Pear and Sea Coconut Dessert Soup

Happy New Year, everybody!  I just watched the amazing fireworks display at the Roof Garden lounge in the service apartment where I am staying in Hong Kong.  It is on 42th floor. The weather was good and the sky was very clear.  I arrived at the lounge at 11:30 p.m.  I was lucky I got the best position and stood in the second row.  Many hotel residents had gathered on the roof at around 11:45 p.m.  

As the magic moment approached, we shouted ‘Three, two, one!”  Then firework shot up over the harbor, lighting up the sky in bright colors as we cheered and took photos and videos.  The display, which lasted 10 minutes instead of the normal eight, featured patterns including six interlocking stars and butterflies.  We clapped hands and wished each other “Happy New Year” at the end of the show. The atmosphere was fantastic. 

I bought some local ingredients from a grocer in Sheung Wan.  I made this dessert soup on New Year Eve.  Dessert soup, which is called tong shu in Cantonese, is a traditional Chinese dessert.  It consists of sweet and hot soup. The Chinese always believe tong shu is good to health especially in dry and cold season.   Let's have a bowl of dessert soup in the beginning of Year 2017! It's so sweet throughout the year! All the best!

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

n  40g dried longan (cleaned)

n  2 pears (peeled, unseeded and sliced)

n  3 sea coconuts (sliced)     

n  15-20g rock sugar

n  1000 ml water

Method:

1.	Boil water in a small pot over medium heat.
2.	Add longan, pear and sea coconuts in the pot and simmer for 30 minutes.
3.	Toss in the rock sugar and simmer for 10 minutes.  If you like more sweet, you add more rock sugar as necessary.
4.	Ready to serve.