Guiling Gao/Black Herbal Jelly Recipes

This herbal jelly also known as Guilin Gao is made of Chinese herbs. It has been treated as medication in the ancient time in China. It's also said to help nourish our yin and clear body heat, while cleansing the body blood of toxins, help improves or cures skin disorder, improving the metabolism rate, relieving cough. I am not sure how true this is but I like it a lot especially the refreshing and slightly bitter taste and the cooling effect. Now this herbal jelly has become a popular dessert and it is usually serve with sugar syrup or honey.

Ingredients:

3 packet/30 gram of the guiling gao powder
½ cup cold water
800 ml boiling water
Some sugar/honey syrup

1. Dissolve the powder into the cold water. Stir well. Pour the boiling water into jelly mixture and stir well. You will notice it will starts to get thicker.
2. Pour it into small serving bowl and let it cool. Once it is cool leave it to chill in the fridge.
3. Serve with sugar syrup or some honey.

Cendol Jelly/Agar Agar Cendol Recipes

Our Malaysian ladies gathering were having steamboat for lunch this month. Since it will be a hot meal I wanted to make something cooling for our dessert. It has been a while since I made any jelly so I decided to make some cendol jelly. Cendol is a street food dessert and its base flavors are coconut and palm sugar and of course the funky looking green strips of cendol. In Malaysian we are able to buy the readymade cendol from the wet market or supermarket but over here I can’t find any so I have to make it from scratch. For the cendol recipe you can refer to my previous posting here. The texture of this agar agar is great. Not too firm or overly sweet and with great flavor of the palm sugar and coconut milk. This recipe is adapted from Wendy’s blog with very minor changes in the ingredients and method of preparing it .

Ingredients for the bottom layer

750 ml water
150 - 170 grm sugar (depend on how sweet you like)
250 grm cendol
12.5 grm agar agar powder
2 pandan leaves – tie into knot
250 ml thick coconut milk
15 grm cornstarch
½ tsp salt

1. Mix the coconut milk, cornstarch, salt and set it aside. In a heavy sauce mix the water, pandan leaves and agar agar powder. Bring it up to boil. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for 2 minutes or until the agar agar powder dissolve. Add in the sugar. Stir until sugar dissolve.
2. Add in the coconut milk mixture and bring it up to boil. Remove from heat and pour it into a tray or any type of mould of your choice. Let the agar agar cool down for 5 minutes before sprinkle the cendol in (this way the cendol will sink to the bottom)
3. Prepare the top layer while waiting for the bottom layer to set.

Ingredients for the top layer

750 ml water
225 grm palm sugar – cut into small pieces
12.5 grm agar agar powder
2 pandan leaves – tie into a knot
250 grm thick coconut milk
½ tsp salt

1. Mix the salt into the coconut milk and set it aside. In a heavy saucepan bring the water, pandan leaves and agar agar powder to boil. Let it boil for 2 minutes or until agar agar powder dissolve.
2. Add in the palm sugar and continue to stir until sugar dissolve. Add in the coconut milk. Bring it up to boil again and turn off the heat.
3. When the bottom layer is almost set, slowly pour mixture through a sieve (there might be unwanted stuff in the palm sugar) to the bottom layer. Take care not to break through the surface of the bottom layer.
4. Chill the jelly in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight before serving.

Note: If the bottom layer is set, scratch the surface with a fork before pouring in the top layer mixture. My cendol is kind of light in color so  you can't see it too well at the bottom layer of the jelly.

I am submitting this Agar Agar Cendol to Muhibbah Malaysia Monday

For more details please refer here

Milk Pudding Recipes

We are experiencing some severe heat wave here on the East Coast and the temperature sore up to upper 90’s and someday over 100 degree for the past few weeks. In the weather like this I tried to lay off cooking and baking as much as possible and all I want is to drink and eat something cooling and sweet. This milk pudding is such a nice treat for all of us in this scorching heat . No relief in sight yet. Crazy it may sound but I wish it is winter now :)

Ingredients:

600 ml water
120 gram sugar
8 gram agar agar powder
3 pandan leaves
300 ml milk
200 ml coconut milk
A few drop of pandan paste

1. In a medium size saucepan bring the water, agar agar power and pandan leaves to boil. Let it boil for 3 minute until agar agar power.
2. Add in sugar; continue to stir until sugar dissolved. Lastly pour in the milk and coconut milk. Turn down the heat and bring the mixture to a slow simmer. Turn off the heat and remove the pandan leaves.
3. Remove ¾ of the mixture and add in a small drop of pandan paste. Pour into prepared pan or mould. Let it set before pouring the balance of the agar agar (white portion) mixture on top. Let it set and serve cold.

