Sweet "Sheet-yi" Apple Tong-sui and Sweet Friends!

My late auntie Su used to make a white fungus (Sheet-yi) soup with dried longans that was sweet and she would serve it cold and as a dessert after lunch. It is also called snow fungus, or white tree jellyfish in Japan. It is a kind of mushroom that grows as a whitish clump on trees and used in it's dried form in savoury and sweet soups, and has several health benefits depending on who I asked. My gf in Singapore said it's great for decreasing freckles (I thought freckles were cute), my gf in Penang said it was good for complexion, and my gf in Kuala Lumpur said it was good for lowering cholesterol. Personally, I enjoy the texture of this jelly-like mushroom in a light, sweet, cold soup once in a while and the benefits are interesting, but secondary to the fun of preparing this soup. So when I saw a white fungus sweet dessert soup from a facebook and scrabble playing blogger-friend sometime ago, it reminded me of my aunt. I saw a box of white fungus at the asian market yesterday, and bought a packet to try out this new recipe. I soaked the almonds or apricot kennels overnight, cubed one apple and left the other one in quarters. Also added a few longans to the soup. While it was cooking, I loved the fragrance of the pandan leaves in the boiling soup. This soup is also supposed to be good for coughs.

WHITE FUNGUS AND APPLE SOUP
Recipe from Amy Beh

2 red apples, peeled, cored and cubed

10g white fungus, soaked for 5–10 minutes and cut into small pieces

1 tbsp each of bitter and sweet almonds (Nam Hum and Buk Hum in cantonese)

3 honey dates (mat choe)

100g rock sugar

1.5 litres water

2 screwpine leaves, shredded and knotted


Bring water to a boil and add apples, white fungus and bitter and sweet almonds. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add honey dates, rock sugar and screwpine leaves and simmer for 35-40 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

On another sweet note, my dear gfs Little Corner of Mine and Singairishgirl and also from fellow blogger Bokjae, had given me an early Christmas Present by giving me this...

"Do you know the relationship between your 2 eyes?

They blink together, move together, cry together, see things together and sleep together.

Even though they never see each other, friendship should be just like that!

Life is like Hell without FRIENDS. Its ‘World Best Friend Week’.

Send this to your best friends to let them know you appreciate them.

Your Love is Ur Heart,
Your heart is Ur Spouse,
Your spouse is Ur Future,
Your future is Ur Destiny,
Your destiny is Ur Ambition,
Your ambition is Ur Aspiration,
Your aspiration is Ur Motivation,
Your motivation is Ur Belief,
Your belief is Ur Peace,
Your peace is Ur Target,
Your target is Heaven,
Heaven is no fun without FRIENDS.

I would like to pass this on to the following friends:

Cris
Beau Lotus
Cynthia
Sidney & Sunny
Judy
Alice
Sandi
Isabella
C @ LCOM (the circle of friendship!)
And all of you who dropped by ever so often and also those don't leave any comments (you know who you are!)