Coconut Milk Agar Agar Recipe - Using Agar Agar Strips

Coconut Milk Agar Agar Jelly

Most of us have probably eaten Agar Agar before. Agar Agar is a translucent gelatinous (jelly-like) substance, obtained from algae. In Singapore (also Asia), it is commonly made into a dessert cuisine. Agar Agar comes in several forms; strips or powder form. 

Agar Agar jelly is fairly easy to make so long as you have measured the ingredients and mix them correctly. 

In the past, before the agar agar powder became more popular, agar agar jelly was made using agar agar strips. These agar agar strips are washed and dried before being packed into packages. Using agar agar strips require more time and effort. Today, most people would use agar agar powder as it is easier, simpler and quicker to make the agar agar using powder form.

Agar Agar Strips

My family uses this particular brand of agar agar strip. I had a hard time looking for this particular brand. When searching around for it, several stall owners said they have the powder form and asked if I would like to buy powder form instead. Two persons even told me in Chinese that using the agar agar strips was so troublesome and that they thought only the older generation uses agar agar strips (-_-").

Agar Agar Strips

Note that the packaging indicates the amount of water to add.

Coconut Milk Agar Agar Jelly (note photo was taken on another occasion, hence difference in colour)

I particularly like our own homemade chilled Coconut Milk Agar Agar Jelly which I have been enjoying since young.  The addition of the coconut milk resulted in a two layers. The coconut milk will be at the top layer. This provides an additional dimension (layer) to the taste. This is a very addictive dessert. It is taste best when it is chilled and is a welcome relief in this period of warm weather. The recipe is appended below. Have fun!

Ingredients required:

1) 1 package of agar agar strips (32.5 grams)
2) 4 to 6 Pandan leaves
3) 1.7 litres of water
4) 320 grams of sugar, to taste
5) Red food colouring (optional), to preference
6) 500 ml of Coconut milk

Steps:
1) Soak the agar agar strips in a pot of water for 30 minutes to soften the strips. After that remove the strips from the water and squeeze the excess water out.
2) While soaking the agar agar strips, wash the pandan leaves and fold them.
3) Place the agar agar strips into a pot filled with 1.7 litres of water.
4) Add the pandan leaves into the pot
5) Heat up the pot and bring it to a boil. Stir and ensure that the agar agar strips have melted completed.
6) Once all the agar agar strips have melted, removed the pandan leaves
7) Add in the sugar and ensure that all the sugar has melted. Taste the mixture and ensure that the sweetness level is to preference. More sugar can be added if its still not sweet enough.
7) At this point the heat should be lowered and the mixture should no longer be boiling.
8) Add in the red food colouring and stir the mixture to ensure that the coloring is properly mixed.
9) Add in the coconut milk slowly. After all the coconut milk has been added, give it a quick stir (i.e. stir it just once - 1 round) and off the heat.
10) Pour the mixture into the molds and allow it to set.
11) After the mixture has cooled, keep the agar agar in the fridge.
12) Chill them until ready to be served.

Tips:
1) Different brands of agar agar strips have different quantity and the amount of water will differ.
2) The taste of the sweetness changes after the mixture is cooled and chilled.
3) After coconut milk has been added, do not over stir or boil the mixture vigorously. Else, the agar agar would not have two layers.
4) This agar agar jelly tastes best when it is served chilled.
5) If you  agar agar jelly turns out to be too firm (hard) or soft, you will need to twig the water and agar agar strips ratio.

The below pictures show some of the cooking process:

Step 4

Step 5

Step 5

Step 8

Step 9

Step 9

Step 10

French Onion "Soup" Sandwich Recipe

I believe that most of us have heard French Onion Soup. Some of us have also drank such a soup. But have you tried French Onion "Soup" Sandwich before?

A year back, when I went to Cocotte at Wanderlust Hotel, I ate the French Onion "Soup" Sandwich which blew me away. I was so impressed that I decided to try making this. 

French Onion "Soup" Sandwich

Below is the recipe for making 2 pieces of The French Onion "Soup" Sandwich / Bread. It was difficult to make and required lots of patience. 

Ingredients required

Ingredients required: 

1) Two big yellow / red onions

2) 1/2 tbsp olive oil, to taste

3) 1/2 tbsp butter, to taste

5) Thyme leaves, to taste

6) Black pepper, to taste

5) Salt, to taste

6) 2 slices of bread

7) Grated or diced Gruyere cheese

Grated or diced Gruyere cheese

Items required:

1) Pot / pan (can use non-stick pot/pan too)

2) Knife 

To make Caramelised Onion (this is the hard part) :

1) Trim off the ends and peel off the skin of the onions. Cut the onions into half and slice the onion.

