Chinese Bing Tang Xue Li: Steamed Snow Pear with Rock Sugar, Goji Berries and Ginger

Rinse the goji berries and jujubes and soak them in warm water for 10 minutes, then drain.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 Asian snow pears (or Bosc or Anjou pears), washed
• 3 tablespoons yellow rock sugar (bing tang), lightly crushed
• 1 tablespoon dried goji berries
• 2 thin slices fresh ginger
• 4 dried red jujube dates, pitted (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried tangerine peel or a small strip of fresh orange zest (optional)
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 teaspoon honey, to finish (optional)

Instructions

1. Rinse the goji berries and jujubes and soak them in warm water for 10 minutes, then drain.
2. Slice the top 1/2 inch off each pear to make a lid. With a small spoon or melon baller, scoop out the core and seeds from the top, leaving a cavity and keeping the pear whole.
3. Set each pear upright in a small heatproof bowl. Fill the cavities with the rock sugar, goji berries, jujubes and a slice of ginger, dividing evenly. Tuck in the tangerine peel if using.
4. Pour the hot water into the bowls around the pears, about 1/2 cup each. Replace the pear lids.
5. Place the bowls in a steamer over boiling water, cover, and steam for 40 to 50 minutes until the pears are translucent and tender when pierced and the liquid has turned into a light golden syrup.
6. Let cool for 5 minutes. Stir a little honey into the broth if you like it sweeter.
7. Serve warm in the bowl, drinking the sweet broth and eating the soft pear with a spoon.
8. Bing tang xue li is a classic of Chinese home remedies, the drink a grandmother makes when autumn's dry air brings a scratchy throat and the first chill of the season. In traditional Chinese thinking, pear is cooling and moistening to the lungs, rock sugar soothes, ginger warms, and goji berries nourish, so the bowl is as much tonic as dessert. Snow pears, with their crisp pale flesh, come into season in early autumn across northern China. Served warm with its gentle sweet broth, it is a soothing drink to end a cool evening without a drop of alcohol.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 165 kcal
• Protein: 1g
• Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 42g
• Fiber: 5g
• Sugar: 33g
• Sodium: 5mg