While hanging out with friends everyone around me seems to be excited about my life. They are brainstorming ideas of businesses that I can do. Somehow I am more of a practical pessimist. Recently I went to the Guggenheim for the first time. Tino Sehgal is being exhibited there. His exhibit is more of an interactive piece of art. Which is quite provocative and mind boggling. I like it when art makes you think. The discussion of being a pessimist or an optimist came up during this exhibit, I admitted that I was a pessimist right away, I tend to like to think things through. In a way I would say that I am more practical than being a pessimist. So the point here is that, while everyone is excited and brainstorming... I am being more practical and analyzing the risk in the future. Maybe I shouldn't be looking into the future too much and analyzing every minuet detail. Either way, I like to wait it out and see the different options, pros and cons with each decision.
For now... I am probably going to start small and provide food for friends and have them pay me a minimal amount. Aside from that I am going to be testing out more recipes and food.
Today I made 楊枝甘露 (yeurng jee gum lo). Basically it is a mango dessert soup with tapioca and diced mango and pomelo. I had it in Toronto a few months back. I was craving it so I decided to attempt with this dessert. It's really refreshing and delicious if the fruit is in season.
Recipe yields about 6.5 quarts
5 ea Mangoes, peeled and diced
66 oz Mango Nectar
24 oz Light Cream
1 can Coconut milk
1 box Rock Candy (sugar)
1.5 Cup Water
1 package of Small Tapioca
1 Pomelo, peeled and flesh separated
*Boil Tapioca in water, strain and cool down with cold water while straining. Put in a bowl or big pot. (Make sure it is not over cooked and clumpy, stirring will help separate tapioca, I also would sprinkle in the tapioca when the water is on a rolling boil, it helps with separating)
*Boil water with Sugar until dissolved and coconut milk. Let cool.
*Peel and take apart the Pomelo. You would want the flesh, no rind or skin, put in container and refrigerate.
*Dice Mangoes into cubes small enough to blend in a blender, reserve one quart for topping. Blend the mango with mango nectar, light cream and cooled coconut milk mixture. Work in batches if you need to. Strain in chinois or a really small mesh strainer (I mean small holes and not small in terms of the size of the strainer), if the mango is grainy or stringy. Add the tapioca and mix with a spoon. Refrigerate mixture.
Serve soup cold with diced mangoes and pomelo.
* I realize that mangoes and pomelo are not in season at the same time, especially when you live in the U.S. The ethical issue of seasonality and locality comes into play. Why make something if it is not in season and you won't get the best of it? But I really wanted to have this dessert again, and will probably not be able to since I live in the U.S. So I had to come to grips with using mangoes that were not at it's peak.
Next time I might just try using mango nectar instead or if I can find some inexpensive mango puree. I heard that Trader Joes sells some really good frozen mangoes also. Might opt for that. Otherwise I will have to wait until the next time I am either in Toronto (Which I am wondering how they got such sweet mangoes in December...) or go to Asia for this dessert. = 1
What would you do? Give in and buy mangoes that are not in season? Use mango puree? Or not eat it at all?