2) Heat up the pot / pan using medium heat. Add olive oil and butter.
3) Add the sliced onions followed by a pinch of thyme leaves, black pepper and salt.
4) Stir them well so that they are coated with oil and butter. Reduce the heat to low and cover the pot / pan to allow the onion to sweat.
5) Open the lid every 5 minutes and give it a stir. The onions will slowly start turning brown. After 20 to 30 minutes, the onions would become soft and golden brown in colour. If the onions start sticking to the bottom of the pot / pan, it means that the pot / pan is too hot. You would need to reduce the heat and/or add a little water (or soup stock) and give it a stir. You should refrain from stirring it too much to get the evenly golden brown onions. 
6) Once the onions are soft and golden brown in colour, you can add soup stock (enhance the flavour, allowing the onions to absorb the flavours) and turn up the heat to evaporate the soup stock.
7) Once the soup stock has evaporated, turn off the heat and remove the caramelised onion from the pot / pan to prevent it from being cooked further.

To make French Onion "Soup" Sandwich: 
8) Grill one side of the two slices bread on a non-stick pan (use a small amount of butter if you do not have a non-stick pan) and slightly brown it. After that remove the bread from the heat.
9) Spread the caramelised onion onto the side of the bread which has been grilled.
10) Add grated / diced Gruyere on top of the caramelised onion.
11) Repeat Step 2 and Step 3 with the 2nd piece of bread
12) Toast or grill the 2 pieces of bread until the Gruyere has melted and it is ready to be served (if you have Happy Call Pan, it would be useful for this step as you can close it and trap the heat in). 

The below pictures show some of the cooking process:

Step 1

Step 3

Step 4 to 5

Step 4 to 5

Step 7

Step 9

Step 12

Ajitsuke Tamago Recipe

Home-made Ajitsuke Tamago

Ajitsuke Tamago (Japanese Runny Egg) is marinated soft boiled egg. The egg is frequently served in Japanese restaurant along with Japanese Ramen, sometimes for an extra $2 (which I feel is ridiculous..expensive..). The characteristic of the Ajitsuke Tamago is that the egg whites are hard boiled (solid but soft, delicate yet firm) while the egg yolk are runny/molten. 

I am posting the Ajitsuke Tamago Recipe here. In addition, there are several tricks to making this. I will list those that I know in this post. (If you know of any others, please let me know. So that, we can share  it in here for everyone. Thanks.)

Below is the recipe for making five Ajitsuke Tamago.

Items required:

1) Two pots (one for boiling water, the other for ice water) 

2) Thumbtack 

3) Spoon

4) Timer / Mobile phone

5) Ziplock bag / Bowl & Paper towel
6) Fridge

Ingredients: 

1) Five room temperature eggs

2) One pot of boilding water

3) One pot of ice water
4) Soy Sauce
5) Water (boiled water that has been cooled to room temperature)
6) Brown sugar 
7) Mirin (not necessary - depending on type of marination sauce)
8) Sake (not necessary - depending on type of marination sauce)

To make the Marination Sauce:

Two methods, either (a) or (b)

(a) 

2 cup water (boiled water that has been cooled to room temperature)

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 tbsp brown sugar / white sugar, to taste

Combine the water, soy sauce and brown sugar. Mix well and ensure that the brown sugar has been dissolved before adding in 1 slice of ginger. You can add other ingredients such as spring onion, seasame oil, anything to your liking. Also, change the proportion of soy sauce, water, sugar to suit taste.

(b)

1 cup water (boiled water that has been cooled to room temperature)

1 cup sake

1/2 cup mirin

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 tbsp brown sugar / white sugar, to taste

Combine the water, sake, mirin, soy sauce and brown sugar. Mix well and ensure that the brown sugar has dissolved. You can add other ingredients such as spring onion, seasame oil, anything to your liking.   Also, change the proportion of soy sauce, water, mirin, sake, sugar to suit taste. 

Steps:

1) Pierce the base of each egg with a thumbtack to make a small hole. This will prevent the egg from cracking when placed into boiling water. (My recent past few attempts I skipped this step) 

2) Using one pot of water (enough to cover the eggs), bring it to a boil. After that, reduce the heat to bring it to a bare simmer. Gently lower the eggs in with a spoon and start the timer. 

3) Cook for 5mins and 45 seconds. Using a spoon, take out the eggs (draining away the hot water) and put them into a pot of ice water for at least 5 minutes. This process is called 'shocking', it will stop the cooking process and create a layer of air (from the difference in temperature) between the shell and membrane making it easier to peel. 

4) Gently de-shell the eggs. This is the hardest part as the egg (white) is very delicate and fragile; wobbly and soft.

5) Two ways, choose either (c) or (d)

    (c) Pour the marinade sauce into a ziplock bag, place the eggs inside and seal it, squeezing out as much air as possible. 
    (d) Pour the marinade sauce into a bowl and place the eggs inside. Cover with a paper towel so that the towel soak the sauce, hold it over the top of the eggs and marinate the whole egg (as the egg will float). 

6) Refrigerate and marinate for at least 2 hours and not more than 12 hours. 
7) Discard the marinade sauce. Serve cold immediately or store eggs in a seal container in the fridge for not more than 3 days. Other methods of serving includes letting the eggs cool to room temperature or putting them into simmering broth for 30seconds if you need to serve them warm. 

