Cosmic Diet Slimming Diary: Recipes for Pumpkin Pancakes, Hot and Sour Vegetable Dumplings, and Papaya Stew in a Single Pot, along with Yi Xing's Slimming Experience

Pumpkin flatbread

"The Lunar New Year is torture for me, a 'cosmic being,' because I can't even touch my favorite rice cake! Once I really wanted to eat it, so I made this pumpkin pancake. It turned out to be very delicious, both healthy and tasty, with a texture similar to rice cake but with a strong pumpkin flavor. Most importantly, the ingredients are easy to buy, so I can cook it myself anytime I want rice cake as a substitute."

· Material·

300g pumpkin, 80g glutinous rice flour, 50g wheat starch (gluten-free flour), 30g sugar, appropriate amount of lotus seed paste, 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

Method

1. Peel and deseed the pumpkin, cut it into small pieces, steam it for 20 minutes, mash it into a puree, put it in a large bowl and let it cool.

2. Add glutinous rice flour, wheat starch, and sugar to the pumpkin puree and stir to form a pumpkin dough. Steam over medium heat for 10 minutes, then let cool.

3. Divide the pumpkin dough into 8 small portions, wrap each portion with lotus seed paste, shape into balls and flatten slightly.

4. Heat grapeseed oil in a pan over medium heat and fry the pumpkin pancakes on both sides until golden brown.

Hot and Sour Soup with Vegetable Dumplings

"Dr. Angel once said, 'Most frozen dumplings contain preservatives and should not be eaten.' So if you want to eat dumplings, you have to make them yourself. I like to make a lot of dumplings, not just boiled dumplings, but also steamed dumplings and pan-fried dumplings. When you get tired of boiled dumplings, you can change the method slightly to make crispy and delicious pan-fried dumplings. Pan-fried dumplings are fragrant and delicious, and my mother loves them."

· Material·

5 shiitake mushrooms, 50g wood ear mushrooms, 250g chives, 20g corn kernels, 500g dumpling wrappers, 1 packet of fat-burning hot and sour soup, and appropriate amount of cornstarch.

Seasonings

1 teaspoon each of salt and seasoning powder

Method

1. Soak shiitake mushrooms until soft, remove stems and dice; soak wood ear mushrooms until soft and dice; dice chives. Marinate all ingredients with seasonings for about 15 minutes.

2. Place an appropriate amount of filling on each wrapper, seal with cornstarch water, pinch into dumplings, and steam over medium heat for 10 minutes.

3. Place cooked dumplings in a soup bowl and pour in the prepared fat-burning hot and sour soup.

Papaya stewed in a clay pot

"I also know a little about sweet soups, but I usually make Chinese-style sweet soups because they have higher medicinal value, unlike Western cakes which are all sweetened. This stewed papaya is very moisturizing and has just the right amount of sweetness. After eating it in autumn and winter, your skin will feel as smooth as if it has been thoroughly hydrated. If you don't want the hassle of using a whole papaya, you can put all the ingredients in a stewing pot and steam it over water. It will taste just as good."

Ingredients: 1 papaya, rock sugar, white fungus, red dates, longan, and hot water (all in appropriate amounts)

Method

1. Wash the papaya, cut off the top to use as a lid, remove the seeds from the remaining part, and then remove some of the flesh to make a papaya cup for later use.

2. Soak the red dates and longan in water until soft; soak the white fungus until softened, trim it, and tear it into small pieces.

3. Place all ingredients into the papaya bowl, cover with the papaya lid, place the whole bowl in a soup pot, and steam over low heat for 1 hour.

Salmon head soup

· Material·

1 salmon head, 1 carrot, 3 tomatoes, 2 slices of ginger, 8 bowls of water, 1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil

Seasonings

1 teaspoon each of salt and seasoning powder

Method

1. Clean the fish head. Peel and chop the carrot; cut the tomato into small pieces.

2. Heat grapeseed oil in a pan over medium heat, sauté ginger slices until fragrant, then add fish head and lightly fry both sides.

3. Pour water into a pot and bring it to a boil. Add the fish head and carrots. Once the fish head soup boils again, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Add tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes, then season with salt and seasoning powder.

Mushroom Strips, a Fujian Snack

· Material·

300g glutinous rice flour, 100g rice flour, 20g peanuts, 100g sugar, 300ml warm water, 1 square mold

Method

1. Sift the glutinous rice flour and rice flour together in a large bowl, add warm water, peanuts and sugar, and stir to form a dough.

