Keledek Gula (Warm Sweet Potato Dessert)

December has been a really busy month! Please forgive me for not visiting as often lately. There seems to be a million things to do! I've just came back from a short vacation and has been out of the house ever since. Christmas is just round the corner, there are Christmas presents to shop for, the new school term will be reopened in about three week's time, have not even got round to buy the school uniform, shoes, stationeries and other school things for the kids! I will be busy this coming weekend, and there will be a gathering for Christmas the next weekend, and school will start about a week later. I have not baked anything for three whole weeks and have not cooked a single meal in the last ten days! And Chinese New Year is on 23rd of January, gosh, really tired just thinking about the shopping and preparation for Chinese New Year! And got to consider about the "$$$" too!

Today's post is a simple dessert which I have made a couple of weeks ago. This dessert brings back memories to my childhood days. I have been having Fan Shi Tong Sui (Sweet Potato Dessert), as long as I can remember. Being Nyonya, we would call it  Keledek Gula, Keledek meaning Swee Potato and Gula meaning Sugar.  Though when I was young, this is not my favourite bowl of dessert. My mom would make this once in a while, and I would only eat a bowl, preferring the sweet watery syrup over the sweet potatoes, and would seldom eat more than a bowl. Now that I am older, over the years I have began to appreciate this simple dessert, and the humble sweet potatoes. I'm sure that many of us, at least my blogger friends that are residing in Malaysia and Singapore would have some sort of childhood memories with the mention of this simple dessert.

There's no exact measurement to this simple dessert. Here, I have used a mixture of orange and yellow sweet potatoes. I would sometimes cook this over the weekends as a late afternoon dessert. This is especially good too when one is not feeling well, and have no appetite for heavy meal. Sweet potatoes are good for you, they are rich in Vitamin A, C and a whole lot of other goodness!
The pandan leaves give the fragrance aroma and the ginger add a nice twist to an otherwise bland syrup. It is usually eaten warm or at room temperature, my preference would be to eat it while still very warm.

A bowl of comforting, simple dessert.

Sweet Potato Dessert
by kitchen flavours
serves 4 to 6
about  800gm sweet potatoes
water (enough to cover sweet potatoes and some extra)
sugar to taste
about 80gm ginger root, peeled, cut to three and bruised lightly
2 pandan (screwpines) leaves, each tie into a knot

Fill a medium stock-pot with water and let it come to a boil while you prepare the sweet potatoes. Add in the bruised ginger pieces, pandan leaves and sugar. Let it boil and simmer for about 30 minutes to release the fragrance and taste of the ginger. The amount of ginger depends on your preference. For a stronger gingery taste, more ginger may be added in. But if you are serving to kids, then go easy on the ginger. This dessert is supposed to be a little on the sweet side, test for sweetness, and add more sugar if necessary. The sweet potatoes are peeled and cut into bite-sized wedges. Wash the cut sweet potatoes under running water to remove the milky sticky sap. Add in the sweet potates  to the boiled syrup and leave to boil uncovered till the sweet potatoes are fork tender, which would take about 10-15 minutes, depending on the variety of sweet potatoes.  Serve warm in individual medium-sized bowls.

Tip : remove the ginger and discard, as the longer it sits in the syrup, the syrup will get more spicier.

Tang Yuen Festival

Today is Dongzhi day or Winter Solstice Festival , one of the important festival celebrated by the Chinese.  It always falls on or around 22nd December each year, where sunshine is the weakest and daylight is the shortest. The origins of this festival can be traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, there will be days with longer daylight hours and therefore an increase in positive energy flowing in.

When we were small, my sisters and I would help our mom to make Tang Yuen, a sweet dessert made from ground glutinous rice. In those days, my mom would soak the glutinous rice grains and we would bring the rice grains to a special shop to be grinded to a paste. The grinder is a big mortar made from marble. Nowadays, powdered glutinous rice can be easily obtained from any grocery shop. 

The powdered glutinous rice is then mixed with water to a dough. A small amount of the dough, the size of a cherry tomato, is then rolled into a round. The dough can be divided and add some food colours before rolled them into rounds. Drop these rounds into hot boiling water and cook until they pops up, they will be cooked at this point. These are eaten with sweet soup. The sweet soup is prepared by boiling water, sugar, some crushed ginger and pandan (screwpine) leaves. Scoop some glutinous rice balls into a bowl, top with some sweet soup, and you will have a bowl of Tang Yuen. Tang Yuen can be cooked in a savoury soup, but it has always been the sweet version for my family. 

Some superstitious and belief : by eating Tang Yuen, we will be one year older, instead of waiting for the Chinese New Year, where the starts of a new year in a Chinese Calendar. My mom and the elderly used to say that as soon as you one ate of these Tang Yuen, then you are a year older. My mom used to stick a pair of Tang Yuen, a white and a red at the top corners of the windows and doors, as it is believed to be a talisman to keep the evil spirits from harming the children. Tang Yuen is also served during the Chinese wedding ceremony to the couple so that they will have a sweet and loving life together. (Yes! I had this at my wedding!).

These Tang Yuan can be filled with sweet stuffings, like a  mixture of finely chopped peanuts and sugar, or some local palm sugar. I chose to do mine plain, without any stuffing, as I like it better plain.  Tang Yuan can be eaten either hot or cold. I prefer it hot.

This tradition is now passed down from one generation to the next. My kids are helping me now just as I have helped my mom. My kids certainly had a great fun making this Tang Yuan, with various colours and sizes! My sisters and I would always try not to drop one onto the floor when making them into rounds, but being kids, we are always not careful and there will at least be a few wasted! We would always laugh at each other when this happens. Now I see this being repeated in my own kids! 

Have you eaten any Tang Yuen today? If you have, then you are a year older!