Ginseng Leaf Salad with Pomegranate, Orange and Green Thai Mango

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. 

 ~ Mirabel Osler

My mother is the most gifted gardener I know. For as long as I can remember, she never possessed the best-looking nails because of all the muck she plays around with everyday, but as a positive spin-off of that, we always had really nice gardens wherever we lived. Even when there was no garden, like the house we had in Central London where there was only a rooftop area for some pots of greenery...well, she managed to landscape that area to make it pretty somehow. 

French Fridays with Dorie - Citrus Berry Tropical Fruit Terrine

Having sworn off from ever making terrines again after this attempt, I turned around and subsequently saw this recipe on the French Fridays with Dorie cooking list - Citrus Berry Terrine. Great. Not that I dislike eating terrines per se, in fact I could quite easily indulge my sugar addiction with decadent terrines like this chocolate one, made by Mardi of Eat Live Travel Write blog. I'm just not a big fan of the ones fixed in place with gelling agents. I simply don't get the concept of suspending the freshest seasonal ingredients in gelatine or agar, only to be sliced afterwards so we can admire its colors and layers from a cross-sectional view. Could someone explain to me what the fixation with that is, please?

Blood Orange Onde-Onde with Dark Chocolate Filling

won't you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.

won't you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton

When I think of sunny skies and a lightness in the air, I think of onde-onde, a favorite childhood dessert. Made of glutinous rice flour and filled with anything from nuts, sweet bean paste to palm sugar, with a decadent coating of grated coconut, these fresh, round dumplings are for me the epitome of simpler days, of happiness. My mother used to make onde-onde in the traditional pandan (green) flavor, filled with brown palm sugar that just melts in your mouth.  I opted to fill mine with chocolate because it won't be a Foodiva recipe if I didn't sex things up a bit!

I also added blood orange juice into the mix because I figured it would give a pretty, baby pink coloring and a subtle citrus fragrance to the overall dessert. In case you didn't already know it (although I can’t imagine why?), pink, citrus and chocolate go very well together… yes, they do.

The best thing about this dessert is that it can be made within minutes, with no baking involved. You only need to boil the onde-onde balls for about a minute before they are cooked and ready to eat!

The second best thing is what happens as you take a bite out of the soft, chewy onde-onde. Its contents spew out, then you start to feel and taste the sweet, dark chocolate oozing slowly onto your tongue. Sensory-wise, it's right up there fully approved by Dionysus (Greek God of Earthly Delights). Taste-wise, it's pretty good, too. Come on... you get chocolate, peanut, coconut and yes, blood orange flavors in one go! And that's before you even swallow.

Blood Orange Onde-Onde with Dark Chocolate Filling
Ingredients:
1 cup glutinous flour
2/3 cups blood orange juice

200g dark chocolate, chopped into 1/2cm chunks
1 cup dessicated coconut flakes

Method:
1. In a large bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour with blood orange juice and knead lightly to form a dough.
2. Pinch a small piece of the dough (about 1/4 of it) and drop it into a pot of boiling water. When the dough rises up the surface, remove it with a slotted spoon and shake off the excess water. Mix it back into the main dough and knead well to form smooth dough.(Adding cooked to uncooked dough stabilizes the whole dough). Cover the dough and set aside for about 15 minutes.
3. Bring the pot of water to boil again. Pinch a small piece of dough (about a tablespoon) and flatten lightly. Fill the center of the dough with about 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate. Pull the dough up to cover the chocolate, and pinch to seal the dough. Roll in your palm to form a smooth ball and drop about 5-6 glutinous rice balls at a time into the boiling water. When the rice balls float to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and shake off the excess water. I usually tap the spoon on an absorbent paper towel.
4. Coat the rice balls with coconut by rolling them in the flakes. Serve immediately. Also keeps for 2 days, covered, at room temperature.