Steamed Pear with Rock Sugar 冰糖燉水梨

An Asian old recipe with the purpose of soothing coughing and dry throat. But no worries, I'm totally fine here. It's just that my dad gave me three pears and I need to figure something to finish them all. Eating the pears straight up is fine, just want to give it a twist, derailing from the usual. 

Steamed pear with rock sugar -

Ingredients?

• 1 pear
• 2 1/2 cups water
• Some rock sugar
• Some chuan bei mu (optional)

How?

So eating the pear while still hot supposed to help with coughing, but pay extra attention here, dry coughing, not the wet kind based on Chinese medicine. It helps with the kind of  cough that usually caused by dryness, not the kind with phlegm.

Steam the whole pear with skin on works the best. I personally prefer the texture without the skin, so I peeled it still, but laid down the peeled skin on the bottom of the bowl. That way, at least the juice released get to steam together with the pear skin.

After peeling, slice and trim the bottom so the pear can stand upright and not rolling around or tilting. Also slice the very top section to make a lid. Use a small knife or a spoon to scoop out the center core. No need to scoop all the way down, more like making a hole in the center.

Add rock sugar to the center, fill all the way up or use less depending on personal preference. Then put the lid back on.

Peeled skin on the bottom. 

Use about 2 1/2 cups of water for the steaming pot and steam till all the rock sugar has been dissolved. Towards the end, maybe push the lid aside and continue to cook with residual heat for a little longer. The pear should be spoon tender. Eat when it's still hot.

Upgraded version, add some chuan bei mu to the bowl and steam together for extra effectiveness. This recipe has been around for a long time, if dry coughing is bothering you, perhaps give it a try?