Scarlett WStewed Apple with Jujube and Goji Seeds
May 20th 2008 14:21
Stewed Apple with Jujube and Goji Seeds
About Stew
Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables (potatoes, beans, etc.), fruits (such as peppers and tomatoes), meat, poultry, sausages and seafood. While water can be used as the stew-cooking liquid, wine, stock, and beer are also common. Seasoning and flavourings may also be added. Stews are typically cooked at a relatively low temperature (simmered, not boiled), to allow flavours to marry.
The distinctions between stew, soup, and casserole are fine ones. The ingredients of a stew may be cut into larger pieces than a those of a soup and retain more of their individual flavours; a stew may have thicker liquid than a soup, and more liquid than a casserole; a stew is more likely to be eaten as a main course than as a starter, unlike soup; and a stew can be cooked on either the stove top (or range) or in the oven, while casseroles are almost always cooked in the oven, and soups are almost always cooked on the stovetop. There are exceptions; for example, an oyster stew is thin bodied, more like a soup. The choice of name is largely a matter of custom; it is possible for the same dish to be described as soup, stew, or casserole.
Stews may be thickened by reduction, but are more often thickened with flour, either by coating pieces of meat with flour before searing, or by using a roux or beurre manié, a dough consisting of equal parts of butter and flour. Other thickeners like cornstarch or arrowroot may also be used.
About Jujube (Chicken Heart) Jixin red dates
Jujube, commonly called Red Date, or Chinese Date, is a species of Ziziphus in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae, used primarily for its fruits.
The fruits are used in Chinese and Korean traditional medicine, where they are believed to alleviate stress. The fruit is ground to powder, with very small amounts required to promptly calm nerves and purify blood quality. The Australian drink 1-bil makes de-stressing (or relaxing) claims on the basis of its jujube ingredient.
The freshly harvested as well as the candied dried fruits are often eaten as a snack, or with tea. They are available either red or black (called hóng zǎo or hēi zǎo, respectively, in Chinese), the latter being smoked to enhance their flavour. In mainland China, Korea, and Taiwan, a sweetened tea syrup containing jujube fruits is available in glass jars, and canned jujube tea or jujube tea in the form of teabags is also available. Although not widely available, jujube juice and jujube vinegar are also produced.
In China, a wine made from jujubes called hong zao jiu is also produced. Jujubes are sometimes preserved by storing in a jar filled with baijiu (Chinese liquor), which allows them to be kept fresh for a long time, especially through the winter. Such jujubes are called jiu zao (literally "spirited jujube").
In addition, jujubes, often stoned, are a significant ingredient in a wide variety of Chinese delicacies. In Persian cuisine, the dried drupes are known as annab. The jujube's sweet smell is said to make teenagers fall in love, and as a result, in the Himalaya and Karakoram regions, men take a stem of sweet smelling jujube flowers with them or put it on their hats to attract the opposite gender.
In traditional Chinese wedding ceremony, jujube and walnut were often placed in the newly wed's bedroom as a sign of fertility.
In Japan, the natsume has given its name to a style of tea caddy used in the Japanese tea ceremony.
In Korea, the wood is used to make the body of the taepyeongso, a double-reed wind instrument.
About Wolfberry / Goji Berries / Níngxià;
The majority of commercially produced wolfberries come from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of north-central China and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China, where they are grown on plantations. In Zhongning County, Ningxia, wolfberry plantations typically range between 100 and 1000 acres (or 500-6000 mu) in area.
In addition, commercial volumes of wolfberries grow in the Chinese regions of Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Hebei. The oblong, red berries are very tender and must be picked carefully or shaken from the vine into trays to avoid spoiling. The fruits are preserved by slowly drying them in the shade on air exchange tables or by mechanical dehydration employing a progressively increasing series of heat exposure over 48 hours.
Wolfberries are celebrated each August in Ningxia with an annual festival coinciding with the berry harvest (it was first held in Ningxia's capital, Yinchuan, but is now held in Zhongning County, an important center of wolfberry cultivation for the region).
China, the main supplier of wolfberry products in the world, had total exports generating US$120 million in 2004. This production derived from 82,000 hectares farmed nationwide, yielding 95,000 tons of wolfberries.
Wolfberries are almost never found in their fresh form outside of their production regions, and are usually sold in open boxes and small packages in dried form. The amount of desiccation varies in wolfberries: some are soft and somewhat tacky in the manner of raisins, while others may be very hard. Wolfberries with a vibrant orange-red color may have been treated with sulfites. Wolfberries are usually used directly, and do not need to be rehydrated prior to use.
INGREDIENTS
1 apple
15 gm Wolfberry / Gogi Berries / Níngxià gǒuqǐ
3 nos Jujube (Chicken Heart) Jixin red dates, stoned
2 teaspoons lemon juice
50 gm rock sugar
1 teaspoon Maple syrup
1 cup water
1. Peel apple, cut into 4 pieces. Remove core.
2. Smear apple with lemon juice to prevent oxidation.
3. Soak Gogi seeds in water for 20 minutes. Wash and drain.
4. Soak Jujube in water for 30 minutes, remove core.
5. Put apple in steam pot; add Gogi seeds and Jujube in the middle of apple.
6. Add cold water, steam for 1 hour, then remove from fire.
7. Serve with Maple syrup.
**From “Next Magazine and “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”**
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