Chè Sâm Bổ Lượng - Another Vietnamese Chè

This is another of my favorite Viet "sweet soups" (for another fav of mine, check here), I used to buy it from a store/shop near both my house and school. It's very very nice on a warm day being a cold chè. Now that I think about it, my grandmother can cook a lot of dishes well but she rarely make any attempts at chè, our family almost always buy these sweet treats, odd! Maybe I can convince her to make some this summer, or maybe if I feel like it, I might even show her that I'm not so terrible in the kitchen. To her credit, my grandmother, unlike most women her generation, never ever used that phrase "you are a girl, you should learn to cook blah blah blah" on me when I was living at home.

Back to the task at hand, this dessert is easy to make. Honestly, I don't know if I missed out anything. I think I managed to get hold of all the ingredients that the store near my house uses but I'm sure there are other variants. A friend said I should put up photos of the ingredients and/or photos taken along the cooking process too but 1)I tend to forget my camera until I'm done cooking, and 2)my kitchen isn't so photo-worthy. But this time, since most of the ingredients are dry, it was easy for me to take some photos so here you are:

The list of ingredients goes from top left to bottom right of the photo above. Apart from barley and brown sugar, you may find the rest at any chinatown's grocery store.

INGREDIENTS:
Make about 5-6 servings

2oz dried longans, soaked in water for 15min
12 (or more, to your preference) black dates, soaked in water for 15min
1/2 cup brown sugar
Shredded kelp/seaweed
2oz barley, soaked for 15min
*2oz dried lotus seeds, soaked in warm water for an hour or so

*If you want this dessert on a lazy day, you might want to use canned cooked lotus seeds but consume preservatives at your own risks ;)

METHOD:
You can make everything in one pot if you know how long each ingredient is going to take so you can plan for everything to be cooked just right once it's done. However, since it was my first attempt, I cooked lotus seeds and barley separately.

Cook barley till al dente. Remove the stems inside the lotus seeds before cooking them until al dente. Drain both.

In a pot, cook the sugar in 5 cups of water until the sugar has dissolved completely. Add dates, longans, cooked lotus seeds, and barley to the syrup, cook until barley and lotus seeds are tender, about another 5 min. Turn off the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Rinse the fresh kelp well, cook it in boiling water for about 2 min. Immediately dunk the kelp in a bowl of iced water to quench the cooking process. Overcooking the kelp will result in a mushy-and-certainly-unappetizing mess. Cut into 1.5in strips. Add these strips to the mixture once it has cooled. Chill the dessert in a fridge and serve with ice cubes.

Chocolate Ganache Tart

Have you ever ordered a cake for dessert and ended up liking the chocolate ganache/frosting much more than the cake itself? Or a chocolate ganache for dessert and the portion was too small to satisfy your chocoholic self? I have. So I decided to try making this at home but eating the whole 9in portion by myself would more likely be a heart attack in the making than a dessert. Lucky me, my friend's birthday was approaching so I decided that would be her birthday "cake". Well, it wasn't a typical birthday cake but I don't think she complained, or maybe I was too busy enjoying my portion to hear ;)

Let's see. I would describe this as a smooth chocolate bar with a crunchy crust. Even better, the crust is super easy even I could make it. So I think it's a great thing for you to bring to the next party full of chocolate lovers that you are invited to, if you run out of ideas.

(Please excuse my lack of plating ideas!)

Without further ado, here is the recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
For the crust:
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
3 Tsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract (or seeds from a vanilla bean if you are feeling fancy)

For the filling:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 Tsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces for easy melting
1 cup whipping cream
3 Tsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt

METHOD:

In a medium bowl, combine butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Stir until even. Add in the flour and stir until combined and a soft dough is formed.

Spread the dough over the bottom of a 9-in round tart pan with removable bottom. Press the dough evenly onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30min. Be careful while moving the pan. I forgot the bottom was removable on my first try and had to re-press the dough but it didn't take that long.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF, position a rack in the middle. Take the shell out, prick evenly with a fork (you don't want air destroying your beautifully made shell, do you?) and then bake until golden brown.

Remove the pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Place chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Combine the cream, salt, and sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat and stir until sugar has completely dissolved and the liquid is just about to simmer.

Pour the liquid over the chocolate and butter and let it sit until the chocolate and butter have melted, ~4min. Gently stir until smooth. Practice self-control, don't pick up a spoon and eat this all up. Tell yourself the end result is very much worth waiting for ;)

Pour ganache over the cool tart shelf, smooth the surface with a spatula and transfer to a refrigerator to chill until set, about 1.5h.

Cut and serve!