Baked Ginger Milk Custard Recipes

When I saw the Ginger Milk Curd at Wendy’s blog I knew I just have to try it out. The 1st attempt I fail miserably. The milk didn’t curd at all. I thought I did something wrong as I didn’t use the thermometer to check the temperature of the milk. I decided to try it again right away. This time with the thermometer in hand and making sure the temperature of the milk is just right before pouring it into the ginger juice. The milk did form a light curd on top and that was it. The bottom was till very watery. I am not sure what I did wrong and I have to do more research on this before trying out again. It might have something to do with the milk. So what am I going to do with all the ginger milk?



Knowing me I won’t throw it away. So I decided to make something else out of it. It is either crème brulee or baked custard. As for crème brulee it needs a lot of heavy cream and egg yolks. So I decided to do the lighter version of custard. With one failure I create another wonderful dessert. This custard has a light ginger flavor and it compliments really well with our 4th of July BBQ.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups milk
½ cup heavy cream
3-4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp ginger juice
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs
2 egg yolks

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Adjust oven rack to center position. Lightly butter 6 small ramekins. I used two large and 2 small ones
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the milk and heavy cream to a slow simmer. Remove from heat and set it aside for 5 minutes. Boil some hot water.
3. In a bowl, combine egg, sugar, ginger juice, and salt; beat until sugar is dissolved. Mix in hot milk mixture, a little at a time, until well mixed.
4. Pour the custard into the ramekins. Put the ramekins into a larger baking pan. Carefully pour hot water into the baking pan to come half-way up the sides of the custard ramekins.
5. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until set around the edges and the center jiggle a little when shaken. Remove from oven and immediately remove the ramekins from the water bath. Let it cool completely on a cooling rack before serving.


Note: The cooking time will depend largely on the size of the custard cups but begin checking on it at 20 minutes and check back regularly.

Black and White Jelly Recipes

Summer is just around the corner and we are having over 90’s degree temperature. Man, it is warm. I just hide inside the house most of the time and if I need to go out to run errand I will go out really early and be back home by noon. Even though I grew up in a tropical country but I still can’t stand the heat. I will stay indoor in an A/C room most of the time. In the heat like this it is nice to have something cooling like grass jelly. In Malaysia we usually eat this type of grass jelly with syrup or mix it with soy bean milk. I made this little cute dessert with both the grass jelly and soy bean milk.

Ingredients:

15 grm of agar agar powder
1000 ml unsweetened soy bean milk
¾ cup sugar ( more if you like it sweeter )
1 can/500 grm grass jelly (cut into small cubes or roughly grated into long strand)
3 pandan leaves


Grass Jelly
1. In a saucepan, bring soy bean milk, agar agar powder and pandan leaves to a slow boil. Make sure you stir the mixture all the time until the agar agar dissolves.
2. Remove the pandan leaves and add in the sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Taste and see if you like the amount of sweetness.
3. Add in the grass jelly. Pour the mixture in a tray or jelly mould of your choice. Chilled until firm before serving.

Mango Panna Cotta Recipes

Spring is here and we are enjoying some very nice warm weather here. So it is time to make some refreshing dessert. Mango is abundance at our produce market and it cost only $1.00 each. Being one of my favorite fruits I like eating it as it is or make it into dessert. This dessert is easy to make and has a light, velvety texture. Mango adds a stunning color and exotic flavor to it.

Ingredient:

7 grm gelatin (1 packet) + 3 tbsp of water
2 ½ cups full cream milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 ripe mango – cut into small cubes or puree

1. Mix the gelatin and water together and set it aside to bloom.
2. Put the milk and sugar in a saucepan, cook over low medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the saucepan.
3. Remove from heat and add in the vanilla and stir in the gelatin. Stir until the gelatin dissolved.
4. Pour the mixture into six ramekins or cups. At this stage you can add in some cut mango and refrigerate until set or you can serve it with some mango puree.

Dragon Fruit Jelly Recipes

We bought some Red Dragon Fruits when we visited the Dragon Fruits Farm at Tanjung Sepat the other day. Besides eating it fresh you can even make dessert like Jelly, mooncakes and cakes out of it. Dragon Fruits is also known as Pittaya is commonly found in SEA especially Vietnam and Malaysia.

It is actually the fruit from a cactus plant and it has a bright red skin. There are two varieties of it. There is the white flesh variety and the other being the red flesh variety. .Both comes with tiny edible seeds like the kiwis. I made some jelly with the leftovers dragon fruits. The weather here in KL is so warm and humid and it is such a nice treat digging into these little refreshing jellies.



Ingredients:

12 grams agar-agar powder (a packet)
100 gram sugar (more if you like it sweeter)
600 ml water
200 ml coconut milk
1 cup of dragon fruit puree (the red variety)
3 pieces pandan leaves

1. Put the water, agar agar powder and pandan leaves in a pot and bring it up to a boil. Cook until the agar agar powder dissolved.
2. Lower down the heat and add in the coconut milk, sugar and dragon fruit puree. Bring it up to boil and turn off the heat. Taste and see if you like the sweetness. Add more sugar if you like it sweeter. Remove the pandan leaves.
3. Pour the mixture in a baking tray or mould of your choice. Chilled until firm before serving.

