Papaya, Snow Fungus and Almonds Soup 木瓜雪耳糖水

Nourishing Dessert: Papaya, snow fungus and almonds soup

This is a Chinese dessert which I tried at a famous dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong last month. When I tried the dessert, I thought this is something I can try to recreate at home since I have made something similar before – snow fungus with ginkgo nuts soup.  I thought the combination of papaya, almonds and snow fungus is really nourishing and beautiful.  This soup has health benefits such as improving blood circulation, strengthening respiratory system and improving complexion. I love to drink this dessert chilled.

Some of the ingredients used

This is the papaya I used for the recipe. Was surprised when I cut it open to find that it is yellow fleshed but it turned out still tasty in the dessert soup. I would have preferred orange flesh papaya though, I think the dessert will look prettier in orange :D

Ingredient: Snow Fungus

Ingredient: Chinese Almonds 南北杏

Ingredients
(Serves 6-8)

- 2 litres water
- 20 grams (1 piece) snow fungus (aka white jelly fungus, white wood ear, silver ear, 雪儿)
- 500g of cut ripe and firm papaya
- 1 tsp bitter almonds (aka Northern almonds/北杏) and 1 tsp sweet almonds (aka Southern almonds /南杏) – see cooking note 1 below
- 5 pandan leaves, tied to a knot
- 120g rock sugar (冰糖) (adjust to taste)
- 10 pitted red dates (红枣)

Directions
1. Soak snow fungus in a bowl of hot water (covered) for about half an hour, then carefully discard water. The white fungus should be puffed up and turn a whiter shade. Using a pair of kitchen scissors, trim and discard the dark yellow hard part on the centre underside of the fungus. Cut the rest of the fungus to smaller pieces and reserve for step 2.
2. Peel (using a vegetable peeler or knife) the papaya skin. Cut the papaya in half lengthwise, and use a spoon to scrap out all the seeds. Cut into small, bite-sized chunks.
3. In a soup pot, add water, cut fungus pieces, pandan leaves, red dates and almonds. Bring to a boil and then simmer (with lid partially closed) for 20 minutes. Add papaya pieces and simmer till the papaya are soft (about another 20 minutes or more, see cooking note 2 below).
4. Add rock sugar to taste and off the flame when the sugar is fully dissolved. Discard pandan leaves. Serve warm or chilled.

Cooking Notes
1. Bitter almonds in its raw state are said to be toxic if consumed in large amounts. Even though these almonds are cooked, do not add too much of it to be safe (1 tsp is more than enough to me). You can also substitute with sweet almonds if you are more comfortable with it.
2. Step 3 – If you like your snow fungus to be more crunchy, you can add papaya to the ingredients first instead of adding it after simmering the snow fungus.

Related Articles
- Ingredient: Snow Fungus
- Ingredient: Chinese Almonds (Coming Soon)

Fancy more Chinese desserts recipes?

Ingredients Used chinese almonds • pandan • papaya • red date • rock sugar • snow fungus

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