Of chicken and lotus

After a scorchingly hot morning and afternoon, the sky has gone all dark now, heavy with threats of rain. It's about time for afternoon tea but instead of cakes and a cup of Darjeeling, I had a bowl of sweet lotus seed and logan. It resembles a soup but it's really a dessert. Soup, on the other hand, is what I had earlier for lunch and here is how it was prepared: cut a hole off a coconut, discard the water, stuff in pieces of chicken, dried wolf berries, red dates and other funny looking herbs, pour in the water, cover and double boil for a couple of hours.

Dried lotus seeds before they were cooked into the lovely dessert:


Chicken in a coconut: