Confinement food - Shan Yao

What I want to share with everyone today is my soup!
Auntie has cooked Shan Yao with pork rib soup for me. Shan Yao is typically another type of Yam but it's not very common in Singapore. Or rather you wouldn't find it as a dish or soup in hawker stalls.

Shan Yah (山药) is known for being a nutritious tuber that is high in vitamin C, B6 and potassium, and is traditionally believed to strengthen the kidneys and lungs. 

So this is the little knowledge which I learnt today from my "confinement eats journey".

Jules - making all sorts of funny faces at the dining table

Confinement food - bak kut teh

 

Bet you all know that one of the many confinement foods, there's the pig stomach soup which is super peppery. The chinese believes eating different parts of the animal will benefit the corresponding parts of our body. Hench eating the pig's stomach is supposedly to benefit the stomach of the women who have just given birth. The white peppercorns which are added into the soup brings out the heat and warms the body. Again, it's another "heaty" dish.

What auntie has done over here is she has made it into a bak kut teh with pig stomach soup for me to drink. Although it's really peppery but the taste of the traditional bak kut teh is still there. So it's kinda like eating hawker food but still somewhat a confinement food.

talk about being innovative and creative!!

thanks auntie. :)

 

Confinement food - Auntie knows how to cook braised duck!!! Just like those in the hawkers!

ok i know duck is supposedly to be a "cold" meat so it shouldn't be labelled as a confinement food but I'm having it during my confinement so there's still some sense in labelling it as such yah?

Anyway what I'm driving here is
1) Even though auntie maybe 70 years old, auntie is quite open-minded - hence she made the braised duck which is believed to be avoided during confinement for me to eat. She is not the strictest because she allows me to sit under a ceiling fan, sleep in an air conditioned room, allows me to shower and wash my hair. But of course there are things which she still adheres to and will "nag" me for it when I ...do not drink my tea sitting down and when i forget to wear my bedroom slipper.

2) her braised duck is super awesome and she won 5th prize at a culinary competition without any proper presentation. She told me that she just decorated her braised duck with sliced chillies and chives.

James Baby Shower - Invite

Just finishing up James Baby Shower invite. Gonna send it out today via email and texts

The theme is "Hot Air Balloons"!!

time to get busy!

xoxo

velle

Confinement food - Wolfberries

Look at the amount of wolfberries i have in my tonic soup today!

here's some food for thought!

Wolfberries are very popular in Chinese soups due to their many positive properties. In the West, they are said to be high in antioxidants. In the East, Chinese and other Asians enjoy drinking soups and teas made with this ingredient because they believe wolfberries nourish the “Yin’, enhance the “Chi”. It is also thought to help eliminate fatigue and helps to keep eyes healthy.

Confinement food - What's for lunch?

Things I found out from the internet about confinement food

Ginger is a very special ingredient in confinement food because it is believed to drive away the wind. The Chinese believer that when the body is preparing for labour, the body pores open up allowing wind to enter the body. Eating ginger is believed to counter the wind.

Wine is very important as it is believed to enhance blood circulation and help to spread warth and nutrients to all parts of the body. Therefore most food are cooked in wine and ginger.

this leads to my first dish --> steam fish in Dom Benedict topped with sliced ginger. But guess what, I usually push all the sliced ginger to one side and eat only the fish. haha.

Black Vinegar is believed to clean the womb of any leftover blood clots. The large amount of ginger and pig trotters are cooked in a large pot for several days. I guess it's quite a time saver for the auntie who only needs to cook once and reheat it for many meals later.

Woods' ear is thought to prevent blood clotting. Another dish which auntie frequently makes for me is Ginger sliced pork with Woods' ear. I love this dish because the woods' ear are so crunchy! And the Dom Benedict makes it quite sweet. Hmm, guess i have a sweet tooth after all!