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Tatler Asia
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
Soul-warming Asian desserts to cure any rainy-day blues
Tang yuan (China) Above Made from glutinous rice flour, tang yuan delivers the soft, sticky chewy texture beloved across East Asia. These symbolic dumplings embody the Chinese philosophy of family togetherness, their round shape representing wholeness and unity. Made from glutinous rice flour, tang yuan delivers the signature chewy texture beloved across East Asia: soft, sticky and wonderfully satisfying. Bite through the pliable outer layer to release the warm black sesame, red bean or peanut filling. Served in warming ginger broth, this dessert has evolved from a festival speciality to a year-round comfort food. Gajar ka halwa (India) Above Red carrots are simmered into a rich, moist indulgence to create the gajar ka halwa. This North Indian treasure exemplifies the art of slow cooking, where red carrots transform into a rich, moist indulgence over hours of patient simmering. The coarsely grated carrots are slowly cooked in milk until they achieve a dense, pudding-like consistency, then enriched with ghee and fragrant cardamom. Often studded with roasted almonds and pistachios for a delightful crunch, this glossy dessert reflects Mughlai culinary influences while remaining a beloved comfort food. The long cooking process fills homes with irresistible aromas, making the wait truly worthwhile. Bua loy (Thailand) Above Bua loy are small rice balls with that distinctive bouncy, chewy texture of comfort desserts. These 'floating lotuses' bring visual joy to gloomy days with their rainbow of natural colours: vibrant green from pandan, purple from taro, orange from kabocha squash. The small rice balls made from glutinous rice flour offer that distinctive bouncy, chewy texture that defines Southeast Asian comfort desserts. They bob gracefully in warm, velvety coconut milk infused with pandan's vanilla-like fragrance. The delightful contrast between springy dumplings and smooth, creamy sauce creates a comforting experience that's both satisfying and cheerfully bright when skies turn grey. Hobakjuk (Korea) Above The velvety hobakjuk feels like a warm hug in a bowl. This golden-orange porridge represents Korean comfort at its finest: a velvety embrace made from sweet kabocha squash and glutinous rice flour. The naturally sweet pumpkin breaks down into a smooth purée, creating a thick, pudding-like consistency that feels like a warm hug in a bowl. Often served with saealsim (small chewy rice cake balls) and cooked red beans for textural contrast, hobakjuk bridges the gap between food and medicine. Traditionally given to recovering patients and new mothers, this substantial porridge offers both nourishment and comfort. Che chuoi (Vietnam) Above Che chuoi features cooked bananas, coconut cream and chewy tapioca pearls. This tropical dessert soup transforms rainy days into a moment of warmth and comfort, with its mix of textures. Tender cooked bananas—preferably firm varieties like chuoi xiem that hold their shape—float in rich coconut cream alongside chewy tapioca pearls. The result is simultaneously soft, creamy and gelatinous, often finished with crushed roasted peanuts for a welcome crunch. Part of Vietnam's extensive che dessert family, this warm, soupy treat offers an introduction to Vietnamese comfort food. Hong dou tang (China) Above The hong dou tang is sweetened with rock sugar and enhanced with dried tangerine peel's citrus fragrance. The soul of this classic Cantonese dessert lies in its elegant simplicity—tender adzuki beans slowly simmered until soft and infused with earthy sweetness. The texture varies from thin, brothy soup with whole beans to a heartier, partially mashed consistency. Sweetened with rock sugar and often enhanced with dried tangerine peel's citrus fragrance, this tong sui (sugar water) dessert embodies Traditional Chinese Medicine principles. Whether served warm in winter or chilled in summer, it offers comfort and a connection to home. Credits This article was created with the assistance of AI tools
Spectator
28-05-2025
- General
- Spectator
It's time to reclaim tapioca pudding
'Nothing will surely ever taste so hateful as nursery tapioca,' wrote Elizabeth David. She's not alone in her hatred of the stuff: tapioca pudding has become a shorthand for those childhood dishes we look back on with horror. It's exactly those dishes that I'm trying to restore to their former glory – if such a glory ever existed. In fact, the first recipe I wrote in these pages was about blancmange, an attempt to persuade readers that that school dinner staple was worth a revisit. From there, rice pudding was a similar challenge and made way for jam roly-poly, spotted dick and cornflake tart. Though I've had tapioca pudding on my dish list for some time, I haven't been brave enough to give it a go. You see, there are always rice-pudding naysayers and spotted-dick sniggerers, but there are equally evangelists of those same puddings. I'm not sure the same can be said of tapioca: it was pretty much universally loathed. Can tapioca be rehabilitated? There is hope: other cultures don't have the same problem with the texture of tapioca. Che chuoi is a Vietnamese pudding made with tapioca cooked in coconut milk and served with banana; tambo-tambo is a Filipino tapioca dessert also made with coconut milk, but served with mango. A classic Cantonese treatment of tapioca is to cook it into a custard and then bake it under a pineapple bun-style pastry crust. In Britain, tapioca sits in the class of milk puddings – rice pudding, semolina, arrowroot pudding, macaroni pudding – all of which are simmered in sweet milk until soft, thickening the milk around them.
