Ipoh, besides boasting of its white, fatty beansprouts and smooth, soft Hor fun/Kway Teow used to be famous for its 'Leong Char' aka 'Cooling Tea'. Actually, not so much the 'leong char', but for the 'leong char mui' meaning 'cooling tea maiden'.
Back in the late '60's and early '70's there were many of these stalls set up by the roadside at night and they were manned by those pretty maidens, well you can say 'pretty maidens in a row'. There was a great variety of cooling tea to choose from, 'loh hon kor', winter melon, sugar cane, chrysanthemum, not forgetting the very bitter, black as coffee, king of 'leong char', 'Wong Low Kat' , just to name a few. They were cheap, those days, ranging from 20 to 50 sen per glass.
I remember that my mum used to make this concotion of 'Wong Low Kat' at least once a month and more frequently if the weather was unduly hot and dry. Then me and my siblings were each 'served' with a rice bowl of this black stuff and a small tiny packet of sweet plum, 'Chan Pei Mui' as a sweetener. My mum would then be hovering behind our backs with a cane in her hand.
We had a choice though, either we gulp down the black stuff all at one go and quickly toss the sweet plum into our mouths or slowly sip the black stuff and 'enjoy' the bitter taste........... delay tactics, and bite the sweet plum at intervals. Whatever it is, she made doubly sure that every drop is consumed.
Today, made this 'Kook Far Leong Char' aka 'Chrysanthemum cooling tea', a refreshingly delicious, soothing drink, which can be taken at all times, throughout the year.
Back in the late '60's and early '70's there were many of these stalls set up by the roadside at night and they were manned by those pretty maidens, well you can say 'pretty maidens in a row'. There was a great variety of cooling tea to choose from, 'loh hon kor', winter melon, sugar cane, chrysanthemum, not forgetting the very bitter, black as coffee, king of 'leong char', 'Wong Low Kat' , just to name a few. They were cheap, those days, ranging from 20 to 50 sen per glass.
I remember that my mum used to make this concotion of 'Wong Low Kat' at least once a month and more frequently if the weather was unduly hot and dry. Then me and my siblings were each 'served' with a rice bowl of this black stuff and a small tiny packet of sweet plum, 'Chan Pei Mui' as a sweetener. My mum would then be hovering behind our backs with a cane in her hand.
We had a choice though, either we gulp down the black stuff all at one go and quickly toss the sweet plum into our mouths or slowly sip the black stuff and 'enjoy' the bitter taste........... delay tactics, and bite the sweet plum at intervals. Whatever it is, she made doubly sure that every drop is consumed.
Today, made this 'Kook Far Leong Char' aka 'Chrysanthemum cooling tea', a refreshingly delicious, soothing drink, which can be taken at all times, throughout the year.
clockwise ....... Chrysanthemum, Kam Choe/Liquorice, Yeong Sum Soo/Ginseng whiskers and Rock sugar
traditionally, Chrysanthemum has been used in Chinese medicine to treat fever, heatstroke and sore throat
Recipe for Chrysanthemum Cooling Tea
Ingredients
70 gm dried Chrysanthemum
10 gm Yeong Sum Soo
4 pieces Kam Choe/Liquorice
90 gm Rock Sugar
2.75 litre water
Method
Wash and rinse chrysanthemum a couple of times
to rid of dirt and grime thoroughly, then set aside
Bring to the boil the 2.75 litre of water
and once boiling, add in the
chrysanthemum
yeong sum soo
kam choe and
rock sugar
Cover the pot and let it simmer under low heat
for half an hour
when cooled, strain and
Serve
Ingredients
70 gm dried Chrysanthemum
10 gm Yeong Sum Soo
4 pieces Kam Choe/Liquorice
90 gm Rock Sugar
2.75 litre water
Method
Wash and rinse chrysanthemum a couple of times
to rid of dirt and grime thoroughly, then set aside
Bring to the boil the 2.75 litre of water
and once boiling, add in the
chrysanthemum
yeong sum soo
kam choe and
rock sugar
Cover the pot and let it simmer under low heat
for half an hour
when cooled, strain and
Serve
This is a very nice drink & I cook it very often. My family likes it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by, Mary. Need to congratulate you on your being on Top 9, was busy with relatives over the weekend.
ReplyDeleteDad used to make this for me whenever I have a fever. I actually forgot the Chinese names for it. It's a good thing you wrote it down. This is surely a healing tea for everyone who has a lot of heat inside. Thanks for the wonderful information.
ReplyDeleteHey..this is what I will cook for the kids when they are back....sieve them and agar agar powder...yummy chrysanthemum jelly...try that...you will love it. Check this out :-
ReplyDeletehttp://elinluv.blogspot.com/2009/06/chrysanthemum-tea-jelly.html
Divina
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome. You can also add chrysanthemum
into Chinese tea..it's called 'Kook Poh', meaning Chrysanthemum and Poh Lei, that's a type of Chinese tea leaves.
Elin
Ya, I saw your post on chrysanthemum jelly, looks very refreshing, will certainly try it.
Thanks for reminding.
I made this very often too but I put more 'yangseng' less chrysanthemum. Still tasty good LOL!
ReplyDeleteWhat's 'yangseng'? Is it the ginseng roots? Maybe it's called differently in your part of the world. We need a lot of cooling tea here, more so if the weather is hot and dry.
ReplyDeleteHi..!! Greetings from Singapore. I know that this is a really post but THANKS . I remember my grandmother making this for us when we were very young but these days, we've lost the patience to do simple things like this.
ReplyDeleteI'll make this today but I'll use Winter Melon Strips (Tong Kwa) instead of Rock sugar.
I'm gonna look through your blog and see what recipes you have over the years.
Thanks again.