One of the fun thing about going back to my hometown is bringing back goodies. Among the things I brought back are a lovely pandan plant from my grandpa’s backyard and long forgotten cute moulds salvaged from my mama’s kitchen cabinets. I feel like a treasure hunter when I discover  something I can reuse. Being a firm believer in reusing and recycling, I make full use of any old functional items I find (or borrow from friends and neighbours) instead of letting the items sit idle. What items do you reuse?

Pandan leaves + cute moulds = Pandan Agar Agar or Pandan Jelly. A refreshing Malaysian dessert.

Pandan plant grows on the ground very easily and rapidly without requiring much care, but living in an apartment have me resorting to keeping the plant in a flower vase filled with water. With the glaring hot sunlight on my balcony, the leaves are starting to wilt. I am crossing my fingers that the plant can last more 2 weeks.

To readers who are new to pandan, it is used in Southeast Asian cooking to add a distinct aroma to rice and dishes such as nasi lemak, kaya jam preserves, and desserts such as pandan cake. Pandan leaf can be used as a complement to chocolate in many dishes, such as ice cream.

Besides the wonderful aroma, the extract from pandan leaves by blending with water gives a natural green colouring. Just like these enticing light green jelly. For this delightful refreshing dessert, I use agar agar powder instead of the strips (which I used in Mango Pudding).  If you do not have jelly mould, you can also use muffin tray, mini tart mould or just a 16cm glass dish / cake pan and cut into squares. Let your creative juice flow!

Normally adding coconut milk to agar agar makes the mixture separates into 2 different layers – clear layer & milky layer, but it is not  very obvious here. Doesn’t really matter, as long as it taste great!

Awards

Tis the blog award season going around blogsphere of late. My apologies for the long overdue announcement.
   

I am honoured to be given these blog awards by these lovely blogger friends. Do check out their amazing blogs and say hello! Love their recipes, photos and stories!

• Love2Cook Malaysia
• Lynn of Lovely Pantry
• Natalie of Food Atick
• Elizabeth of Eating Local in the Lou

2.0 from 5 reviews

Pandan Agar Agar (Pandan Jelly)

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Author: Adapted from Malaysian Cakes and Desserts by Rohani Jelani

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 500ml Water
• 3 teaspoon Agar-agar Powder
• 100g Sugar
• 100ml Pandan Juice
• 120ml Coconut Milk (preferable 100% coconut milk)

Instructions

1. Pandan Juice: Rinse 8 Pandan leaves and, cut into 2 cm lengths. Blend the pandan leaves with 150 ml (2/3 cup) of water. Strain the pandan juice and discard solids.
   
2. In a medium saucepan, combine water, agar-agar powder and sugar and bring it to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until agar-agar and sugar completely dissolves, about 10 minutes.
3. In a bowl, mix together the pandan juice and coconut milk. Then pour into the simmering agar-agar mixture, stirring constantly until the mixture come to a boil. Once it reaches a rolling boil, take the pot off the heat immediately and pour the mixture into jelly mould or shallow glass dish of cake tin measuring approximately 16 cm (6 ½ inches) across.
4. Set aside to cool before chilling in the refrigerator. Cut as desired and serve chilled.
   
   

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