Tips:
1) Use room temperature egg
2) Use 3 to 6 day old eggs. Older eggs are easily to peel.
3) Bare simmer means that there are pin dot size bubbles rising up around the eggs. It should not be on a rolling boil as this will crack the eggs

4) Extreme care is required when peeling the eggs. Instead of tapping the eggs on a hard surface (e.g. table), put a wet towel (to cushion the impact) on the table and try to crack the egg shell on the cloth gently. Ensure, all surface area of the egg shell has small cracks before you attempt to peel it. Any excessive force will break the egg and you will have to eat it immediately. (In the first few attempts, on average I ate one egg for every five eggs I peel.) 
5) Ensure that the membranes are all peeled as they are unpleasant to eat and will cause stained patches on the eggs. This will be obviously (and unsightly) after marination
6) If this is your first attempt, make (use) more eggs than require as you may loss some due to cracking when it is cooking and some during the peeling process
7) The timing of 5mins 45secs is for making five Ajitsuke Tamago. This timing will differ depending on the size of the egg, the number of eggs, the size of the pot, amount of water and the heat control. 

The below pictures show some of the cooking process of my recent attempt:

Step 2: Cooking process

Notice the pin dot size bubbles rising up? This is what is meant by bare simmer. 

Step 3: Shocking (ice water)

For marination choose either Step 5(c) or Step 5(d).

Step 5(c): Marination 

Step 5(d ): Marination (Paper towel has not been added over it)

The outcome should be smooth and beautiful exterior with soft but firm egg white and runny egg yolk in the interior.

These were made using the above method/recipe. If you are wondering which steps I chose, for marination sauce, I used (a). For Step 5, I prefer 5(c) using the ziplock bag.

Hope this post is useful. Have fun making it! 

Chilled Beancurd Recipe

Last year (2011), Lao Ban Beancurd has lead the craze on Chilled Beancurd. Today, there are several similar stalls such as 51 Soya Bean, QQ Soya Bean Curd and many more popping up. All selling the same type of chilled beancurd!

Many people online have frequently been searching for the 'Lao Ban Beancurd recipe'. Just last month, the recipe was shared on edmw. With that, I went about trying to make it too. 

Phoon Huat's 'Jelly Man Instant Jelly Powder (200g) $4.90

The trick in making the chilled beancurd is the Phoon Huat's 'Red Man Instant Jelly Powder'. I bought the small bottle, 200g at $4.90.

Ingredients Required

Other than the fact that the Instant Jelly Powder can be bought from Phoon Huat, the rest of the ingredients can be bought from NTUC. (Not all outlets in NTUC has Polleney Soya Bean Milk Powder)

Items required: 
1) Pot
2) Whisk
3) Sieve
4) Measuring Cup
5) Measuring Teaspoon (tsp) and Tablespoon (tbsp) or Measuring Scale
6) Bowls or Plastic Containers
*as I do not have measuring scale I will estimate the number of tsp or tbsp required.

To make Soya Milk (3 bowls):
60g of Polleney Soya Bean Milk Powder (2 tbsp + 1 tsp)
30g of Unisoy Soya Bean Milk Powder
700ml of Water
Stir to ensure that all the powder are dissolved. Ensure that there are no lumps.

To make Chilled Beancurd:
700ml of Soya Milk (or Drinho/Vitasoy/Yeo's/Seasons Soya Milk)
30g of Nestle Coffeemate Coffee Creamer (6 packets)
30g of Sugar to taste (not required if using carton-ed Soya Bean Milk) (2 tbsp)
14g of Phoon Huat's Instant Jelly Powder (2.5 tsp)

Steps:
1) Heat the Soya Milk in low heat till it is hot (Do not boil)
2) Add in coffee creamer and stir till it is fully dissolved
3) Add in Sugar and stir till it is fully dissolved
4) Do a taste check for sweetness level
5) Add in Instant Jelly Powder and stir till it is fully dissolved
6) Sieve out the bubbles
7) Pour into 3 bowls and leave to cool
8) Put in fridge for at least 3 hours and after that it is ready. Enjoy the Beancurd

Tips:

1) Keep stiring to ensure that the ingredients are fully dissolved. Using a whisk is better compared to a spoon/fork/chopsticks. This is to ensure that the Beancurd will not have 2 layers. (which was what happen to my first attempt)

2) Too much Instant Jelly Powder will result in the Beancurd being too hard (which was what happen to my first attempt)

3) Ensure you do a taste test before adding in Instant Jelly Powder. Add more sugar if required.

4) Pure Soya Bean Extract from Vitasoy did not really work as the taste was not right

My own chilled beancurd using the above recipe. Smooth, jelly-like and silky. Very similar to 51 Soya Bean taste. But not Lao Ban standard.

There that's it. This is the Chilled Beancurd Recipe. Have fun making it.