Monday, May 21, 2012

Lemon Aloe Vera Dessert

Wanna have a bowl of cooling Aloe Vera Dessert to refresh yourself?

No? Once you read on, you will want one bowl after another. Trust me. Hahaha!!!


I had been wanting to make this long time ago. As I remembered I read from Little Joy Blog about Aloe Vera Dessert quite sometimes ago. But this need abit of time to prepare, as this supposed to be eaten chilled. And handling the Aloe Vera itself need abit of skills here. Hehehe...

I saw a slice of really nice piece of Aloe Vera at Sheng Siong Supermarket the other day. Immediately, this Aloe Vera Dessert flashed thru my mind. Something cooling, something sweet and refreshing with a hint of delicious citrus flavor from fresh lemons. Wooohh!! I can't wait! Hahaha...

I'm gonna eat this amazing medicinal herb which has benefited mankind for over 4,000 years!!! Oh yea. This is too dramatic. Anyway, ignore me.

Ok, here we go....

Ingredients (A)
600g Aloe Vera 
100g Candied Winter Melon 糖冬瓜 (táng dōng guā)
80g Brown Rock Sugar. But you could substitute with Honey if you want.
5 - 6 Red Dates
600ml water

Ingredients (B)
1 Canned Longan
Juices from 2 Lemons. You should be getting about 75ml to 100ml fresh lemon juice.
Some Ice Cubes (Optional)


Method

1. Peeling the fresh Aloe Vera can be a hassle if you are not doing it right. Because the body of the Aloe Vera itself is slimy after you skinned it. Wash the Aloe Vera and use fruit peeler to peel off the skin just like this. It will ease your pain of getting the job done. Trust me. Cut into cubes, put them into a big bowl, add some water to wash away the slimy consistency for 2 to 3 times. Drained. Set aside.


2. Cut Candied Winter Melon into small cube. Wash Red Dates. Set aside.

3. 600ml of water in the pot, add Aloe Vera cubes, Candied Winter Melon, Red Dates & Rock Sugar in it. Bring to a boil. This takes about 8mins. Reduce to low heat, let it simmer for 20mins.


4. After 20mins of boiling, heat off, cover up. Leave the pot there for 1 hour, or 2 hours if you could afford to wait. Let it cool down, and let the aloe vera absorb the sweetness of the Rock Sugar water.

5. While the pot is cooling down, you may now start to squeeze the lemon juices, discard the lemon seeds. Set aside.

6. Discard away the rock sugar water. Yes! You hear me. We don't need the rock sugar water. It has turned thick and slimy by then. Discard it. We only want Aloe Vera, the Candied Winter Melon and the Red Dates. The purpose of boiling them together is to allow the Aloe Vera absorb the sweetness only.

7. Pour in a can of longan, lemon juice. Give it a good stir. Chill it in the fridge before serve. Or alternatively, you could add some ice cubes in it if you don't have the patience to wait for your dessert to get chilled in the fridge. 

Yes, this dessert rely on the canned longan syrup and fresh lemon juice. Some healthy freak would say "ahh! Canned food!" But once in a blue moon, who cares? At least I obviously don't :)


Other than the Scientific evidence for the cosmetic and therapeutic effectiveness of aloe vera, it is also widely used as an ingredient in commercially available lotions, yogurt, beverages, and some desserts. I can see Aloe Vera Canned Drinks are very common nowadays, although I never buy one for myself before.
Aloe Vera boosts immune system for a start and acts as a powerful antioxidant. There are people written online, mentioned that it is testified of an improved sense of calmness and of reduced anxiety. I'm not sure about it tho. Well.... Perhaps?

Winter melons are known to remove heatiness and helps detoxify the body. This applies to fresh winter melon or candied winter melon. I love it when Candied winter melon being simmered with desserts. The texture is really nice and it's inexplicably yummy too. 

With such crazy hot weather recently, I don't find any reason why you won't want a bowl of this :)


I'm sure you want a bowl.

Do give it a try :)

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