Hongtang bingfen, brown sugar ice jelly with rice cake and nuts

Mix 10 g powdered clear grass jelly with 125 ml water and set aside.

Bring 625 ml water to a boil in a saucepan, pour in the jelly slurry off the heat and mix well.

Pour into a heatproof container, cool to roughly room temperature, then refrigerate at least four hours or overnight.

Traditional route: tie 50 g shoofly seeds in a cloth, not too tightly.

Dip the bag in 1.25 litres of bottled water and soak ten minutes, until jelly oozes out when squeezed.

Scrub the bag in the water as if washing laundry by hand, 8 to 10 minutes, until the bag is no longer slimy, extracting the pectin from the seeds.

In a separate bowl mix 3 g calcium hydroxide with 250 ml water and let it settle about an hour.

Add only the settled liquid to the jelly water, not the powder at the bottom, then refrigerate at least four hours or overnight.

Cut the rice cakes into about a one centimetre dice.

Blanch the diced rice cake in boiling water about 30 seconds, drop into cool water to stop the cooking and strain thoroughly.

Toss the rice cake with about three tablespoons of toasted soybean powder to coat thoroughly.

Cook the dark brown sugar, rock sugar and water over low heat about ten minutes, until the sugar is fully melted and the syrup has thickened slightly.

Cut the watermelon into one inch cubes; pound the toasted peanuts lightly in a mortar.

To a 250 g bowl of bingfen add two tablespoons rice cake, one tablespoon pounded peanuts, half a tablespoon toasted black sesame seeds, about twelve raisins and a quarter cup watermelon cubes.

Top with five tablespoons of the syrup.