Fresh Lychee – Forget The Canned Version

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China, Chinese, Fruit, lizhi, Lychee

I’ve previously posted about longan, or dragon eyes, and it’s time I introduced their better known relative: lizhi, or lychee. Some of you probably have had them canned in syrup – please erase everything you think you know if this is the only way you’ve tasted them. They are so much better than that when fresh!

Lychee are the fruit of Litchi chinensis, a subtropical tree that originated in and is cultivated all across Southeast Asia. Lychees are very popular fresh or in desserts like jellies in China, Vietnam, India, and other Southeast Asian countries, and like longan come in a hard rind that you peel to reveal succulent white flesh.

The fruit is juicy, soft, very sweet and just to die for. It will also get you sticky in that happy way you may associate with lapping up syrup with pancakes. Mmm.

They are also extremely healthy at a whopping 9mg of Vitamin C per tiny fruit – that means you need just 9 fruit, or about 115 grams, to cover your daily need! Lychee also contain a wide variety of minerals, most notably copper, phosphorus and potassium as well as a good deal of fiber. And all that at 8.5 kcal per fruit! (Think about it: 9 fruit amount to 75 kcal, 100% of your daily Vitamin C, and a ton of sweet, sticky goodness. Who could resist?)

I loved fresh lychee, although it was the very, very tail end of their season, so they weren’t as ubiquitous as I would have liked. What are some of your seasonal treats that you can’t resist? Are any of them good for you? Also, have you had fresh lychee, and did you like it?

A Buddhist Monk’s Meal – Jieyin Hall On Mount Emei

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Bhuddist, China, Chinese, Emeishan, Food, low-calorie, Sichuan, Soup, Temple Food, Vegetables

Perhaps because of the Holiday season and all its indulgences and elaborate meals, I really find myself wanting to post about a wonderful meal I enjoyed on Mount Emei, one of the sacred Buddhist mountains in China.

While in Sichuan, we decided to hike up Mt. Emei, sleep at the top, and witness the sunrise on the Golden Summit, a spectacle that the Chinese flock to and that is really amazing to behold. Within about 2 minutes, you see the sun appear and fully rise above the horizon, bathing a Golden Pagoda on the summit in sparkling light. Lots of ooohs and aaahs and pictures!

But first things first – we hiked up Mt. Emei. This entailed waking up before the sun had risen, taking a bus to the base of the mountain, and climbing 23.5 kilometers (14.6 miles) of stairs, crossing a 3 kilometer (1.9 mile) height difference and a 23 degree Celsius (35 degree Fahrenheit) temperature difference. It took us 11 hours, sweat, bamboo poles as walking sticks (best 1 yuan we ever, ever spent!), desperate jokes and jello legs, but we made it. While some areas are accessible by cable car and teem with visitors, the vast majority of those 11 hours we spent alone, with the exception of 3 or so hours in the company of a total of maybe 15 Chinese people of all ages that were just as desperate as us. We arrived just as the sun was setting at Jieyin Hall, the last temple before the summit.

At the temple, we were shown to a room with beds with piles and piles of blankets and heating pads, as well as a wash bowl to take in the morning to wash. Then, we had a temple food – simple, vegetarian, wholesome, and beyond delicious.

There was rice, steamed winter melon (the cucumber-esque looking dish), a simple leafy green soup, stir-fried string beans (I ate 3 plates. What? They were the best string beans I have ever tasted, and I had just climbed 11 hours worth of stairs!) and boiled bamboo sprouts with mushrooms. It was a feast, we could have as much as we wanted, and I can’t begin to explain how wonderful this simple, Bhuddist meal was. No bells and whistles, no fancy ingredients – just beautiful produce prepared in the simplest ways to make it shine. Sometimes I wish more meals were like this.

Will you miss Holiday foods, or are you ready for a break from fancy meals? Have you had similar experiences with spiritually shaped dishes?

Balsamic Vinegar Roasted Red Beets (& Carrots)

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Beets, Carrots, CSA, Food, Local, low-calorie, Recipe, Vegetables

One of the foods I definitely avoided when growing up in Germany were red beets. Messy and just not desirable to me. In Germany, we eat these mostly raw as they are, raw in salads, or as a cooked compote-type dish. Neither held much appeal to me, and I pretty much managed to forget about their existence once I moved out, with the sole exception of the traditional Weihnachtssalat.

My CSA has been giving me bucket loads of beets, however, so I had to figure out something to do with them:

Ingredients:
– red beets
– carrots
– balsamic vinegar
– sweetener

Steps:
1. Peel and cube beets & carrots into 1/2 inch cubes. If available, wear gloves (I bring them home from the lab), unlike me during my brilliant first effort (although it’s a nice match with my nail polish, no?):

2. Keep the two vegetables separate, and toss each with 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar mixed with 1/2 packet of sweetener.

3. Still separate, roast in a glass baking dish at 375F for 1 hour.

4. Mix the two and serve as a wonderfully sweet, earthy and vibrant side dish!

On a side note: I discovered Chioggia beets, a wonderful Italian variety that is a tad milder and sweeter than your average red beet, and looks psychedelic pretty to boot!

These also taste great prepared this way, and don’t even need the addition of carrots:

What are some childhood foods you abhorred and have now rediscovered in different ways?

What other good beet recipes should I try?