Sea Coconut & Snow Fungus Dessert

This is also another simple dessert which do not require many ingredients. I have omitted "loh hon go" as I do not have another key ingredient -Winter Melon (Dong Gua) to make it like the popular tong shui in Petaling Street-Dong Gua Lo Hon Go. Anyway, this simple tong shui (sweet soup) is equally soothing...

Ingredients:
10 pieces of sea coconuts
10 red dates
Knots of pandan leaves (screw-pine leaves)
Half a pack of candied winter melon (about 5 to 6 sticks)
Some white fungus/cloud fungus/snow fungus
Rock sugar to taste

Methods:

1. Cut the sea coconut into thin slices, discard the old ones which the flesh has solidified as the taste will be enhanced if you solely use the tender sea coconuts to prepare for this soup. You can reserve the old ones to stir fry with other vegetable dishes.
2. Boil the red dates (preferably discard the seed first) with pandan leaves and white fungus until the latter is soften
3. Dump in sea coconuts slices, candied winter melon and cook for another 10 minutes.
4. Lastly add in rock sugar.

Learnings:

1. This soup is supposed to provide the cooling effect if the sea coconuts and winter melon are not boiled for too long.
2. It is encouraged to discard the seed of red dates which is believed will get rid of the heatiness effect (pls don't ask me to prove it scientifically but it has been a practice by our grandmothers)
3. Snow fungus is highly recommended food for consumptions by the vain pots who yearn for good complexions. Snow fungus is a type of low calories food and contains the goodness of the most natural form of collagen and is popularly known as vegetarian bird nest. So basically you only need to consume a lot of snow fungus to maintain a fair and supple complexion. This is the poor men's tonic since it can substitute bird nest therefore it has become my favourite food. There are 2 "species" of snow fungus. One is crunchy in texture and another type is jelly-like. The latter will turn gelatine when it is boiled for long and therefore is most suitably used for sweet dessert like the one required in this recipe whereas the crunchy texture type is suitable for preparation of savoury soup.
   
4. This dessert will produce a clear soup and you can only taste the mild sweetness and fragrance from the red dates and pandan leaves since snow fungus and the sea coconuts are quite bland in taste.
   
5. You can turn it into a cold dessert by shaving some ice and mix it into the soup. Just add some honey if it is not sweet enough.