A Refreshing Idea For Chinese New Year | How to Make Different Types Of Jelly

Chinese New Year is just round the corner and if you are thinking of serving up some delicious, refreshing treats to your guest, why not consider these recipes that are really easy to do and can be prepared before hand.

Unlike the usual traditional cookies, cakes and kuehs, serving jelly can be a refreshing idea and it is also less heavy on the stomach. Make your jellies in individual portions for easy consumption and this also allows your guest to taste more of each type of dessert served.

Koi Jelly

YOU WILL NEED:

• Koi fish mold
• 12g Agar-agar powder
• 160g Sugar
• 2-3 Pandan leaves, tied
• 700 ml Water
• Raisins, seedless
• Food colouring

1. Cut raisins with scissors and.
2. Using your fingers, roll it into small balls. These are for the eyes.
3. Put water, pandan leaves, sugar and agar agar powder into pot and bring to boil at low heat.
4. Stir throughout. Off the heat when agar-agar and sugar have melted.
5. Using a tweezer, dip raisins into agar-agar liquid.
6. Stick the balls of raisin on the eyes of the fish mold.
7. Add a drop of colouring into a small bowl of agar-agar liquid.
8. Using a teaspoon, smear the colored agar-agar quickly on fish mold body.
9. With a soup spoon, gently pour in the rest of the agar agar liquid into mold.
10. Let it set before putting into the fridge. Chill jelly for 2 to 3 hours before removing the mold.

Coconut Jelly

YOU WILL NEED:

• 3 each young coconuts
• 1/4 teaspoon agar
• 2 cups (500ml) juice from coconuts
• 4 tablespoons caster sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 cup (100g) meat scraped from coconut

1. Prepare the coconuts by chopping off the bottom and the top so that the dome of the nut sticks out a bit. With one chop, cut the top of the dome and drain the coconut juice out into a bowl.
2. Scrape some of the coconut meat. Strain and measure out 2 cups of the coconut juice.
3. Mix the agar into the coconut juice in a wok. Let the agar sit for 10 minutes. Begin to heat the juice and add the sugar and salt. When the juice is bubbling, simmer for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the coconut meat and cook for 5 more minutes. The juice should be clear and slightly syrupy in appearance.
4. Divide the juice and meat between the 3 coconut shells and place in a refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Chill the coconuts completely before serving.

Pandan and Coconut Layered Jelly

YOU WILL NEED:

Pandan Layer

• 6 pandan leaves, diced
• 3/4 cup (190 ml) water
• 1 tablespoon agar powder
• 2 1/2 cups (625 ml) water
• 1 cup (220g) white sugar

Coconut-Pandan Layer

• 1 tablespoon agar powder
• 1 cup (250ml) water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups (500ml) coconut cream
• 5 pandan leaves, cut into 4 cm lengths
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Pandan Layer:

1. Make pandan juice by blending the pandan leaves with the 190ml water. Strain through a cheesecloth and discard the leaves. You should be left with about 125 ml pandan juice.
2. Place the agar and water in a small wok or saucepan and heat until agar is completely dissolved.
3. Add the sugar and cook until dissolved; do not boil. Add the pandan juice and stir well.
4. Remove from the heat and place in a small bowl that is sitting in a bowl of warm water. You do not want to let the mixture cool completely.

Coconut-Pandan Layer:

5. Place the agar and water in a small wok or saucepan and cook until the agar has completely dissolved. Add the sugar, coconut cream, pandan leaves and salt then cook until the sugar and salt have dissolved; do not boil.
6. Strain out the pandan leaves and place the mixture in a small bowl sitting in a bowl of warm water. You do not want to let the mixture cool off.

Assembly:

7. While the two batches of layers are still warm prepare 8 x 1 cup (250 ml) jelly cups.
8. Place 2 tablespoons of the coconut-pandan layer in the jelly cups. Let the layer almost set then place 2 tablespoons of the pandan layer in the cups. Repeat this process until all cups are full or you run out of mixture.
9. Let the jellies set for 2-3 hours before serving. Serve chilled.

Red Ruby (Thai Dessert)

YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar (Boil both with 2 stalks of pandan leaves until syrup is fragrant. Alternatively, add a splash of rose essence to flavour your syrup. Refrigerate syrup.)
• 10 water chestnuts, peeled and diced into pea-sized chunks
• 1/2 tsp red food coloring
• 3 tbsp tapioca flour
• 1 packet coconut milk or cream
• Ice cubes

1. Toss diced water chestnuts with red food colouring until evenly coated.

2. Throw in the coloured water chestnuts into a plastic bag of tapioca flour and shake well to coat.

3. Pour out the contents into a sieve and shake off excess flour.

4. Put floured chestnuts into a pot of boiling water. Boil for about 2 mins, or until the flour turns translucent and the vibrant colour of the water chestnuts shine through.

