03 July 2015

Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk Jelly (Agar Agar Santan Gula Melaka 耶糖燕菜)


This is the first time I made Four-layered Jelly, all the while I thought it will take a long while waiting for the Jelly to set before proceed to another layer, therefore I didn't try to make one. These few days I try to search a good recipe on palm sugar and sago, because one of my guest requested a dessert to have sago and palm sugar in it. 

I came across Coffee and Cream Agar Jelly by RunAwayRice, she shown the fast setting technique using ice bath which I find it useful for me. However, her recipe using "half and half" which I don't think I can buy it here, so I have to drop her recipe. Then, I came across Helen's YouTube recipe on her Rainbow Jelly. I decided to modified on Helen's recipe to make my Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk Jelly and also using the ice bath technique. 

This Agar-agar Santan Gula Melaka or Palm Sugar Coconut Milk Jelly is a perfect dessert for this hot summer, the sweetness of palm sugar is just right and the little sago in the coconut milk layer add a different texture to this beautiful delicious Jelly, my son and hubby love it so much. 

One special note I would like to add on ice bath technique is I find it awesome. You can see the Jelly setting and gauge the right timing to pour in the second layer, a crucial for the layers to stick together. 







Yield: 30 cm x 24 cm glass tray, about 16 serving

Ingredients:
1 pack of agar agar powder (12g)
6 cups of water
3 cups of coconut milk (Santan)
200g palm sugar (Gula Melaka)
150g sago

ice bath:
lot of ice cubes
plenty of ice water
a tray bigger than the Jelly mold

Method:
1. Prepare the sago: bring a pot of water to boil, add sago and stir constantly until the sago turned semi-translucent, switch off the heat and cover the pot, let the sago sit in the pot for another 10 mins. Check if the sago has turned translucent without any white spot. Pour the sago into a sieve and rinse with cold water. Set a side.

2. Prepare the ice bath: Place the Jelly mold in a bigger tray, add the ice cubes in between them, pour in the cold water until 2 cm from the top of the tray.

3. Prepare the agar-agar/ Jelly: Boil 6 cups of water in a pot, add the agar-agar powder, add the palm sugar, stir the mixture. When the water boiling, take out the white bubbles on the surface of the liquid, discard. Set aside. 

In another pot, boil the 3 cups of coconut milk. Scoop out 1 cup of palm sugar liquid and add it to the coconut milk. (If you prefer the coconut milk layer to be sweeter, you can add some brown sugar at this stage) Mix in the cooked sago.

4. Assemble: Pour about 2.5 cups of palm sugar liquid to the Jelly mold. It will set very fast, when the side of the surface is dry to touch but the middle of the Jelly still wobbly a bit, this is the right timing to pour in the second layer. Slowly pour 2 cups of coconut milk liquid with a ladle from the side then gently go into the middle, be very careful not to break the first layer. 

Wait for the second layer to set a bit, check if the side of the surface is dry to touch and the middle still wobbly. Again, slowly pour in the third layer which is the palm sugar layer. When it is set, then repeat for the forth layer which is the coconut milk layer. 

Place the Jelly in the fridge, let it set completely before cutting.