Category coconut

50/50 Week 33: Vietnam Rau Câu

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This was a little bit of a fail. But I think moreso in technique, not recipe.

  1. Coffee Jelly
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tsp agar agar
  • 1 1/2 cup minus 2 tsp coffee
  • 3 Tbs + 1 tsp sugar

2. Coconut Cream Jelly

  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tsp agar agar
  • 3/4 cup + 4 tsp coconut milk
  • 1/3 cup minus 2 tsp milk
  • 1/3 cup minus 2 tsp heavy whipping cream
  • 3 Tbs + 1 tsp sugar

I know the measurements are a little weird, but they were translated from ml & grams

To start off, grab 2 separate pans and dissolve your agar powder in your water. Let it sit for at least and hour.

Place your jelly mold in the freezer to make sure its nice and cold.

Put one of your pans on high heat. When the water starts boiling, the agar powder has completely dissolved and the liquid becomes clear, remove the pan from heat.

Add in coffee and sugar and mix until well blended. If there are still clumps of agar powder or sugar, put the pan back on medium heat and stir until they completely dissolve.

Discard any foam on the surface. Keep the pan warm by putting it on the stove at the lowest heat setting; stir every now and then to prevent the surface from setting.

For the coconut jelly:

In a bowl, pour in coconut milk, milk, and whipping cream. Note that this mixture has to be at room temperature.

Put the other pan on high heat. When the water is boiling and the agar powder has completely dissolved, start to add in sugar and the coconut cream mixture with the pan removed from the heat. Again, if there are clumps of agar powder or sugar, put the pan back up on medium heat and stir until they completely dissolve.

Discard any foam on the surface. Keep the pan warm by putting it on the stove at the lowest heat setting; stir every now and then to prevent the surface from setting.

Now assemble. Take your mold out of the freezer. Pour a thin layer of coffee jelly in the mold, way a couple minutes until it just starts to set up. Use a spatula to break the stream as you pour in the coconut layer. Repeat process until you’re out of jelly.

I let mine set up a little too much. You need to add the next layer when its set, but still tacky. Otherwise you’ll end up like me with completely separate layers haha

50/50 Week 23: South Africa Tameletjies

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This was a super fail on my part. I got excited and forgot to take it off the heat. Sugar pounces on weakness.

Ingredients:

  • 500g brown sugar
  • 250ml water
  • 125g butter
  • 2ml vanilla
  • 1 cup nuts ( traditionally pine nuts but I used what I had, which was pecans)

Dissolve sugar and water over low heat, add butter. Boil steadily without stirring until the miture starts frothing, test a drop in cold water to see if it hardens. Once it passes that test, REMOVE FROM HEAT. Then add your vanilla and your chopped nuts, stir. Pour into a shallow, well-greased pan and park off squares with a wet knife. Let cool and then break into squares.

Tameletjie is supposed to be like a nut brittle. I made…a disaster. Good luck!

50/50 Week 17: The Philippines Macapuno Salad

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Holy crap..what a week. Here’s the recipe and then we’ll jump into the rest.

1 jar macapuno balls (I used strings)
1 jar nata de coco
1 jar kaong
1 can (20 oz.) pineapple chunks (I didn’t add the additional pineapple but I should have)
2 cans (30 oz.) fruit cocktail
1 pack Nestle All purpose cream/or heavy cream (I used the heavy cream since I couldn’t find all purpose)
1 block (8 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature

Additionally, you may wish to add sweetened condensed milk to taste if you’d like it sweeter. I didn’t add any since I found it perfectly sweet on its own.

This week has been a hectic one. Trying to get back on track after the holidays..case in point, I’m editing and posting on the same day. I try to never do that because, well it’s a lot. To make things worse, I pinched a nerve in my shoulder this morning so I literally feel like I’m being stabbed in the back. Fun times.

I’m trying to get this food blog/ recipe center back on track as it’s been sadly neglected in the last couple of weeks. Please be patient with me haha

Anywho, back to the recipe. This is super simple to throw together provided you can find the ingredients you need. I had to hunt a little but it led to the discovery of my new favorite grocery provider so it’s not all bad.

I followed this recipe: http://www.mamasguiderecipes.com/2017/07/22/macapuno-fruits-salad/

Though, I will probably update this once I get my hands on Mark’s moms version.

10/10 would definitely make again!