My children and I had been having a bout of stubborn coughs. After seeing doctors and getting the necessary medication, the cough is still persistent. So, I am playing Chinese herbalist, brewing some age old herbal drink.
See above are the ingredients I used. In the ceramic spoon is the loh han guo fruit which is supposed to be an expectorant (expelling phelgm). This fruit is bitter so use sparingly. I normally remove it immediately after cooking to avoid the bitterness. Loh Han Guo comes in a hard shell the size of a tennis ball. Just crack the hard shell and remove them. Use on the spongy seed.
The orange is the dried Chinese mandarin. The other brown thing is the honey date, also available in dried form. The translucent whitish/brownish pieces are the sea coconuts.
The dried ingredients are featured in this post. And an almost similar dessert using dried persimmon is here. Fresh sea coconut sold by roadside vendor can be seen here.
RECIPE FOR LOH HAN GUO HONEY SEA COCONUT
1 loh han guo – remove shell, wash
1 dried mandarin
3 honey dates
6 sea coconuts – slice (you can either use fresh or canned ones, I got mine fresh)
1.5 litre water
Honey to taste (I used wild honey)
Boil all the above for at least 45 minutes to an hour. Serve. The loh han guo is bitter so remove and avoid soaking it in the soup if you do not like bitter after taste.
The honey sea coconut is very delicious due to is chewy texture. I bought the fresh sea coconuts from Sunshine Farlim. It is sold in a large packet, all peeled. I don’t know it the herbal drink helps in curing cough but it is soothing to the throat and makes a great dessert/thong sui.
Aiyo! U see in advertisement…no need to go through all that trouble! Take IBU DAN ANAK (Discriminating brand!! What about AYAH?) BTW, if the coughing is worse at night, the body is cold…take warm stuff like ginger eg. in chicken soup, if worse in day time usually with sore throat, body is hot…then take the cooling stuff!!
Wah!! From Tukang Tilik, to Rev. Fr. to Chinese Medium and Now Chinese Medicine Man…wats next? Part Time stripper for chippendale….hahahhaha.
was talking about STP above not aunty 😛
Put a few dried figs then you don’t need to put much honey.
Eh…i always tot that the loh han gua fruit is sweet.
shooi – No lah, loh han guo has no taste, feel a bit ‘kam-kam’ (dunno how to explain in English) which if concentrated, can feel bitter, otherwise, a sweetish after taste only. Those they sell, they put lotsa sugar inside, that’s why so sweet.
moo_t – What is fig ah? In Mandarin? I copy and paste and bring to medicine shop.
QV – Yalor, STP’s theories like grandpa hor?
STP – I dun believe in hot and cold wan wor, only eat certain foods ‘cos they taste nice and mom said so.
What is the difference if I take only that green thick leaf I think called Leong Phoo Khay or something? I got some planted in a flower pot.
My mum don’t use dried Mandarin and replace the honey with rock sugar (as written on the box). Everything else the same and always solve my coughing problem.
Lilian, you can get the fig from OK Treats at Cantonment Road. Asked her for the California Fig. It’s good. Meant to be ‘yon’. i buy my honey dates from Carrefour – not the dried one but wet. Taste really good. You can cut down on rock sugar if u put that in. Loh Hon Gor had got 2 types too. The one which is slightly expensive is about RM1 – RM1.50/no. It had got different with the cheaper one. Used your nail and scratch on the hard skin. The expensive one had got a very good smell and for sure no bitterness. This I were told by the chinese medicine shop owner.
For sea coconut, there are this one you can buy – old sea coconut. It’s meant for boiling – texture is hard. Then, buy some young one. Cut and add in when the ‘thong sui’ is slightly cold. He he he …. again this were taught to me by the sea coconut seller at pulau tikus market. Sea coconut is meant for cooling. I am also a kepo person. Will asked ppl lots of questions too when i buy things 🙂
Whh..!!!While seeing itself (The honey sea coconut ) …I wanted to eat this ….beautyfull fig….