Picture of the Day: Baked Sago Pudding

The baked sago pudding before digging in

Sago, or tapioca pudding is a favourite in the summer. Yeung ji gum lo 楊枝甘露, or mango pomelo sago mixed with coconut milk and evaporated milk is very refreshing and citrusy from the pomelo, balanced with sweetness from the mango and sago pearls.

In the winter, baked sago or tapioca pudding, called 脆皮西米焗布甸 crispy crust baked sago pudding (chui pei sai mai guk bo deen) is a warm dessert that is also satisfying, with a meld of flavours and textures. 

It has a pastry crust on top, and underneath is sago mixed with custard, and sometimes has a layer of either red bean, lotus seed, or black sesame paste.

Yesterday we had a massive Christmas feast featuring dishes like giant deep-fried minced shrimp balls, roasted pig, soy sauce chicken, steamed goby fish, pea shoots with yuba, and stir-fried lobster with vermicelli.

For dessert we had the baked sago pudding with a vanilla-flavoured egg custard.

Love the combination of the crunchy crust with the warm custardy filling with sago!

Sweet Sips at Sweet 7

The signature mango pomelo sago drink

There's many bubble tea shops in Metro Vancouver, and we've taken a liking to Sweet 7, which is originally from Shanghai.

Started in 2006 as a dessert shop, there are now over 1,500 Sweet 7 shops around the world, with two here, one in downtown Vancouver, the other in Richmond.

The menu is mostly drinks made in large cups. Back in the summer I ordered the signature mango pomelo sago and the portion was so large, I mixed it and poured it into bowls to share with my parents! We quite enjoyed it as a dessert.

Mango and passionfruit slush

This afternoon I took a friend visiting from Toronto to Sweet 7 downtown and she ordered that signature drink, while I tried the mango passionfruit slush.  It's fruity sweet, it's got passionfruit seeds and slushy ice, making it easy to drink and get a brain freeze.

While the menu features so many different kinds of drinks divided into various sections, to help you make up your mind faster, there are suggestions of which are the most popular drinks: other than the signature mango pomelo sago, there's Oreo cheesecake milk tea, passionfruit green tea, and matcha cheesy smoothie.

Guess that means I need to go back again!

Asian Food Court Eats

Beef rendang and flaky roti at the Aberdeen Centre food court

A friend arrived from Toronto and I picked her up at Vancouver International Airport around 11am and she wanted to eat something Asian.

So we headed to the food court at Aberdeen Centre in Richmond.

On the weekdays this place is quiet, but this being a Sunday, it was busy! It wasn't too hard to find a table, but the vast majority of them were occupied.

We wandered around a bit to check out what was available and settled on sharing a northern Chinese set meal that included spring onion cake, some chive and pork dumplings, stir-fried thin slices of lamb in a slightly sweet soy sauce, and a small bowl of fake shark's fin soup (very thin vermicelli), with ribbons of bean curd skin, and wood ear mushroom.

For drinks we headed to a juice bar, where she had the drink equivalent of mango pomelo sago, while I had a combination of mango and papaya slush that was quite sweet.

Our set meal wasn't quite enough so I headed to a Malaysian stall and ordered the beef rendang. The server asked if I wanted rice or roti and chose the latter. We were not disappointed! The chunks of beef were so tender in the thick curry sauce that wasn't spicy at all. We dipped the flaky roti in there and it was delicious.

That was so filling we didn't need dessert!

Meanwhile there were more people queuing up for food and I was impressed to see practically all the stands doing decent business, with people of all ages dining here.

Picture of the Day: Braised Pomelo Pith

A gorgeous slab of pomelo pith braised with shrimp roe 

One dish I enjoy eating in Hong Kong is braised pomelo pith with shrimp roe, and was lucky to eat it during my trip. 

For starters not many restaurants make it because it's so laborious. The outer skin needs to be removed before the pith is soaked for a few days; every four hours the pith needs to be wrung out and the water changed. A friend tried to make it once and didn't wring it out so the pith became mouldy!

The next step is to boil the pith for about 10 minutes and then let it cool (and wring it out again).

Making the marinade involves ingredients like dark soy sauce, bean paste, oyster sauce, water, and sugar. Other variations include adding sake, mirin and sesame oil. Restaurants make the savoury sauce taste is similar to the one used for braised goose webs and abalone.

From there the pith is braised in the marinade and it soaks up the flavours of the sauce like a sponge.

The texture of the braised pomelo pith is so soft that it practically melts in the mouth. Restaurants usually serve it with a generous spread of shrimp roe, while some home recipes use dried shrimp instead. 

Usually one eats this dish during Mid-Autumn Festival when pomelos are abundant, but amazingly this dish is available year-round in many places.

Maybe one day I will attempt this recipe, but in the meantime I try to order it whenever I see it on the menu!