Terry Tan
BY TERRY TAN
While Western culture often views sweets as a treat, the Chinese have a rather different idea. Foods are assigned properties based on a theory of Yin and Yang – yin being ‘cooling’ foods that decrease the body’s heat and yang being boosting foods that raise it. The ideal is to eat from both groups of food to keep the body in balance. Sweet herbal desserts or tong shui – literally ‘sweet water’ – is part of the balancing act of a meal.
For the Chinese, sweetness is also a symbol for good luck, success, positive attitude, diplomacy and even beauty. Tong shui is an important aspect of the meal and sweet soups can start a meal or be served in between courses as a palate-refresher. Sweet herbal brews – usually sweetened with rock sugar, honeyed dates, honey or fruit – are also meant to be restorative and curative. The following are some of the common and nutritious elements in tong shui:
CHINESE RED DATES
These dried fruits the sizes of grapes are different from the Mediterranean variety.
Chinese red dates are believed to restore vigour and vitality.
GINGKO NUTS
Gingko nuts are eaten to help improve asthma, coughs, gynecological problems, bladder ailments and urinary disorders.
HONEY
Well recognised in the West for its healing properties, the Chinese value honey as a ‘neutral’ food that influences the lung, spleen and kidney.
LOTUS SEEDS
Lotus seeds are believed to be useful in promoting sleep, blood circulation and virility as well as help the kidney and spleen and calm the heart. Lotus seeds can be eaten both in sweet and savoury styles of cooking.
LONGAN
Longans – literally, ‘dragon’s eyes’ – is a seasonal fruit that can be eaten fresh and dried. Dried longans are used in Chinese herbal cooking for their warming and tonic properties and are considered to be good for the spleen, heart, kidneys, lungs and mental faculties.
Of Chinese/Indonesian/Straits Chinese descent, Terry has over 40 years of cooking, eating, restaurant-running, cookbook-writing and teaching experience, and has more than 20 cookbooks to his name.
