Papaya With Snow Fungus & Quail Eggs Dessert
This Papaya With Snow Fungus & Quail Eggs is a nutrient-rich sweet soup dessert that is made with snow fungus, papaya, quail eggs and lightly sweetened with rock sugar. They are very refreshing and nourishing sweet soup desserts that can be served cold or hot. Snow fungus, also known as white fungus, contains numerous health benefits. Aside from being rich in plant-based collagen, snow fungus also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. As a bonus, the papaya and quail eggs add nutrients to this bowl of delectable dessert too. Whether you enjoy it cold or hot, this simple, light and easy-to-make dessert will not disappoint.
Ingredients:
- 1 piece Dried Snow Fungus (Enough water to soak dried snow fungus)
- 2 Tablespoons Rock sugar / 1 small lump yellow rock sugar ( -/+ to taste )
- 2-3 Whole Screwpine Leaves or a small handful of Dried Pandanus Leaves, knotted
- 1/4- 1/2 freshly cut Papaya (Cut into bite sized pieces)
- 10-12 Quail eggs (Omit if dislike)
- 6 Dried Red Dates
- 6-7 cups Room Temperature Water (-/+ adjustable, measure with basic baking measuring cup)
Instructions:
- Snow Fungus - Soak snow fungus in room temperature water overnight or for 30 minutes or so until soft and doubled in size. This may take longer depending on the size. We soaked them overnight. Clean the snow fungus and cut it into small pieces. Trim off the hard part at the bottom of the snow fungus. We're not using this bottom part. When this is done, set this aside.
- Hard boiled quail eggs - Add enough water to boil quail eggs in a small pot. Bring the water to a boil.
- Once boiling, slowly add in the quail eggs and cook for 3-4 minutes on medium high heat.
- After 4 minutes, remove the quail eggs and place them in cold water. Peel off the shell and set the peeled quail eggs aside for later.
- Preparing sweet dessert soup - Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a medium or large pot at medium-high heat. When you notice some bubbles, add in the knotted screwpine leaves and red dates. While waiting for the water to fully boil, prepare the papaya.
- Papaya - Peel off the papaya skin with a vegetable peeler and remove the seeds. Cut papaya into chunks or bite-size pieces. Set aside.
- Back to the stove. The water should come to a full boil by now.
- Over medium low heat, add in soaked and trimmed snow fungus. Cook and simmer until the snow fungus has softened and turned translucent. If you prefer it slightly crunchier, shorten the time, but if you prefer a softer texture, simmer for 25-30 minutes or so. Texture taste test the snow fungus, softened to preference.
- Once the snow fungus is softened, add rock sugar and papaya chunks. Gently stir the sweet soup. Adjust the sweetness or add more water if necessary at this point. Cook for 3 more minutes, or until the rock sugar is fully dissolved.
- Add in hard boiled quail eggs. Stir to mix and cook for another 2 minutes before turning off the heat.
- Transfer to a serving bowl or dessert bowl and serve warm.
- Chill them in the fridge for at least 2 hours if served cold. Let them cool down completely before storing them in the fridge. Do not put them in the fridge when they are still warm.
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Tips & Notes:
- We measured water with a basic baking measuring cup just like we always do in all of our recipe production, except for rice, we used the mini measuring cup that came with the rice cooker when making all the rice recipes.
- We used rock sugar for this dessert soup because the sweetness is more subtle. Another type of rock sugar, called Yellow Lump Sugar, can also be used. But you can certainly replace it with regular granulated white sugar if you prefer.
- Adjust sugar and water accordingly.
- If you dislike quail eggs, just omit them.
- Alternatively, you can use canned quail eggs.
- Dried snow fungus needs to be soaked in room temperature water until soft and doubled in size before using. Roughly 30 minutes or longer, depending on the size.
- To ensure that the snow fungus will cook correctly, some prefer to soak the snow fungus overnight in room temperature water before they go to bed. Then, the next morning, they are ready to be used in the cooking. This is our preferred method so far, but you are free to prepare it in any way you like.
- Dried snow fungus can be found at most Asian grocery stores in Chinatown or online. Same with quail eggs. This dessert can be served warm or cold with some ice cubes, or chill them for an hour or two in the fridge. Make sure to let them cool down completely before refrigerating. Do not put them in the fridge when they are still warm.
- Do check/read/research about the benefits of snow fungus and quail eggs for more details if you wish to know more about this.
- This dessert can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days.
- Use a papaya that is not overly ripe when making this dessert.
- We cooked or prepared this dessert over the stove (most of the time). But if you want to cook them in an instant pot, pressure cooker, or slow cooker, you can do so. However, you have to experiment with the time, setting, or any related information if you're using one of these cooking methods other than the stovetop.
- We used frozen screwpine leaves that we bought in our local Asian grocery store, but you can use dried screwpine leaves if fresh or frozen is not available to you.