Note: Do take care when you handle the fruits as the red colored flesh will stain your clothing and hand.

Fresh Berries Panna Cotta Recipes

This is a great dessert for summer especially when the weather get really warm. Panna Cotta is such an easy dessert to make. Normally Panna Cotta is made with full cream milk and heavy cream but I made it with 1% fat milk and also half and half. I served these Panna Cotta with some freshly blend strawberries and raspberries sauce.

For the cream layer

2 tsp of gelatin powder
2 tablespoons water
1 3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup half and half or cream
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup sugar

For the berries layer

1 cup strawberry
1 cup raspberry
1 tbsp sugar

1. To make the berries layer, puree strawberry, raspberry and sugar in a food processor. Put the puree berries through a strainer to remove all the seeds.
2. Divide the puree berries evenly among the serving glasses. Put the glasses in the freezer for it to set.
3. In a small bowl, mix the water and gelatin. Set it aside to bloom. In a medium saucepan, heat up the milk and sugar in medium heat. Bring it up to a slow boil and remove from heat.
4. Add in the gelatin, stir until the gelatin dissolved into the milk. Add in the half and half or cream and vanilla. Stir well and set it aside to cool.
5. Once the milk mixture is cooled, slowly pour it over the frozen berries and let set in the fridge for at least a few hours or until it's set. Serve cold.

Soybean Milk Jelly Recipes

When I first saw this recipe at Élin’s blog I know I just have to try it. I love drinking soy milk and making dessert out of it sounds really good to me. I used Silk Light soy milk for this dessert so didn’t turn out as creamy as I wanted it to be but nevertheless it still taste great. Do check out Elin’s blog as she has great recipes there.

Ingredients:

(A)
2000ml unsweetened soybean milk
¾ cup of sugar
3 screwpine (pandan) leaves – tie into a knot

(B)
1 tsp of agar-agar powder ( I used 2 tsp)
Some fresh fruits - optional

1. Boil the above (A) together in a pot under low heat till the sugar has dissolved and the aroma of screwpine leaves filled the air. Add in the agar-agar powder and stir till it has dissolved into the soybean milk.
2. Turn off the fire and pour into ramekins , add in diced fruits (optional) and leave it to cool.
3. Leave it in the fridge till it has totally set, it will normally take 3 - 4 hours to set. Tilt the ramekin; if no runny liquid seeps out, then it has set though it has a wobbly texture.

Note: I used 2 tsp of agar agar powder as I like firmer jelly.

Coffee and Coconut Milk Jelly (Agar-Agar) Recipes

Agar agar or jelly is a refreshing dessert to end a perfect meal. This time I did a coffee and coconut flavor but you can add any flavor or color you like. I know it takes a bit of time to do it layer by layer but the end result is beautiful. Who can resist a dessert like that ;) You can read more about agar-agar at Wikipedia

Ingredients for coffee layer :

2 tbsp of agar agar powder
1 tbsp of instant coffee + 2 tbsp of warm water
1/2 cup of sugar
5 cups of water

White layer :

1 tbsp of agar agar powder
1 1/2 cup of water
1 cup of coconut milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp of salt


1. Mix the instant coffee with warm water and set aside.
2. For the coffee layer mix agar-agar powder with water bring to the boil over medium heat in a saucepan. Stir continuously until all the agar-agar dissolves, then add sugar Continue boiling until the sugar, add mixed coffee, stir well, and then turn the heat to the lowest.
3. For the coconut cream layer mix water and agar-agar powder together, bring to the boil over medium heat. Boil until the agar-agar dissolves, and then add coconut milk, sugar and salt together. Stir regularly to prevent the coconut cream separating. Being to slow boil until the mixture dissolve completely, turn down the heat to the lowest.
4. Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoonful of the coffee mixture into each mold, leave to set. Scratch the surface lightly with a fork and then spoon the same amount of the coconut mixture over and leave to set. Continue with this process until each mold is full. Leave to completely cool before remove from the mold.


Similar desserts : Rainbow Jelly , Sago Pearl Pudding

Note : Since the layer is so thin it will set in 2-3 minutes.

Mix Fruits with Grass Jelly Recipes

Let start off the New Year with something simple and sweet. Even though the weather is cold we still like to have something icy cold after dinner. I made this with Diana using the little ice-shaving machine. It was really hard to shave the ice with that little machine and we finally gave up and just put some ice cubes in the dessert. This type of dessert is something my family likes to prepare for family gatherings. For Chinese New Year we always add in some glutinous rice balls to it.

