日本語のレシピは　ビーガン、ベジタリアン情報満載の　Hachidory から　ご覧下さい。

 

My body is cylindrical and long.

My body is yellow. (Some of my relatives are white and black.)

My body is surrounded by lots of hair and husks.

My body consists with lots of kernels.

I get matured in summer.

I am starchy and sweet.

Who am I ?

Is it too easy for you ?

Yes, I am a corn.

Whenever the summer comes, I say “The sweet corn is my most favorite vegetable as well as the green soy beans!”

I am eating the sweet corn almost every day these days.

My most favorite way of eating it is to bite into the corn cob after steaming it.

There are some other methods that I love to eat.

I introduced  Japanese style corn soup and Japanese style corn rice before, but today I am sharing the Singapore style corn sweets.

 

That is “Hoon Kueh”.

 

 

“Hoon Kueh” is made from mainly mung bean flour and coconut milk. 

When I saw it for the first time in Singapore, I thought how unusual it is to use the corn kernels for the sweets, and I was skeptical if it can taste nice. 

But it turned out to be very yummy.  

The crunchiness of the kernels and the softness of the coconut jelly match in harmony to the contrary of my expectation.   

I bought it whenever I visited the local sweets shop and eventually went to cooking class to learn how to make it.

 

During those days, the canned or packaged coconut milk was not popular at all and whenever I wanted the coconut milk, I went to the wet market and chose the coconut, then the uncle shredded it with the machine. 

When I got back home, I squeezed it to obtain the milk. 

Oh! so nostalgic!  I wish I could do it again!    

 
The canned or packed coconut milk is easily available even in Japan since some time ago, but neither of them can compare with the freshly squeezed one. 

 

I was extremely disappointed when I found that most of the venders selling Singapore dessert were using readymade coconut milk, not the fresh ones anymore when I first visited Singapore for the first time in eight years after I left there for good. 
My most favorite coconut dessert, Bobo Chacha became not “most” anymore since then.

 

The modern manufacturing technology made it possible to cook the tropical food even in Japan and other countries which are far away from Thialand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. 

That’s why I can share Singapore food even in Japan like I do today, so I should thank to this modern technology and vibrant capitalism.

Owing to them, people can easily pick up the coconut milk from the variety selections which are sold cheap, yes, cheap, not reasonably. 

I encountered some articles the coconut is also creating problems ethically and environmentally in the process of harvest, production, manufacturing and marketing like chocolate which is by now widely known by people.

The coffee, bananas, avocado which are all imported from the economically not well off countries are also sold all the year round at low prices in Japan, much cheaper than the Japanese local fruits and tea.  

This encourages young people, young mothers and budget tight people to go for those items. 

Vegans also go for them as they believe those products are not animal derived.

But the fact is that we might be hurting local people as well as animals, and harming the environment by consuming them in a world scale.  

 https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/is-your-obsession-with-coconuts-harming-the-environment/

https://secure.petaasia.com/page/63752/action/1?locale=en-US

I think we need to be more concerned about the food we eat as it is essential not only for our health but also for all the living beings on this planet and for our sustainable happy lives. 

Let’s try to know how the food we eat are made and what impact we are giving to the people and animals behind the production and also to the environment.

I minimize purchasing the items I mentioned earlier, coconut, banana, avocado and coffee. 
As for the coconut and bananas which are my favorite fruits, I eat only during summer and give up rest of the year as I believe that it is the better choice for people and animals around the world, for environment and for my happiness too.

Well, let me share Hoon Kuey recipe now….

I use this coconut milk when I cook tropical food during summer.

The assurance was given to my enquiry from the Japanese supplier who is dealing only fair trade products that it is produced without monkey labor and with their strong support for the farmers.

So if you are not sure which coconut milk is good for you, you can try this one.

Hoon Kueh とうもろこしプリン

I have never seen mung bean flour in Japan so I substitute it with the potato starch and agar agar powder.

 

Ingredients (for 10～12 wraps)

45g potato starch – dilute with 100g water

100g coconut milk

180g water

0.5g agar agar powder

40 granulated beet sugar or organic cane sugar

1/8 tsp salt

60g steamed corn kernels (can be canned or frozen)

10~12 sheets of 15cm x 20cm size banana leaves or parchment paper

 

Procedure

1.   Put coconut milk, water, sugar and agar agar powder in the pot, and heat up stirring constantly.

2.   When the mixture has reached the boiling point, reduce the heat to low, and add diluted potato starch.  Keep stirring for a mew minutes after the mixture became thickened.

 

 

3.   Add corn kernels and mix well.

4.   Place a tablespoon of mixture at the center of the banana leaf (parchment paper), and wrap with the remaining parts of the leaf by folding, top, down, left and right.

 

5.   Rest in the fridge for a few hours.

6.   Open the wraps, take the pudding out to the serving plate.

 

Happy cooking!