Living Rawesome Day #223 Ba Bao Fan Blessing Eight-Treasure “Rice”: Candied Fruits with “Longan” Syrup pg. 214 entertaining in the raw
March 5, 2010
As you can tell from the name this is an eastern dish. It is a Chinese New Year Favorite. It is prepared to bring in good spirits and fortune. It is typically made with a pudding like texture and has 8 different dried fruits and occasionally lotus seeds. I have never had this dish before but it is stunning, and fun to make.
I finally was able to get a jicama, which are very difficult to get organic. I had Jason pick one up last night and what an excellent price, only $.88! What a great deal, normally I have to pay by the pound. I was excited that he bought it for less than we normally pay. The jicama he bought supplied the 2 cups I needed for this dish and had some left over. I guess I will be preparing a few dishes with jicama this week.
I made all ingredients and recipes a few days ago, so I made the “rice” this morning.
Sweet “Rice” Ingredients
jicama
pine nuts, soaked
agave nectar
vanilla
coconut oil
I pulsed jicama and pine nuts in food processor until it was a rice consistency.
I had to squeeze out excess liquid, so I could put it in dehydrator. There was more liquid than I imagined there would be. This jicama was exceptionally juicy.
I spread the “rice” mixture out on a Teflex sheet and popped it in the dehydrator for 1 1/2 hours. After it came out it was somewhat dry but still was wet to the touch. As you can see from the photo below, it was not evenly dried.
I then added the remaining ingredients agave, vanilla and coconut oil to the jicama and pine nut mixture so I could assemble the dish. I lined the bowl with plastic wrap and lightly oiled the wrap with coconut oil, so the candied fruits wouldn’t get stuck on the plastic wrap. Then I placed the candied fruits in the bowl first, in order for them to be on top of the “rice”.
After I placed the fruit inside I put the “rice” on top.
I had to wait for the coconut oil to harden the “rice” mixture for 10 minutes. After the time passed, I inverted the bowl and put the recipe on the plate. I poured the syrup on tope and it came out beautiful!
It is supposed to have coconut and orange zest on top, but I was so excited to get a picture of this dessert that I forgot to put the toppings on. Jason took it work so he could eat it after his workout at the gym. He sent me a text saying, “the dessert is yummy!”
Even though I forgot the orange zest and shredded coconut, I still love the appearance of this entire recipe. It does look like something that would be served at Christmas or New Year’s Time here in America.
Here is a little history and explanation of the Chinese New Year, according to Wikipedia.
Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is commonly called “Lunar New Year”, because it is based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year’s Eve is known as chú xī. It literally means “Year-pass Eve”.
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most.
“For most of us, it’s a time for us to get together and talk about our past, present and future. The Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China. It’s very much like Christmas or Thanksgiving in the United States.- Feng Niu quotes