2. Place the dough in a mold and let it solidify into a long strip. Then cut it into strips of different lengths. Steam over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Pan-fried taro cakes

· Material·

250g taro, 1 onion, 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

Seasonings

1 teaspoon each of salt, seasoning powder, and cornstarch

Method

1. Peel the taro and shred it into thin strips; dice the onion and place it in a large bowl for later use.

2. Mix all ingredients and seasonings together and roll into a round cake the size of your palm.

3. Heat grapeseed oil in a pan over medium heat and fry the taro cakes on both sides until golden brown.

Cosmic Corn Soup

· Material·

5 shiitake mushrooms, 50g wood ear mushrooms, 1 pack of enoki mushrooms, 20g corn kernels, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 slice of ginger, 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil, 6 bowls of water

Seasonings

1 teaspoon each of salt, seasoning powder, and black vinegar

Method

1. Soak shiitake mushrooms until soft, remove stems and slice into strips; soak wood ear mushrooms until soft and slice into strips; cut off the roots of enoki mushrooms and wash them.

2. Heat grapeseed oil in a pan over medium heat, then sauté the shredded shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms until fragrant. Set aside.

3. Pour water into a pot and bring it to a boil. Add all the ingredients and simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

4. Once the soup has boiled again, thicken it with cornstarch to the desired consistency, then season with salt and seasoning powder.

5. Season with black vinegar when serving the soup and enjoy it while it's hot.

Yixing's "Slimming Tips for Handsome Men"

Wang Yixing graduated from the Department of Chinese at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is the youngest recipient of the Hong Kong Biennial Award for Chinese Literature, a screenwriter for the popular radio dramas "Eight Princes" and "Loyal and Filial Road" on CRHK 903, a planner and host of the television programs "The Most Important Thing is Correct Characters" and "Hong Kong Notes," the author of the spin-off novel "The Ravages of Time," and the founder of the literary creation organization "Cult.1+1." He underwent a three-month treatment program, combined with the "Tang Anqi Universe Diet," and lost more than two sizes in just three months, becoming increasingly masculine.

Before

Losing weight is a lifelong, passionate battle.

In my life, I have tried to lose weight four times in total.

The first time was when I was thirteen or fourteen. My grandmother spoiled me too much when I was little. She thought that being chubby and cute was a blessing. Every night, under her delicious late-night snacks and soda offensive, I became a "Michelin Man" whose stomach could be divided into three sections.

Later, after experiencing his first unrequited love, he made a painful decision: he played soccer in his school uniform in the sweltering heat of over 30 degrees Celsius and didn't eat three meals a day for more than a month, finally succeeding in transforming himself from a "pig" into a human.

The second time was when I was twenty-four or twenty-five. I didn't initially think I was fat, but like most Hong Kong guys, I loved meat, was a huge glutton, hated vegetables, often drank alcohol, liked to eat late-night snacks before bed, and lacked exercise (my only free time was spent playing video games, which involved hand movements). Gradually, I started to swell, and my belly began to reappear. Initially, like other guys, I tried to cover it up with clothes, thinking I could deceive myself. But then, while backpacking through Europe with my girlfriend, swimming in the famous Bay of Angels in Nice, France, surrounded by fit men, I felt ashamed of myself. Then, in a selfie my girlfriend took, I caught a glimpse of a pale, chubby man getting out of the water-that "beer belly man" was me!!!

The most direct reaction is the most honest answer; you can't lie. I had no choice but to admit it and start my second diet.

Relying on their youth and strength, they exercised more, played ball games and worked out, and within a month or two, they transformed from "Michelin Man" into "Muscle Man".

I thought I would stay "slim" forever, but unfortunately, people age, and as I approach thirty, I've started to noticeably feel my metabolism slowing down. Before, even with intestinal worms, I could eat and drink whatever I wanted without gaining weight easily. Now, even without snacking and giving up my favorite potato chips and pork jerky, I gain weight just from breathing. When I was younger, I could easily get six-pack abs with just twenty or thirty sit-ups, but now, even doing a hundred sit-ups with ten-pound dumbbells every night yields no results. The fat between my waists is slowly accumulating into a ring of small blisters, which is discouraging.

I used to never mind letting my girlfriend hug my waist, but now I'm actually starting to mind.

Watching yourself gradually decline is a disheartening experience. It's as if, in the next second, you can already foresee yourself becoming one of those scruffy old men you might see anywhere on the street, clutching a newspaper, sporting a potbelly, reeking of sourness, struggling to breathe like pork floss. The privileges you've always enjoyed, the ones you thought would always be yours, suddenly one day, someone comes along and takes them all away.