Cheng tng 清汤

eat your way to good health

Welcome to Singapore Noodles, a newsletter that shares about Asia’s culinary traditions with you every week. It’s great to have you here!

Over the weekend, I invited some friends over for lunch to celebrate Lunar New Year. I don’t like worrying too much when cooking for company, so I tend to cook from my repertoire. Here’s what was on the menu:

1. Kong bak bao, or meltingly tender pork belly served in steamed lotus buns.

2. Milky fish soup with napa cabbage, carrot slices, and pork & fish meatballs (I used my Hakka yong tau foo filling recipe).

3. Yam basket, where the dough for taro croquettes is fashioned into a bowl and filled with stir-fried vegetables.

4. Cheng tng for dessert.

I thought the cheng tng would be a fitting thing to share with you this week because if, like me, you’ve been feasting on pineapple tarts this Lunar New Year, you’ll need some cooling dessert to quench your internal heat. Also, immune-boosting is very much needed here in the Netherlands when de griep (influenza) is going around. But frankly, cheng tng is so delicious that you’ll hardly think of it as medicine.

Enjoy,
Pamelia

Coming up on Extras — the kong bak bao I made for lunch, which I think is one of the most crowd-pleasing and celebratory pork belly dishes you can make. Become a paid subscriber to gain access.

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EAT YOURSELF TO GOOD HEALTH

Cheng tng is a traditional Singaporean dessert that translates to “clear soup”. You’ll find it at hawker stalls that specialise in desserts. Upon ordering, the hawker ladles a warm and sweet longan broth into a bowl, followed by a few spoonfuls of textural goodies. If you want to enjoy it cold, the hawker can shave a little blizzard of ice directly on top.

While I chose to use dried white fungus, dried persimmons, and peach gum in my cheng tng, you can choose from any of the following (some dessert stalls use as many as 10 different add-ons):

• Dried persimmon (shì bǐng/ 柿饼): While I’ve started seeing this at the Asian grocer in our city, I used my homemade hoshigaki. Cut into thick coins.

• Cubes of agar jelly: These often don’t taste like anything and are added to cheng tng purely for texture. Dissolve agar powder in water according to packet instructions—some hawkers also add a drop of red food colouring so that it stands out visually in the broth—and allow to set completely before cutting into cubes.

• Pearl barley (yì mǐ/ 薏米): Not to be confused with hulled barley, pearl barley has been processed to remove its fibrous outer hull and polished to remove the bran. Rinse thoroughly before using.

• Tapioca pearls: Tapioca pearls the size of mustard seeds or hazelnuts can be used. Because these are starchy, they should be cooked separately to keep the cheng tng broth clear. Instructions on how to cook the larger pearls here.

• Candied winter melon (dōng guā táng/ 冬瓜糖): Winter melon preserved in sugar. Cut into long strips.

• Gingko nuts (bái guǒ/ 白果): You could boil your own, but canned gingko is less fussy. Drain and rinse.

• Malva nut (pàng dà hǎi/ 胖大海): Literally meaning “fat big sea” in Mandarin, this is a seed used in traditional Chinese medicine that swells many times its original volume to form a reddish gelatinous mass. Valued for relieving sore throat, hoarseness, loss of voice, and dry cough. Soak in a liberal amount of water for half an hour before removing the skin and pit.

• Orange sweet potato: Peel and cut into cubes.

• Peach gum (táo jiāo/ 桃胶): When the bark of the peach tree is wounded, it secretes a sticky substance that hardens upon exposure to air, forming amber-hued, gem-like crystals (this video shows how they are harvested). Purported to protect the skin against oxidative stress and support immune function. Soak in a liberal amount of water overnight, then go through it the next day to remove any bits of bark.

• Dried white fungus (xuě ěr/ 雪耳): Also known as tremella or snow fungus, this is a functional food that’s associated with skin health and immune support. Soak it in a liberal amount of water for at least 30 minutes so that it softens and expands. Trim off the tough centre and snip the fungus into small florets.

Peach gum & white fungus before and after soaking in water

Once you have your goodies ready, add them to a pot with:

1. Sugar: While you can use rock sugar, brown sugar, or even white sugar, my sweetener of choice for this dessert is gula melaka (traditional dark palm sugar of Malacca). You can also use other types of dark palm sugar, such as gula jawa, if you prefer.

2. Dried longans (lóng yǎn/ 龙眼): These give cheng tng its characteristic flavour and are so yummy that I often snack on them straight out of the bag.

3. Dried dates: When it comes to dates, you can use the regular dried red dates (hóng zǎo/ 红枣), which have blood-nourishing properties, or the larger dried honey dates (mì zǎo/蜜枣), which are said to strengthen lungs and reduce allergies.

4. Pandan leaves: Pandan leaves are added to many of the traditional desserts that we enjoy in Singapore. Frozen or fresh both work.

With a 30-minute simmer, you’re all done. The gift of cheng tng is that it is easy to put together and endlessly variable. As long as the flavour of dried longans takes centrestage, you can make it with whatever you like.

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CHENG TNG 清汤 (“CLEAR SOUP”)
Serves 6 to 8; Vegan

50g dried peach gum
1 rosette of white fungus
40g dried longan
1 honey date or 30g red dates
4 dried persimmons, sliced into thick coins
1 pandan leaf
2.5 litres water
2 blocks (100 g) dark palm sugar (such as gula melaka) or brown sugar

1. The night before, place the peach gum and white fungus in a medium bowl and cover it with a liberal amount of water. Leave on your kitchen counter to soak overnight.

2. The next day, cut the white fungus into small florets, discarding the tough yellow bit in the middle. With a spoon or tweezers, go through the peach gum, picking out any black bits of bark and discarding these.

3. Drain the white fungus and peach gum in a colander and place them in a pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a simmer over high heat.

4. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the peach gum is slippery, silky, and tender. Discard the pandan leaf. Taste and add more sugar, if desired. Enjoy warm or thoroughly chilled.

As a visual guide, here’s a video tutorial of a similar dessert soup from a couple of years ago:

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