My Purple Penang Leng Chee Kang Recipe – aka Avatar Navi Dessert!

With the H1N1 infection cases on the rise again, it would be a good idea to take some cooling drinks. I bought two pieces of dried persimmons from Giant the other day and thought that it would be a good idea to cook the Penang famous Leng Chee Kang Dessert with it. Most of the Leng Chee Kang stalls in Penang would add dried persimmon slices and Pong Tai Hai (in Hokkien dialect, scientific name Scaphium Spp, Malay Name Kembang Semangkuk) in it. I can’t find good leng chee kang in KL that are served with these two ingredients. Kembang Semangkok is known for its’ cooling effect on the body.....but guys, if you and your wife are trying for a baby, better don’t eat too much of it because it might not be good for the reproductive system. Anyway, I boiled the Leng Chee Kang dessert a little too long and the colour from the purple sweet potatoes turns it into purplish blue, just like the colour of my favorite Avatar, Navi folks! LOL! Ingredients Dried Lotus Seeds (Lian Chi), 10 pcs Barley, 2 table spoons Pong Tai Hai, 6 pcs, soak in water, remove skins, seed and hard fibres (see Pong Tai Hai Dessert on how to prepare it for cooking) Dried persimmon, 1 pc, cut into slices Agar-Agar (jelly) (optional), ½ cup cut into cubes Sweet potato, 1 pc, cut into cubes Longan, 20 pcs Preserved winter melons (Tung Kwa), 10 pcs Rock sugar to taste Put around 7 rice bowls of water in pot and bring to a boil. Add in the barley and boil until the barley grain turns soft. Add in the dried lotus seed, rock sugar and longan. Continue boiling until the lotus seeds become soft. Put in the sweet potato, agar-agar, preserved winter melons (Tung Kwa) and pong tai hai. Boil for a short while so that these ingredients do not turn soggy. Turn off the heat. Serve chilled!

P.S. Check out my vegetarian mock cod fish post at http://veganformation.blogspot.com/2010/04/making-of-mock-cod-fish-using-tofu.html