup and oil.

Pour into mould. Smooth the surface. Steam over medium-high heat for 40 mins.

Set aside to cool before putting in the refrigerator.

Slice and serve chill.

adapted from Popular Festive Dishes

[Tepee]

Thanks, peony! I hope they sell the osmanthus jelly here. I love the fragrance...er...I guess I belong to the 'older' generation. Boy oh boy, if I can get ahold of that, I must try to make osmanthus jelly sweets...the kind you could once get in Hong Kong. Where can you get the jelly in S'pore? I think I'll get hubby to get his S'porean boss to get it for us, since he comes over every week. Hopefully, hubby is cooperative.

Dai gah jeh, the oz trip is a family vacation, more for the kids. But we'll be eating our way through, for sure. Melbourne has great food....even the HK dim sum is first class. However, BIL just told me at dinner that quite a number of eateries has recently been taken over by the vietnamese and things haven't been quite the same. Sigh. LOL, Ben-sook, we're going in for some cool-er weather. Remember we're going from Msia which is forever 30 deg C to Melbourne which is now 16 - 22 deg C, perfect!

Here's the lap mei fun (overloaded with mushroom, sausages, dried prawns, groundnuts, woodears) we had at MIL's earlier this evening. We had a last loh hei. I brought otak-otak and MIL also steamed a carp, very fresh.

Happy Chap Goh Mei*, everyone!

* hokkien/fuchien for 15th night, the last night of CNY.

Edited March 4, 2007 by Tepee (log)

[peony]

Tepee,

you can buy the osmanthus syrup at Yue Hua emporium at chinatown.

or

Bee's Brand Bird's Nest & Health Products - both osmanthus syrup or just the dried flowers.

perhaps, you can try the Chinese medical shop in M'ysia first ?

[Pan]

I have to say that osmanthus is one of the relatively few Chinese foods I really have disliked. And oddly enough, I like rose and orange blossom water fine, but somehow, the fragrance of osmanthus is too strong for me and tastes like I'm eating a strong perfume that shouldn't be in my mouth.

[miladyinsanity]

Oh I love tang yuan in guihua tang.

Peony, where did you get the black sesame paste jam? I loooove black sesame anything, but I've not seen the paste anywhere. Is it sweetened?

[XiaoLing]

I love tang yuan with gui hua too. But only made fresh and with fermented sweet rice wine. It's called tang yuan me jiu, a typical Wuhan breakfast meal.

I also have gui hua tea. I find it to be too strong for me. I smell it and expect a dessert or something sweet. I think my brain is just wired to eat sweet things when I smell gui hua. I feel like a dog in Pavlov's experiments.

[hzrt8w]

Speaking of gui hua tea and gui hua syrup... reminds me of my trip to Guilin. They have gui hua everything... gui hua candies, gui hua tea, gui hua syrup, etc.. Should have known... the name "Guilin" in Chinese means forest of gui hua trees.

[peony]

miladyinsanity,

I bought the sesame jam in Japan...ya, it is thick n sweet,but spreadable, just like peanut butter. It's really for spreading on bread / toast.

I have seem something like this jam, altho' it's called paste in the Chinese emporium here in S'pore. Won't know whether it taste the same like the bottle bought in Japan.

I too, just love this black sesame. I'm the only one in my household who can finish the pot of black sesame paste - jima wu, that I cooked.

[Gastro888]

But how do you make gima wu? (And does it really keep your hair black? I've heard stories...)

[hzrt8w]

But how do you make gima wu? 

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Instant gima wu packages. Add water and heat up.

(And does it really keep your hair black?  I've heard stories...)

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Yes! So would shoe shine waxes!

[Gastro888]

Ai ya, I meant the traditional way. Not the super fast way.

Shoe shine. Hey, that's what I heard somewhere - that it helps keep your hair black. You know, for those of us that still do have hair?

(Only teasing Ah Leung Goh!)

[Dejah]

But how do you make gima wu? 

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I remember my Mom grinding the black sesame seeds and rice into flour form. Then, this is boiled with Chinese rock sugar (made from cane juice) into a slightly thickened soup.

It was also said that you shouldn't eat gima wu too often as it will turn your skin black.

[hzrt8w]

It was also said that you shouldn't eat gima wu too often as it will turn your skin black.

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Would my pupils turn pitch-dark too?

I still have a full head of hair, although salt and pepper (more salt it feels like). I can use some shoe shine waxes on them just about now...

What's the thickening agent for gima wu (black sesame sweet soup)? I would imagine that sesame itself is not sticky and doesn't have starch content. Would it be sticky rice flour (nor mai fun) that thicken the sweet soup?

And gima wu is not particularly CNY-ish like tong yuen, right? Or maybe people eat tong yuen with gima wu?

[Gastro888]

...It was also said that you shouldn't eat gima wu too often as it will turn your skin black. ...

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Too late. I eat spicy food, like soy sauce and go out in the sun so I'm screwed. Although, I did finish all my rice growing up so that should count for something, no?

So could I do this with a food processor? Could I grind the gima? Or am I gonna end up with gima paste?

[miladyinsanity]

It was also said that you shouldn't eat gima wu too often as it will turn your skin black.

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Would my pupils turn pitch-dark too?

I still have a full head of hair, although salt and pepper (more salt it feels like). I can use some shoe shine waxes on them just about now...

What's the thickening agent for gima wu (black sesame sweet soup)? I would imagine that sesame itself is not sticky and doesn't have starch content. Would it be sticky rice flour (nor mai fun) that thicken the sweet soup?

And gima wu is not particularly CNY-ish like tong yuen, right? Or maybe people eat tong yuen with gima wu?

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Nah. You fill the tong yuen with the zhima hu. And then roll in toasted sesame seeds. You can do the same with fa sang hu, and roll in peanuts.