Longan tea with fresh ginger

 Whenever we get the chills or feel like a cold is coming on, or even if we just want to warm up our toes, I make a pot of Longan Tea. 

This is the traditional Chinese way of using food as homemade medicine – chicken soup is Mom's penicillin the world over, it seems. 

Today's recipe is like that, but also much simpler and very, very tasty. Both the fruit and the ginger in this recipe are considered warming and good for the blood, and so new mothers are encouraged to enjoy bowls of it and other nutritious meals during their month of recovery. This wonderful custom is called "a month of sitting" (zuòyuèzi 坐月子) because folks like her mother, mother-in-law, aunties, and other female relatives are supposed to wait on her hand and foot.

The fleshy & aromatic fresh fruit

The main ingredient in this recipe is the dried fruit known as longan, which is sort of a corruption of the Cantonese name for this fruit, lung4 ngaan5 龍眼. In Mandarin, it’s called lóngyăn, and this literally means “dragon eyes.” (Why don’t we have such cool names for our fruit in English?) In North China, this tropical fruit has traditionally only been available dried, and there they are sold as guìyuán 桂圓.

Longans are sold fresh at the end of summer and mark the end of the lychee season. They look a bit like lychees (or litchis) in that they have a white flesh, hard brown pit, a thin leathery shell, grow in clusters, and come from the tropics. But the flavor, texture, and moisture content are completely different. While lychees are really fleshy, juicy, and have a light, almost sparkling juice, longans have a thinner, drier flesh that is deeply perfumed.

Fresh longans

Unlike lychees, longans are almost always sold dried, and they are beloved throughout most of China. In a way they are much like raisins or dried prunes, as their rich flavor is used to season many dishes. They are especially popular in winter sweets, like this sweet soup and such other cold-weather delights as Twelfth Month Congee.

I adore this dried fruit, and when I can find packages of this year's freshly dried longans, I snack on them as is or mixed with other dried fruits, like wolfberries, raisins, and so forth. I sometimes even add walnuts or almonds to lend a bit of crunch. Think of this as Chinese trail mix.

Fresh lychees

You can find pitted longans in the dried fruit aisle of most Chinese supermarkets, as well as at herbal medicine and dry goods stores. Look for bags with plump brown balls that are as soft as raisins when you press them. Older ones will be hard - and that's okay for recipes like today's - but make sure that there's no insect damage or droppings by checking out the detritus at the bottom of the bag. Store these in a closed jar in the pantry, or even freeze the bag if you want to keep them for a longer time. I've also seen these compressed into little squares when they have been processed in Southeast Asia - these are perfectly fine, especially after they've been allowed to plump up in some hot water.

This kind of thin, simple soup is called a "tea" in Chinese, and you actually can enjoy it as such by straining out the solids. But I'm a sucker for those plump fruits and so always serve this steaming hot in small soup bowls, either at breakfast or as a midnight snack. Adjust the amount of ginger and sugar in here to suit your palate. The following recipe is my personal favorite, but tinker with it to make it your own. For new moms I'd add some dried red dates to up the nutritional factor even more. 

Longan tea with fresh ginger

Lóngyǎn jiāng chá 龍眼薑茶 or guìyuán jiāng chá 桂圓薑茶
All over China

Makes around 8 servings

1 cup (or so) dried pitted and peeled longans
1 cup | 500 ml (or so) dried pitted and peeled longans
8 cups | 2 liters water

1 tablespoon finely shredded peeled ginger

Brown sugar, agave syrup, or honey to taste, optional

Ginger and dried longans

1. Rinse the longans in a sieve and place them in a medium saucepan. Cover them with the water and bring it to a full boil. 

2. Reduce the heat to low, add the ginger, and slowly simmer the longans for about 30 minutes. Taste and add some sweetener, if you like. Serve this hot, although you can store it in the fridge for a couple of days before serving - as with almost all soups, it tastes even better that way.

Longan soup with lily bulbs

China has a rich and varied love affair with sweet soups. These are often served as afternoon treats or late at night as snacks, rather than as desserts, but I like them even for breakfast with some buttered toast or steamed buns. Hot soups are great in winter, while chilled ones make even the muggiest days bearable.

This recipe calls for delicate edible lily bulbs, a lovely vegetable grown mainly in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province in China’s desert region up near Inner Mongolia. 

Packaged lily bulbs

These are gradually becoming more common on this side of the Pacific, so snap them up if they appear in your market, and they almost always appear as sets of four in little blue plastic bags. 

The only caveat when cooking with these bulbs is that you never want to overcook them, as their crispy texture quickly mushes up. So, just bring them to a boil and serve immediately. If you don’t have fresh lily bulbs in your area yet, a handful of peeled fresh water chestnuts or even some thin slices of jicama will do. 

Any one of these sweet vegetables will add beauty and contrast to the dark, almost caramelized flavor of the dried longans, or “dragon eyes.” 

