Category no bake dessert

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 31: India Rasmalai

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This recipe takes a few steps, but its well worth it in my opinion 🙂

I took a shortcut with the rabri and used sweetened condensed milk.

Rabri Ingredients:

  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/8 tsp cardamom powder
  • a few saffron strands
  • chopped pistachios and almonds for topping

Chenna/Paneer Ingredients:

  • 5 cups whole milk
  • 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
  • a handful of ice cubes

Sugar Syrup Ingredients:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 1/2 cups water
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Start out by making your Rabri. Combine your condensed milk and whole milk over medium heat and stir until it all comes together. Add your cardamom and saffron, then set to lowest heat and simmer while you get your other ingredients together.

Time to work on your chenna/paneer. This was super cool for me because while cooking is definitely a science, this is the first time it felt like doing an experiment. Anywho, bring 5 cups of milk to a boil and then turn off the heat. Add lemon juice and stir until your milk completely curdles. If you’re having issues curdling, add some more lemon juice. Add a handful of ice cubes and let sit for a couple minutes so it’s not too hot to handle. Line a colander with a muslin cloth (in a pinch, a nice kitchen towel works..just not the fuzzy kind) Pour your curdled mess into the colander and rinse with cold water to make sure you get the lemon juice off. Pull all your corners of your cloth together and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. If you’re able, tie it as tight as you can and hang it over your faucet so it can continue to dribble out cheese water. mmmm cheese water

After about an hour you should be good to go with your Chenna. There should be no more dripping and it should be moist but not super sticky.

Time to be a kneady bitch.

Transfer your chenna to a plate and knead for about 3-5 minutes. There’s no exact time on this one you’re doing it all by feel. Knead it until it’s smooth and non-sticky. Make 12 even sized balls and flatten gently to form discs. If you have any cracking, just roll the sides gently. No one needs to know. How are they gonna know?

We’re almost done, I promise. Now to make the sugar syrup! Boil 3 1/2 cups water with 1 cup sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves and then add cardamom powder. When syrup begins to boil rapidly, gently add your chenna discs and cook covered for 9-10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep lid on for 20 minutes. For 20 minutes, pretend they don’t exist. You’ll know they’re ready when they sink to the bottom of the pan. Remove from syrupy grave and let cool briefly.

Time to assemble this sweet mouth potpourri!

Gently squeeze excess syrup out of your discs by lightly pressing between your palms. Add these to your rabri- make sure to remove from heat- and let rest for 3-4 hours. I never said this was a quick process.

Garnish with your nuts..heh

You can serve warm or cold.

I learned the hard way that my wife doesn’t like pistachios. I don’t know how I never found this out. Don’t worry, we’ve reconciled and the divorce has been postponed. More pistachios for meeee!!!

50/50 Week 30: Russian Zephyr

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Ingredients:

Blackberry Puree:

2 cups blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 egg white, room temperature

Agar Agar Syrup:

1/3 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tsp agar agar
Powdered Sugar (to dust)

1. In a medium saucepan, bring blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp lemon juice to a simmer. Mash berries (a potato masher works great!) and simmer uncovered 10 min then strain through fine sieve, pressing on solids with a spatula. Scrape the back of the sieve to get 1/2 cup of puree. Chill the puree over an ice bath until cooled.

2. Once puree is chilled and slightly thickened, combine it with 1 egg white in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk. Beat 8-10 min on high speed or until thick and stiff peaks form. While the blackberry/egg white mixture is whipping, proceed with step 3.

3. In a medium sauce pan, combine 1/3 cup water, 2 tsp agar agar and 1 cup sugar. Place over medium heat, bring to boil then reduce heat to a low boil and cook 5 min, whisking constantly until syrup has thickened and pours from a spoon without dribbling. Remove from heat.

4. With mixer on the LOWEST speed, and as soon as agar syrup is off the stove, immediately pour it in a thin stream into the whipped blackberry mixture. Avoid getting syrup on whisk and bowl. Scrape down the bowl and beat another 2-3 minutes on high speed until stiff peaks form.

5. While everything is still nice and warm, transfer your mixture to a piping bag and pipe onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You can use whatever type of tip you like, but I would stick to larger ones.

6. Let stand in a draft free, low humidity, room, uncovered 6-12 hours, or overnight. Marshmallows will form a glossy film on top and will come off the parchment fairly easily, then match 2 halves together and roll sandwiched marshmallows in powdered sugar. I had to leave mine overnight.

Overall this was a pretty simple recipe. Definitely not quick as it took 2 days to make, but they’re so delicious and the fresh blackberries are amazing. They just melt in your mouth..a little too easily so make sure you share them with friends.

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 22: New Zealand Jelly Slice

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Ingredients

  • 2 packs of strawberry jell-o
  • 3 cups boiling water
  • 1 packet (250g) superwines or any plain sweet biscuit
  • 175g melted butter
  • 2 Tbs gelatine
  • 1/2 cup boiling water
  • 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
  • juice of 1 lemon

Hooray for no-bake desserts! I’m not going to lie, initially when I was reading about this dessert it struck me as that weird jell-o pretzel dessert that shows up at every redneck cook-out. After tasting it though, its so much better!

Line your desired dish with parchment paper and set aside. Grind up your biscuits in a food processor and combine melted butter and optionally, the zest from a lemon. (I highly recommend bc its delicious) Press into your dish to form the crust and place in fridge for 30 minutes to chill

In a medium bowl, combine gelatine and 1/2 cup boiling water and mix until dissolved. Add the sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice and mix well. Pour over the crust and place back in the fridge for 30-40 minutes until completely set.

Mix your jell-o with the 3 cups of water and let cool- don’t let it set. Pour it on top of your milky layer and then place back into the fridge until set.

Once its all set up, slice into squares and serve. It can be easier if you use a hot knife, but I think that depends on the pan you’re using.

Keep leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge, though, I don’t think leftovers will be much of a problem.