China · Home-style
Snow Fungus and Lotus Seed Porridge
A sweet, slow-simmered dessert soup of snow fungus, lotus seeds and red dates, thickened until it turns to jelly.
Snow fungus has almost no flavour of its own, so it borrows entirely from the lotus seeds and the red dates, and the long simmer is what makes it swell and turn gelatinous. Rock sugar is added in two stages rather than at the beginning, which keeps the sweetness rounded instead of harsh. This is a dessert soup rather than a breakfast congee, and it is usually served warm, sometimes with chilled snow fungus added in the bowl for contrast.
Ingredients
- snow fungus60 g
- core-free lotus seeds20 g
- red dates6 g
- goji berries6 g
- rock sugarExact
Directions
- 1
Soak the snow fungus and the lotus seeds in water for two hours, soak the red dates for ten to twenty minutes and rinse the goji berries. Set aside.
- 2
Pour 600 ml of water into a pot, bring it to the boil and add the snow fungus, the lotus seeds and the red dates in that order.
- 3
Once the water boils again, cover the pot and turn it to medium heat to keep simmering.
- 4
After about an hour, add five to ten grams of rock sugar and five to six grams of goji berries and turn the heat down low.
- 5
Carry on simmering over low heat for thirty minutes, by which time the snow fungus is beginning to go thick and gelatinous.
- 6
Add another five to ten grams of rock sugar and stir with a spoon for five to ten minutes.
- 7
Turn off the heat and ladle it out with a spoon.
Source: HowToCook · WorldBite adaptation · Unlicense source text; bilingual recipe adapted by WorldBite.