Dried longans releasing their flavor

A relative of sorts to the lychee, longans appear fresh in Chinese markets at the end of summer, right after lychees finish their peak season. Smaller and more highly perfumed, they dry into beautiful little brown balls and are tasty to eat just as is. Or maybe I just love dried fruit no matter what.

But back to those lily bulbs.

First off, don't use just any old lily bulbs here, as not all of them are edible. This is important. Only use Gansu-style lily bulbs. 

When you prep the fresh lily bulbs, consider leaving enough connected to the root area so that they can have a chance to grow into plants. What I do is break off the "petals" on the bulbs until I get to a firm center that looks very much like a peeled clove of garlic. 

Peel off the petals

Then, I set the "cloves" in a pot with good potting soil, water thoroughly, and with any luck have a plant poking up in a couple of weeks.

These are gorgeous in the yard - they look for all the world like tiger lilies - and will keep coming back as long as you leave the little bulblets (miniature bulbs that look like white seeds) in the ground for next year's crop. 

Harvest the bulbs any time after the tops have dried. I tend to keep them in the soil until I need them, as they stay fresher. And, if I forget, they will be there for me next year.

Longan soup with lily bulbs 

Băihé guìyuán tāng  百合桂圓湯

Shanghai

Serves 6

½ cup/80g dried pitted longans

Baby lily plant

6 cups/1.5l water

1 tablespoon rock sugar, or to taste

2 tablespoons osmanthus syrup

4 fresh lily bulbs

1. Rinse the longans in a sieve before placing them in a saucepan. Cover with the water and bring this to a boil. Simmer the longans until they have completely plumped up, about 30 minutes. Add the rock sugar and osmanthus syrup; taste and adjust seasoning.

2. Wash the lily bulbs to remove any sawdust. Trim off dark or bruised areas before separating the bulbs into petals; the tight centers can simply be sliced in half if you don't plan on planting them. Cover them with cold water if you are not serving the soup right away, as they should not be cooked longer than a flash.

A visual, textural, & aromatic treat

3. Just before serving, bring the soup to a boil. Drain the lily bulbs and add them to the soup. Bring it back to a full boil and then immediately remove it from the heat. Divide the soup into individual bowls before serving.

Sweet stuffed pineapple from Yunnan

Located as it is in the southern reaches of China, just across the border from Myanmar (Burma), with a toe in Laos and a more ample thigh resting against Vietnam, Yunnan can be forgiven if its cuisine is even more exotic than might be expected. 

Lush, tropical flavors spark just about every dish, and the many ethnic tribes that have made their homes in this province's abundant rain forests have contributed spices and sensibilities that are a long way from Beijing.

Called Diancai in Chinese, the local cuisine is truly exotic, and this even extends to the ingredients, for along with Daliang in Guangdong and the lovely yogurts in various Muslim cuisines in the Chinese north, this is one of the few places where milk is a solid part of the dining scene, but you wouldn't know it from appearances. 

Edged (L) & hollowed (R) pineapples

That is because the most famous dairy dish here is made out milk that it is boiled with a coagulant, and then the proteins are stretched out and dried. A specialty of the Bai minority in the area around Dali in the western hill country of Yunnan, these are fried, braised, or even stuffed, and they have a gentle cheesy flavor. They look much like the soy skins enjoyed in the rest of China, but instead of being turned into flat sheets, these are often pleated, hence their name, rushan or "milk fans."

Chicken is prized here, perhaps because it is such a mountainous area, and chickens will live just about anywhere. The most well known of the local chicken dishes is Steampot Chicken, which uses an ingenious pot for steaming and trapping every drop of juice and flavor. Fish, too, is a favorite ingredient, as we see in another recipe, Crispy Bean Sauce over Steamed Cod. 

Most of Yunnan's beloved dishes, though, are very spicy. We'll be looking at some of the most delicious ones in the months ahead, especially during the summer when these vibrant flavors seem especially welcoming. Today, though, we are going to enjoy the sweeter side of this beautiful place.

Carve out the flesh in wedges

Refreshing, sweet, tart, soft, crunchy, and juicy, this is one amazing dessert from the Dai people who live in the mountains of Yunnan.  It looks as extraordinary as it tastes, too, and is a spectacular way to end a meal. 

Traditionally, the Dai people use white glutinous rice here, but I’ve come to love the color and enticing aroma of Thai black glutinous rice in this dish, where the velvety black rice looks gorgeous against the yellows of the pineapple and the tan longans, or "dragon eye" fruits.  It has a depth of flavor that turns this already wonderful dish into something utterly glorious. Besides, this type of rice is used in many other local dishes, so it's a very natural transition.

At the risk of putting earrings on an elephant, I sprinkle toasted coconut on top just before serving. This adds yet another tropical layer, a touch of crispness against the chewy grains and soft fruit, and a bit of richness from the coconut oil in this otherwise almost fat-free dessert.

