Melons are a great way to cool down during the hot summer days. But if eating just plain melons is too boring for you, maybe try something different.

Here I have a good mix of sweet corn, cantaloupes, and black beans. I don’t know what to call it, so I’ll simply call it “Coconut Melons”. This is a popular Asian dessert. In Lao and Thai they call it, “nam wan” which translates to sweet water.

It’s a great way to enjoy what’s in season too. It takes a while to whip up, but it’s worth it and everything is made with really good ingredients. Except for maybe the sugar. Try substituting with honey or agave syrup.

Directions:

Soak 1 cup of black beans overnight. Rinse and cook in a pot until it’s soft. Once it’s cooked you then add 1/2 can of coconut milk and some sugar to your liking. I don’t like it too sweet as the melons and corn are sweet enough.

While that’s cooking, you can cut up 1/2 ripe cantaloupes into small pieces.

Steam about 4 ears of corn and then remove the corn kernel by trimming the corn. You can layer the melon, corn, then beans or just toss it all together.

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Ice cream may be popular in the U.S., but around the world shaved ice is what they prefer to stay cool.

Asian shaved ice is not the same as American snow cones. Besides sweet syrup it also has other toppings including fresh fruits and some are even flavored with tea.

This is a jar of halo-halo which is made of tropical fruits and syrup. I found it to be too sweet. But I guess it’s meant as topping to shaved ice and other ingredients too.

You can find this jar at most Asian grocery stores for $1.50. Product of the Philippines.

Here’s a partial list of shaved ice around the globe:

Hawaiian shave ice
Japan Kakigori
Filipino halo halo
Mexican raspados
Korean bingsu
Taiwanese bao bing
Indian golas and chuskis

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Lately I’ve been on the look out to trying different types of rice, besides the usual brown and white version.

I found Lotus Foods to have a wide selection, from Kalijira rice to Cambodian Mekong Flower Rice.  But I decided to try Bhutanese rice and also China Black Forbidden rice.

Lotus Foods Bhutanese Rice is “an ancient colored-bran short-grain rice grown 8,000 feet in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. Irrigated with 1,000 year old glacier water rich in trace minerals.”

I really like this Bhutan red rice. It has a nutty taste, soft texture and reddish brown color.  It’s almost like the cousin of the brown rice, but tastier. Because it is a short grain rice, I prefer to eat it as dessert.  I’ve drizzled with honey and also tried eating it mixed with steamed kobacha (Japanese pumpkin).  The combination really brings out the nutty taste of both and not too sweet.

More about Lotus Foods: “Lotus Foods was founded with the intent and vision to support sustainable global agriculture by promoting production of traditional heirloom rice varieties, many of which may otherwise have become extinct, while enabling the small family rice farmer to earn an honorable living. Lotus Foods is the only US-based company with the unique vision and commitment to seek out small family rice farmers in developing countries and provide them a means of economic support through access to a global and sustainable marketplace economy. ”

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