Skip to main content

Chrysanthemum Cooling Tea

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.





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




Comments

  1. This is a very nice drink & I cook it very often. My family likes it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for dropping by, Mary. Need to congratulate you on your being on Top 9, was busy with relatives over the weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dad 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.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey..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 :-
    http://elinluv.blogspot.com/2009/06/chrysanthemum-tea-jelly.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Divina
    You 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.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I made this very often too but I put more 'yangseng' less chrysanthemum. Still tasty good LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What'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.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi..!! 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.

    I'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.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for dropping by. Please click on 'Anonymous' if you do not have a blog but do leave your name after the comment because I would like to know who you are.

Popular posts from this blog

Hakka Mee aka Hakka Noodles

This is yet another one dish meal, Hakka Mee/Hakka Noodles. These noodles are quite similar to Won Ton Noodles, except that they  have less lye water and the noodles are a bit flat and thicker.  They're served with bean sprouts with a generous serving of minced meat sauce. the noodles, ........... need to loosen them up before cooking serve with chilli sauce topped with chopped garlic ..... that will do the trick ..... yummy! Recipe for Hakka Mee aka Hakka Noodles Ingredients 180 gm Minced Pork 60 gm Garlic  -  chopped 200 gm Bean Sprouts 4 dried Chinese mushrooms - soaked and diced 3/4 cup water 1 Tsp cornflour + 3 Tbsp of water 3 servings of Hakka noodles Oil for frying. Garnishing  -  Chopped spring onions Seasoning for minced pork 1/2 Tsp Salt 1  Tsp sugar 1  Tbsp  Fish sauce 1  Tsp dark soya sauce A dash of pepper Preparation Saute the chopped garlic with 1 Tbsp oil, fry till fragrant Add in the seasoned minced pork, diced mushroo

Double Boiled Herbal Chicken Soup

Double boiling is slow cooking ........ means to put a soup pot or any covered ceramic or steel pot inside a bigger pot, immerse in boiling water, and let the soup cook at a lower temperature.  Hence the soup is cooked from heat generated from the boiling water and not from direct heat source. Double boiling lets the soup ingredients slowly release their nutrients into the soup, thus making it tasty and wholesome.  It's a long cooking process, roughly averaging 2 to 4 hours.  The tip is not to open the cover to check on the soup as it'll bring down the temperature and affect the cooking process.  The plus point is there's little evaporation and the soup will not boil over.  The only thing is to monitor that there's enough water in the bigger pot and not let it run dry.  Of course, nowadays, the slow cooker is another alternative to double boiling, saves the hassle of checking the water level.

Herbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Gao

H erbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Ga o literally translated means 'Tortoise Jelly' is one of my family's favourite desserts.  It's much more economical to prepare this at home for you'll need to fork out between Rm 9 to Rm 11 for a bowl of this cooling dessert in any of those herbal tea outlets.  This soothing jelly, served chilled, is supposed to be able to help reduce our body heat, helps to get rid of toxins and is believed to be good for the skin thus culminating a healthier complexion.