Ready to eat

Yunnan's sweet pineapple rice  
Boluo fan 菠蘿飯
Yunnan

Serves 6 to 8 as a dessert

1 cup sticky (a/k/a glutinous, sweet) rice (see Tips)

Filtered water as needed

1 fresh, ripe pineapple (see Tips)

3 pieces of rock sugar, each one about the size of a walnut, bashed into smallish pieces if at all possible, or about ⅓ cup sugar (see Tips)

½ teaspoon sea salt, optional

½ cup dried longans (see Tips) or golden raisins

Boiling water as needed

½ cup toasted pine nuts or coarsely chopped almonds (see Tips)

Honey or agave nectar, optional

½ cup flaked or shredded coconut, optional but recommended

1. Rinse the rice in a sieve under running water and then soak the rice for at least 2 hours or overnight; it is ready when you can crush a grain with your fingernail. Drain the rice thoroughly and place it in a large work bowl. 

Into the steamer we go...

2. Scrub the pineapple all over with soapy water and a brush, rinse well, and pat dry. Cut off all but about 2 inches of the leaves, or as much as will help you fit the two halves into your steamer basket(s). Trim the remaining leaves so that they look nice, and edge off the whiskers on the bottom of the pineapple.

3. Place the pineapple on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to cut the pineapple in half. Then, use a sharp 4-inch (or so) paring knife to cut out all the meat inside the pineapple, leaving the skin intact since this will serve as the container; be sure and save as much of the juice as you can. Do this by first cutting around the edge of the pineapple just inside the yellow area; slice off lengthwise wedges by cutting out about a sixth of the flesh at a time. You should end up with what looks like 2 pineapple-shaped bowls. 

4. Remove the core and cut the pineapple meat into ½-inch cubes. Place the cubes in a medium work bowl and add all of the juice, rock sugar, optional salt, longans, and nuts to the soaked and drained rice. Toss them together and let them marinate for half an hour or so to give the sugar time to melt a bit (see Tips). At the end of this time, toss the rice again, taste a piece of the pineapple, and add more sugar if needed.

5. Spoon the rice and pineapple mixture into the pineapple bowls and place them on plates in one or two steamer baskets. Steam the pineapple for about 30 to 45 minutes; taste a few grains of the rice to make sure they are cooked through. Black glutinous rice make take upwards of an hour to steam thoroughly, so keep an eye on the water level in your steamer; see Tips. (You can steam the pineapple for a bit longer than needed without hurting this dish. This dessert can be prepared ahead of time up to this point and then re-steamed to heat it again before serving.)

6. Toast the coconut by cooking it in a dry pan over medium heat, tossing it with a spatula so that it doesn't burn. When it is evenly browned, remove it to a dish to cool. Just before serving, sprinkle the coconut over the rice, and then serve this dish hot. Spoon out the rice into individual bowls at the table so that your guests can enjoy the beauty of this dish.

Tips

Crushed rice grain

Use any kind of glutinous (or sticky or sweet) rice you like. Called nuomi in Chinese, it generally is available as fat little grains that are white and from either California or East Asia, or long heavy grains that are a blackish brown and are from Thailand. The black variety has a rich aroma when it cooks and adds a nice, toasty element to this dish.

If you have time to let the pineapple ripen in your kitchen, by all means do so because it will sweeten the room for days as it turns sweet and golden.

Select pineapples that smell good; even when they are slightly under-ripe, they should still have a faint pineapple aroma. Check them all over for bruises or soft spots. The stem end will tell you how long it's been picked, so pass by any with shriveled bottoms. 

Cracking rock sugar

Your pineapple will be ready when it smells heavenly and has a slight "give" all over. Don't worry if the leaves have shriveled up; they are going to be trimmed off anyway. Scrub it carefully with a brush and soap to ensure than there are no bugs or debris. Wipe it dry and use a sharp, heavy knife (or even a bread knife) to slice it lengthwise, all the way through the leaves and the stem end. Cut out the flesh as directed above, slice off the tough core, and you're done.

Rock sugar can be very difficult to smash, so here's my secret: if you are not going to melt it in a liquid, place it in whatever it is supposed to sweeten (like this rice dish) and let it sit there for about half an hour. Then remove it, brush off any bits of rice or whatever, and take a look at the grain of the rock sugar: it runs in one long direction. Place the lump on your cutting board so that the grain of the rock sugar is running up and down (perpendicular to the cutting board). Take a heavy cleaver and use the blunt side to gently smack the rock sugar; pieces should break off relatively easy that way. If you have more than you need, let these pieces air dry before storing them.

Dried (L) and plumped up longans

Longans (called "dragon eyes" or longyan in Chinese) are tropical fruits that are usually found dried here in the States, although fresh ones appear on the heels of lychees at the end of summer. Find them in groceries, dry goods stores, and herbalists, and look for ones that are not super hard, as hard = stale. They taste delicious as is, sort of like very sweet, chewy raisins. But they are generally plumped up, and become quite tender and delicious. Store them dried in a closed container in a dark area.

Just about any kind of nut can be used here. Toasted nuts provide a nice contrast to the other flavors, but be careful if they are salted, as this could throw off the flavor balance here. Taste a couple, and if they are very salty, rinse them before chopping and cut out the salt in the recipe.