#3 雪耳木瓜糖水{Snow Ears Papaya Dessert}

So interesting to mention snow as summer is approaching... Of course, in the Bay Area, weather is as it always is. Slightly chilly with sunshine. Anyways, I decided to revisit my Papaya dessert and, this time, I will add all the proper ingredients that I lacked before. Since I've been home, I've been shopping at the Chinese supermarkets and found one of my missing ingredients, 雪耳.

My revised Snow Ears papaya dessert recipe, in addition to the papaya and the rock candy, contains snow ears, eggs, and ginger. 雪耳, which translates into snow ears, is a type of yellow fungus that provides a good assortment of health benefits, according to a very reliable source, my mom. It's texture is kind of chewy and sponge-y and crunchy. It may sound kind of strange, but it is pretty yummy and how can you say no to something that is good for you, right?

雪耳木瓜糖水

Ingredients (6-8 servings)

- 1 papaya (you would need a large Mexican papaya or 2-3 Hawaiian ones)

- 1 bag rock sugar

- 2 eggs, whisked

- 1 slice of ginger

- 3-4 pieces of dried snow ears

- water

Steps

1) Soak the dried snow ears in warm water for 1 to 2 hours before cooking with the papaya. After you're done soaking them, split the snow ears into small pieces with your hands. Each piece should be about the size of a quarter. You could really do whatever you want, but I find that larger pieces of snow ears can be pretty annoying.

2) Peel papaya and cut into small squares.

3) Place the papaya and the snow ears into the pot and add enough water so that everything is covered.

4) Heat the stove at high until the water is boiling.

5) Add the sugar and the ginger when the water is boiling. Then, turn down to low-medium heat.

6) Heat for about 15-20 minutes and add the whisked eggs. Turn off the heat after the eggs are added. This is  very important in order to make sure that the eggs aren't overcooked.

7) Serve warm or let cool for 1-2 hours before refrigerating and then serving cold. Make sure to leave the lid slightly open when cooling.

One of my failure this time was that I added too much snow ears. I put in about a fifth of the bag of dried snow ear and it expanded to fill almost half the pot. They were quite deceiving when they were dried. Also, I left the pieces too big and ended up chewing and chewing and chewing the snow ears most of the time while the papaya was painfully neglected. Of course, I'm still extremely happy with how the dessert turned out. The ginger was definitely a nice add and worked well with the dessert. Definitely matched what I remembered from my childhood. I will definitely make this is recipe and hopefully, it will be absolutely perfect! Third time's the charm, right? Happy chewing!

<3 Joanna Mei