Water chestnut cake

Water chestnut is a corm edible commonly planted in the south of china. It's name describes its properties very well. The shape and the color of the corm looks like a chestnut, but it grows in the shallow water. Inside the brown and smooth skin lies its  white flesh. The people in Canton also called it horse-hoof. I don't know why. When I ate the sliced water-chestnuts in a stir-fried dish in a restaurant, I like them. It is crunchy and has a little bit nutty flavor. It harmonizes well with the other vegetables and meat. My friend told me that the water-chestnut is easy to cook since it holds its crunchiness even after a long-time cooking. The time and temperature are not very important to cook them. That is good for me, who does not have much experience in controlling the cooking time or temperature as a chinese chef usually does. When I was in the north of China, I did not see them on sale in the local grocery store and I never used them in my cooking. Now in the grocery store in the chinatown here in Montreal, I found them. So I bought several back home and prepared them. It is delicious :). You can also put them in the soup, either sweet or salty.  If you do not have time to wash them and peel the skin, you can buy the canned chest-nuts which are already skinned or sliced.  My friend also told me a recipe to make water-chestnut cake using the flour of water chestnut.

It is also a big success. The cake is beautiful with its amazingly translucent character. It is soft, smooth like the jelly. It hold very-well its shpae. I like its nutty flavor. No wonder, the cake is indispensable for the Hongkong or Canton residents during the Spring festival.