5. Remove and drain the water chestnuts. Toss into a bowl of ice-cold water.

6. To serve, scoop Red Rubies into a glass of ice cubes. Pour a little sugar syrup and coconut milk/cream. Serve immediately.

Ice Jelly in Honey Lime Juice

YOU WILL NEED:

Honey Lime Juice

• 200ml water
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 small lime

Ice Jelly

• 1 packet of  jelly premix

• 5 pandan leaves
• 1 lemongrass

Honey lime juice:

1. Squeeze the lime and mix the lime juice into the water and
2. Put the juice in the refrigerator.

Ice jelly:

3. Boil 500ml of water with the lemongrass and pandan leaves for 10 minutes.
4. Pour the boiled water into the jelly premix
5. .Stir till premix dissolve.
6. Leave to cool and put in a refrigerator to set.
7. Serve the jelly with the honey lime juice.Add more lime if preferred.

Almond Jelly

YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 (7g) packet agar agar
• 750ml (3 cups) water
• 250ml (1 cup) evaporated milk
• 120g sugar
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 (336g) can longans
• 1 (336g) can fruit cocktail

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the agar agar, water, evaporated milk and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly until agar agar is fully dissolved.
2. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Add the almond extract and stir to mix. When the liquid is completely cooled, pour into a jelly mold and chill overnight.
3. When the jelly is set, cut into cubes.
4. In a large bowl, combine the jelly and fruit including syrup and/or juices. Add ice cubes if desired. Serve cold.

Red Bean Jelly

YOU WILL NEED:

• 100g red beans
• 300ml water
• 1/2 tbsp cornflour + 1 tbsp water
• 1 x 13g pkt agar agar powder
• 200g caster sugar
• 750ml water
• 250ml thick coconut milk
• 2 pandan leaves, knotted
• 1/8 tsp salt

1. Wash red beans and boil with about 300ml water until beans are tender. Drain and blend into a puree.
2. Boil 750ml water with sugar, agar agar powder and pandan leaves. Stir constantly until sugar and agar agar dissolves.
3. When mixture has boiled, remove pandan leaves and set aside 1 cup for the red bean layer.
4. Add 250 ml of thick coconut milk and a pinch of salt to the remaining mixture and stir well. Divide into two portions and set one portion of coconut agar agar in a rinsed mould. Scratch surface of set agar agar before pouring in the next layer so that the two layers will not separate after they have set.
5. Heat up the clear agar agar, add in the mashed red beans and cornflour solution. Stir well and pour on top of the first layer.
6. Heat up the other portion of the coconut agar agar and pour on top of the red bean layer.
7. Let agar agar set at room temperature before putting in the fridge to chill.

Steamed Red Bean Cake

YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 cup (150g) red beans (azuki beans)
• 180g rice flour
• 20g corn starch
• 150g brown sugar, divided to 100g and 50g
• 2tbsp butter plus more, about 30g
• 1 cup Coconut milk
• 1 cup red bean cooking liquid

1. Soak the red beans in cold water overnight. Rinse well before use. Boil the beans in cold water until soft. About 1 hour. Separate the liquid from the cooked beans
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the cooked beans, 100 g of brown sugar, and 2 tbsp of butter. Mix well so all the beans are coated with sugar. Set aside. You can make this ahead of the time.
3. In another mixing bowl, combine the coconut milk, the liquid from cooking the red beans, and sugar. Mix until the sugar is dissolved. If you don’t have enough red bean liquid you can use water to make up the volume. Combine the rice flour with cornstarch. Slowly sieve in the flour while mixing until all the flour is well incorporated to form a batter
4. The batter should be light and dripping. Add sugar-coated red beans to the batter and mix to well. Feel free to add all or just a portion of the red beans to the batter based on your own preference.
5. Coat your cake mold with melted butter. Evenly distribute the batter to the mold and let the batter sit for 5 minutes before steaming.
6. On high heat, steam the cakes for 15 to 20 minutes (depends on how big your cake is). After 15-20 minutes, leave the cakes in the steamer for an extra 2 minutes before you take them out. Serve them hot or at room temperature.

Chocolate Jelly

YOU WILL NEED:

• 300ml Cream
• 300ml Milk
• 150g Chocolate
• 15g jelly mix/Gelatin

1. Place cream and milk in a saucepan and boil over medium heat, Stir continuously.
2. Remove from heat and pour in the chocolate. Stir well.
3. Mix in the gelatin into the chocolate mixture and stir well till dissolved.
4. Divide the mixture into the jelly molds and refrigerate till firm for about 2-3 hours.

Try out these jelly recipes and be in for a delicious and wonderful treat! These jelly recipes are really easy to prepare and can be eaten anytime of the year ;)