A Berry Last Summer in America & Cantonese "Claypot" Pudding 黃糖紅豆“砵仔”糕

It's now a little over a month before I say goodbye to B-Town, a small American town in north central Minnesota in which I've lived for slightly over 2-1/2 years. During my stay here, I've tried things that are oftentimes beyond the reach of a city dweller such as breathing fresher and cleaner air (yes, you can actually tell that just by your first breath here,) feeding goats and picking all sorts of fresh local produce including juneberries, red raspberries, pie cherries, bush cherries and blackcurrants, broccoli, purple cauliflower and green peas. Perhaps, I'd say it's been more of an experience of living in rural America.

Thinking that I may be unable to experience rural way of life again back in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I jumped on a chance of going to a local berry farm to pick strawberries with my family friends. So, off we left for the farm at about 6.40 a.m. This northbound drive took us about 30 minutes to reach the place. And upon our first steps onto this family-owned farm, we were greeted by the alluring sweet smell of strawberries--no kidding! Even the restaurant beside the parking lot couldn't beat it! It was only when we left that we started to smell something waffle sneaking out of the restaurant. These were after the berry picking:

Anyhow, mine was a rounded bucket of strawberries because the gentleman charged me US$9. Didn't want to get too much because I'll be moving out of my current apartment this weekend. So far, I've eaten only some of them plain because these red gems are SURPRISINGLY sweet! I think I'll freeze the remainder and use it in different things at my family friends' before I fly out. By the way, I'll blog less after this post till the day I reach Malaysia because I won't be having my own kitchen anymore for almost a month. (A real torture for me!)

Back to the main topic. Before I left for the farm that morning, I actually made "clay-pot" rice pudding, or "puud zai gou" 砵仔糕 in Cantonese, so that they'd be cooled enough for my breakfast by the time I got back. Yea, my breakfast for the day was the pudding and oodles of strawberries ... Hmm ...

I was inspired by so many different sources that I finally decided to give this a try. What's most encouraging was my encounter upon Siukwan's recipe for this traditional Cantonese snack! Her recipe calls for the ingredients that I already have. On the other hand, I've seen recipes that use wheat starch (澄麵粉,) something which I don't have--for now.

My exposure to Hong Kong media, such as TVB drama series and some HK-based radio programs, has really stirred up my curiosity for puud zai gou. What I've learned so far is that it was created in Toisan (or Taishan 台山,) a coastal city in the Chinese province of Guangdong (formerly known as Canton.) And because this was where my roots can be traced to, I got even more motivated to try it!

People say that the tradition is starting to lose its hold because this snack isn't as common as it was in HK anymore. But then, my observation told me that it's still something that brings back fond childhood memories to many Cantonese of older generations especially. The funny thing is I haven't seen this in Malaysia ... I wonder why. We've got Cantonese steamed custard 鮮奶燉蛋 (I'll try to blog about this later,) HK-style egg tarts 港式蛋撻, jin dui 煎堆 or deep-fried sesame balls, and some other classic Cantonese desserts and snacks. But, we just don't have this rice pudding and ginger milk curd 薑汁撞奶 (I'll try to blog about this later, too ...) Could it be due to the fact that puud zai gou only came to popularity in the 1930s and -40s, when the migrations of the forefathers of Southeast Asian Chinese had already taken place in large numbers well before that?

This is my first time having the pudding and I love it! It's not too sweet, has got a chewy texture ... I really love the aroma of rice and adzuki bean blending together. Felt happy as I bit into those red beans. Anyhow, I used muffin molds as I don't have any proper claypot ... Worked for me!

Here's a good recipe for puud zai goh that I adapted from Siukwan's:

Brown-Sugar Clay-Pot Rice Pudding with Adzuki (Red) Beans 黃糖紅豆砵仔糕

240g rice flour 粘米粉
160g brown sugar 
*Or any other types of sugar, but white and brown sugar are the most common ones 
750ml water (about 3 cups) water, divided
some cooked and softened adzuki (red) beans

1. Brush the molds with some cooking oil and place some adzuki beans in them, set aside. Have the steamer or wok ready for steaming
2. Mix 1 cup (250ml) water and rice flour together thoroughly to combine--mixture will be slightly stiff
3. Meanwhile, bring the remaining 2 cups (500ml) water and brown sugar to a boil in a saucepan and till the sugar is dissolved completely
4. Gradually pour the hot syrup into the flour mixture while you keep stirring/whisking them together till they're well-blended
5. Working quckly, pour to divide the batter among the molds and immediately steam it over high heat while the batter is still hot for about 25 minutes or till it's all cooked through--don't oversteam it; otherwise, the texture of the pudding will get tough
6. Remove the molds from the steamer and let the pudding cool aside till it is cooled enough to be handled.
   Use toothpick or skewer to pick it out of the molds and serve it at warm or room temperature. Refrigerate any leftover.
   To serve the pudding again, resteam it over high heat for 3-5 minutes or till they're just hot enough.