Ingredients :

1 can of black grass jelly - cut into little cubes
1/2 can of lychee
1/2 can of longan
1/2 can of sea coconut
some fresh strawberries - cut small
some fresh kiwis - cut small
juice of 2 lemon
some syrup from the lychee and logan
(amount of syrup depend on the sweetness you want you like)
Some ice cubes or shave ice

Mix all the above ingredients together in a big mixing bowl and serve cold.


Note : You can get the can lychee, logan, grass jelly and sea coconut from the Asian Store.

Rainbow Jelly (Agar-Agar) Recipes

The weather here is really unbearable. Temperatures were around 93 degree and with 60 % humidity but we actually did some BBQ yesterday. Crazy isn't it. Carlos only cranks up the grill around 7.30pm. Diana posted some pictures of the BBQ at her blog so do go and check it out. I will post the satay recipe here soon.

After all the grill food we just wanted something cold and sweet the next day. I saw this beautiful agar agar at Lily's blog and decided to try it out. It turns out so beautifully and I actually can't bring myself to cut into it but I have to as I wanted to take some pictures and share it with you ;) Here is her recipe :

The Transparent Layer:
2 tbsp agar agar powder
1200 ml water
200 gm castor sugar
2 pandan leaves
Colorings - any color of your choice

The Coconut Milk Layer:
2 tbsp agar agar powder
400 ml concentrated coconut milk
800 ml water
200 gm of sugar
2 pandan leaves
1/2 tsp salt

1. Boil the ingredients for the transparent layer except colorings till dissolved. Sieve mixture and return to pot. Leave it on the stove on the lowest heat or doubleboil to keep the mixture warm until the coconut layer is ready for assembling. Remove the pandan leaves
2. Boil the agar agar, sugar and water for the coconut layer till dissolved, then add in coconut milk and salt. Sieve mixture and return to pot. Leave it on very low heat . Remove the pandan leaves.

To Assemble :

1. Measure about 250 ml of transparent agar agar and colour it with the color your choice. Leave it to harden slightly(not too hard if not the jelly will not stick together. If too hard, just use a fork to lightly scratch the surface before adding the next layer.)
2. The second layer will be 250 ml of the coconut milk agar agar. Leave to harden slightly
3. Do the same alternating between the transparent layer and the coconut milk layer until all the agar agar have been used up.
4. Leave the whole jelly to cool down before refrigerating it for at least a few hours. Serve cold.

Note : I added some pandan leaves to boil with the agar agar and I reduce the amount of sugar.

Another recipe similar to this : Sago Pearl Pudding

Chocolate & Corn Agar Agar Recipes

I am back!! Thank you everyone for your warm Birthday wishes. Carlos and I had a good time in CA. Came home early this morning and it was a tiring trip. It was really warm in CA and I got myself a good tan. In this hot and humid weather it is nice to have this cool and refreshing agar agar. I actually made this when we were having the heatwaves and finally get to post it now.

Ingredients :

1 packet (7 grm) of Swallow Brand white agar agar powder
600 ml of water
1 cup of low fat milk
1/2 cup of sugar (more if you want it sweeter)
2 tbsp of coco powder
1/2 can cream corn (4 oz)

1) In a pot, bring the water, sugar and agar agar powder to a boil over medium heat. Continue to stir until agar agar powder dissolved. Add in milk and bring it up to boil again.
2) Divide mixture to half. One part add in the coco powder and stir until well combined and the other part with corn. Keep the corn part warm over low heat.
3) Strain the coco part into a wet mould and let it set in the refrigerator. Once it's set scratch the surface with a fork and then pour the corn mixture on top.
4) Chill and let it set completely before cutting into it. Serve cold.

Note : You can replace the milk with coconut milk.

Sago Pearl Pudding Delicious Recipes

I made this dessert for our CNY gathering last week.

Ingredients :

20 grm of agar agar powder
1000 ml water
300 grm of sugar
3 pandan leaves
100 grm of sago (soaked for 2 hours)
250 ml of thick coconut milk
A few drop of green/red/purple coloring

Method :

1) Cook sago until transparent and rinse under cold water. Divide sago into 6 portions. Add purple, red and green coloring into each portion. The other 3 portions remain white.
2) Boil agar-agar powder with water, pandan leaves and sugar and then add in coconut milk. Bring to boil and turn heat to very low flame.
3) Take 200ml of the agar agar mixture and add in one portion of the white sago. Stir well.
4) Pour into a 8" wet baking pan or mould. Let it coagulate.
5) Scratch the surface with a fork.
6) Take another 200ml of the agar-agar mixture and add in the purple color sago. Stir well and pour on top of the white layer and let it coagulate.
7) Continue the same process - 3rd layer will be white, 4th will be green, 5th will be white and the final layer will be red.
8) Chill in the fridge before slicing. Serve cold.

Note : Cooked sago must be rinsed under cold running water so that it does not stick together.