Happy Grass Konnyaku Jelly

Define dessert. Something that is sweet, good and heavenly but usually does not fill you up for long despite containing calories as high as one complete balanced meal.

I have a very sweet tooth and also trying to control my daily calorie intake. Not a good combination.

Mango flavoured konnyaku jelly powder

Then there’s Happy Grass Konnyaku Jelly powder. It comes in so many fruit flavours – lychee, mango, strawberry, kiwi fruit, apple etc. One packet (250 grams) of jelly powder yields 1.5 kg of yummy fruit jelly. That’s one 9 X 9-inch square pan of crystal clear konnyaku jelly. Total calories: only 183!

Its vegetarian, fat free, gluten free, egg free, dairy free and halal…..and oh-so-yum! Guaranteed to please everyone. It has a very high fibre content too. What more can a dieter ask?

Dissolve the jelly powder in 1250 ml of water and bring to boil, then add in the provided Malic acid, pour into a square baking pan to cool and chuck the whole thing into the fridge to set completely. Or, you can pour it into pretty little moulds with pieces of fruit like the illustration on its packet. I think its tasty enough on its own. Plus, I am lazy and I don’t want to add in extra calories

I usually cut my jelly into squares and eat them straight from the pan over a few days. Or, I serve them in a nice glass bowl. Very presentable if you have guests over.

One 9 X 9 inch pan like mine easily yields 64 jelly squares. That’s less than 3 calories per square!

Definitely my kind of dessert/snack.

Special CNY Vegetarian Mix

Most Chinese traditionally consume a vegetarian meal as their first meal of the Lunar New Year. This particular vegetarian mix with lots of gravy is something my granny makes every year without fail. It is a mix of various mushrooms and fungus stir fried with red yeast beancurd (lam-yue) and cabbage. The beancurd gives the gravy a pretty pinkish hue. There are lots of variation to this dish. Sometimes my granny adds tofu puff and tofu sheets as well as fatt-choy (a hair-like black algae), which without it turns out fine too.

I have helped my granny prepare this dish every Chor 1 since a few years ago thus I am familiar with her recipe. Being away from home this Chinese New Year (CNY), I made this dish as part of my CNY dinner menu with Hannah and Murray. The taste of this vegetarian dish certainly helped get me into CNY mood away from home. My version this time consisted of ingredients I can easily find at Asian supermarkets here in Auckland.

Ingredients:

• Red yeast beancurd (lam-yue) – 2 cubes and some of its gravy
• 3-4 cloves garlic – finely chopped
• 1 can button mushrooms – halved
• 1 can golden needle mushrooms
• About 10 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1-2 pcs of dried cloud ear fungus (muk-yee)
• Raw glass noodles – about half a handful
• 1/8 cabbage – sliced coarsely
• Salt and sugar to taste
• A teaspoon of dark soy sauce
• Oil for stir fry

Method:

1. Soak fungus and shiitake mushrooms in water overnight.
2. Slice fungus into bite size and half the shiitake mushrooms (quarter if it’s too large).
3. Heat some oil in a chinese wok or deep saucepan.
4. Stir fry garlic until fragrant.
5. Add in beancurd paste, fungus and shiitake mushrooms, stir fry at high heat.
6. Add in button mushrooms and golden needle mushrooms (don’t stir) then add in cabbage (don’t stir).
7. Add in a cup of water, cover and let simmer on medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
8. Open lid. Cabbage should be cooked through. Stir to combine. Add water if too dry.
9. Stir in glass noodles, cover for another 5 minutes or until glass noodles are cooked.
10. Season with salt and sugar.
11. Serve hot over rice or noodles or consume on its own.