Help with Asian desserts

[chiffonade]

Originally posted by momoreg
I keep thinking to myself, "why water"? Wouldn't something flavorful be even better? Like apple juice....or better yet, some kind of apple cocktail? It does sound yummy anyway.

The purpose of the water is not to impart any flavor but to have the temperature difference between the water and the fruit create a physical reaction (becoming hard). It's like testing sugar syrup in cold water to see what stage it has reached. If you drop a well-made caramel into a glass of water, it should become hard and create a distinct ball - although that's not what it looked like going in.

The water is a temperature change vehicle, nothing more.

[momoreg]

Right, I understand that, but still, it would be nice if there was some flavor involved in that process.

[mike]

We call them toffee apples and its a pud thats pretty ubiquitous over here and available in most chinese restaurants. One caution though is the danger of a customer forgetting to dip the caramel into the water ( it makes an amazing crackling sound), in the land of the litegators you could be asking for trouble.
Little sweetened mung bean tartlettes are tasty.

[Nick.Shu]

asian flavoured desserts or asian style desserts?

a lot of the asian desserts are based around flavours like:

sweetened bean pastes
fruit jellies i.e. durian, starfruit etc
steamed sponges (like the sponge cake you would get at yum cha)

other directions you can go could be such things as jackfruit ice creams, tropical fruit sorbets (as mentioned before), variations of the egg custard tart (portuguese in origin so i believe).

rice puddings are another easily made thing (also mentioned previously) as are sago puddings.

Dont forget teas as well. Star anise, ginger and perhaps chinese 5 spice mix.

There's also influences from the subcontinent as well, like, as a suggestion, profiteroles filled with a orange and cardamon creme patisserie.

you can pretty much look around and go to town on this (so to speak) by going to a asian supermarket and looking at what sort of products they have in their confectionery section. Also you can look at what sort of ice creams and desserts that are available there as well.

go crazy.

[Mezzaluna]

Okay, maybe it's a little Gale Gandish, but why not lollipops? Add Asian spices and herbs, etc. to tea bases, combine with sugar syrup, etc. and make little suckers or candy sticks.

In my quest for a low carb noodle, I learned that konnyaku paste is often sweetened and flavored, then cut into bite-sized pieces or rolled and cut with decorative cutters. The powder is available on-line, I know. I guess many Japanese just love it. The texture is like gummi bears.

[wizcat3]

Lollipops! What Fun!
Chiffonade and Susanne, I know it would be to hot without cooling, just didnt know why it couldnt cool down on the plate. The thing about tableside could be a problem for most restaurants, and this one also. The severs usally are too busy or dont want to have anypart of tableside. Also some chefs dont want it either, they just want the food to get out hot. I certainly understand that. I always want desserts to get out before they melt

I spent couple hours in book store this am and came up with alot more info than I thought was there. Especially a book Im going to buy of defination for ALL ingredients in the Asian markets. If I know what they are then I can find a place (desserts) to use them in. Yea Great Book, something like "Food Lovers Companion"

I am going to try some things this weekend. Im sure I'd have to do a tasting menu or etc. Oh! I think the menu shud be more Chinese/Japanese influences. Thanks again, lots of ideas.

[Isa]

The China Moon Cafe Cookbook has a wonderful asian oriented dessert section. It might be worth a look.

[Suzanne]

Oh my goodness. Here are just a few general Asian references:

Encyclopedia of Asian Food by Charmaine Solomon
The Asian Grocery Store Demystified by Linda Bladhold
Asian Ingredients by Bruce Cost
Ken Hom's Asian Ingredients by Ken Hom
The encyclopedia of Asian Food and Cooking by Jacki Passmore

Unfortunately, I don't have anything on Japanese, but there are many new books (easily available) about Japanese cooking.

[W.DeBord]

I might have missed this, but did anyone post filled wontons? You can fill them with just about anything from fruits to chocolate, they hold in the freezer and can be fried to order in the kitchen. You can also get pretty creative with dipping sauces for them.

You also can do filled cake rolls, pretty much like you'd do sushi. Sub. in pastry cream or mousse for your rice and use fruits for your color lined down the center. Slice and turn up to present. This is actually pretty easy to do. Again you could offer some fun funky dipping sauce....


I've done the fried fruit dumplings before, they are wonderful......but to demanding for success with-out a commitment to training your staff. Even then only one or two out of your staff will be good at it.

Hot-pot of some sort.........dip fruits and cakes into hot-pot. It could be a 5spice chocolate sauce or syrup. Asian version of a fondue.........it has alot of presentation posiblities not much skilled prep. needed.

I think you could do just about anything with a small Asian twist. I do love all the Asian fruit and spice sorbet possiblities and that could cross over to be used with rice pudding too. Ginger and chocolate tart. Fruit tart (Asian fruits) with 5 spice pastry cream. Creme Brulees with Asian seasoning or fruits......ginger, lechyee, manderin orange, candied ginger. Scezaun (sp?) baby ginger cakes with seasonal fruits and seasoned whip cream.

[wizcat3]

Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, to all of you. I'm now working on menus and the recipes. The Market here has lots of different fruits so Ill be able to work with all of them. Must say Im very busy now for someone who doesnt have a job yet. W

[IronChefATL]

This is very simple but tasty. Combine cocnut JUICE (not milk) w/ steamed jasmine rice. It is garnished with fruit, mango is tasty.