Agar agar fruit jelly

Thao Uyen

Greetings friends! We’re here, at the beginning of 2018!!! I don’t know about you but to me 2017 flew pass so fast I didn’t even have time to settle in. It feels like I just closed my eyes and then the year was gone. No matter how unnerved or excited I am about this challenging/exciting year of 2018, let’s celebrate it with fruit jelly! This is an easy and colorful dessert that is perfect for the holiday or any celebration. Last week Zazulete bravely showcased a fruit pavlova recipe, if you haven’t seen her recipe, check it out here.

Today we also use lots of colorful fruits to fill our party plates but with an Asian flair from agar agar powder. Agar agar powder is made from algae seaweed and used in cooking will give a thickening, jelly-like effect similar to gelatin. It has no color, no taste and no smell which make it one of the most versatile ingredients for desserts. It is also free from calories, sugar and carbohydrate, THAT sounds seductive right? Vietnamese use agar agar powder to make jelly in the summer as it is reputed to reduce inflammation. I know we’re about to enter deep winter not summer, but with all those heavy dishes that we consumed in the past days, this dessert will be extremely beneficial to restore your inflamed organs :).
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To make this dessert, it is quite simple. Choose the fruits that you like, I recommend a combination of sweet and sour fruits with different colors to make this dish shine. As for the agar agar powder, we only need fruit juice to dissolve it with. For this recipe, I also add a layer of coconut milk jelly and another one from rooibos and hibiscus tea. I use rooibos tea for its headaches and insomnia relief, hibiscus for its effect on inflammation and digestive problems. Yes we go all out on blasting inflammation. Also these two teas have a beautiful clear red color that I love to add to this recipe. As for coconut milk, why do I use it? Well when it comes to agar agar jelly, coconut milk is the best. The jelly will have a white color with rich flavor, to contrast with the fruitdies. We’ll make some experiments with this so stay tuned!

Ingredients:

- 1 sachet of agar agar powder
- Half of 1 ripe mango, about 50 gr (cut into small cubes)
- 1 handful of cranberries
- 1 kiwi (cut into small cubes)
- 1 part of Korean pear, about 50 gr (cut into small cubes)
- Half of 1 kaki/persimmon, about 50 gr (cut into small cubes)
- 50 gr coconut milk
- 1 tblspoon of condensed milk
- 200 ml rooibos and hibiscus tea
- 400 ml pear juice
- Sugar
- Salt
- Water

Directions:
Prepare the red tea in advance, warm up water and infuse rooibos and hibiscus to make red tea. When the tea cools down to room temperature we can start making fruits agar agar jelly.

- First layer: the fruits jelly

First in a small pot, dissolve 3 teaspoons of agar agar powder with 100 ml of water and 400 ml of pear juice, stir to dissolve the powder well. Put the pot on medium heat and keep stirring until the powder is completely dissolved. That means you no longer see any powder molecule left on your stirring spoon. Add 2 full teaspoons sugar and stir again. (We do a lot of stirring for this recipe). Let the mixture boil for 2 minutes, keep stirring all this time, then take off the heat. Now pour a bit of the mixture into a mold that you like (a round mold will have a cake effect, a square mold will produce cute cubes).

Now wait for the first layer to cool off a bit before placing the fruit cubes into the mold. Distribute all the fruits and mix the color well. When your art work is done, pour in the rest of the agar agar mixture and set the mold aside. (You can put it in the fridge for it to set faster).

- Second layer: red tea

Stir in 1 tspoon of agar agar powder into 250 ml of red tea that we prepared in advance. Repeat the former step we did for the fruit jelly, only that this time we just pour the mixture into the mold without adding any fruit in it. Use 2 tspoons of sugar or more because the hibiscus tea is quite sour.

- Third layer: coconut milk

Again we do a similar step as above, but the coconut milk is quite thick, so add 100 ml of water to lighten it with a pinch of salt. Also add the condensed milk and stir on medium heat. Repeat the first step and pour the mixture into the mold when the second layer is set and firm.

And that’s that. This jelly can be stored for up to 3 days in fridge so you can make it in advance without stressing. When it's time to serve the dessert, put the whole mold in a bit of hot water, run the point of the knife through the edges of the jelly to separate it from the mold. Turn the mold over the serving dish, knock gently on the mold if needed for the jelly to slide down. Cut the jelly into cubes or slices. 

Notes:
The amount of fruits and sugar is subjective, so use more or less to suit your taste.

Let the first layer set in the fridge for 20 minutes, the 2nd and 3rd layers only need 10 minutes each.

The red tea jelly takes like fruit syrup jelly. The sourness of hibiscus tea couples with the red fruits taste of rooibos give this jelly a unique flavor.

The agar agar powder doesn’t have the consistency of gelatin and so the jelly is quite thick, not creamy. It has a fresh taste with busty flavors from sweet and sour fruits. Doesn’t it look uplifting and exciting?
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Happy new year 2018!!! May your new adventure be filled with health and love.