Kulinarya Cooking Club May 2011: Filipino Coconut Jelly

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney who are passionate about the Filipino culture and it’s colourful cuisine.  Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family dishes.  By sharing these recipes we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

This month’s theme is : Flores De Mayo.

Thanks to Sefie from Sefie Eats Blog and Connie from Home Cooking Rocks Blog for choosing this month’s theme.  Flores De Mayo means flowers of May.  It is a Catholic fiesta that is celebrated throughout the month of May to honour the Virgin Mary.  At the end of the celebrations a parade is held, known as Santa Cruzan  in all the towns and villages.

I think it had quite a lot of us from the Kulinarya Cooking Club stumped. I had no idea what was going to do and then I had a lightbulb moment.

I decided to make jelly. Not just any jelly but Filipino style. Our jelly is not the same as the jelly that most people are used to. Ours has evaporated milk in it and for flavor, I added coconut milk. The texture is also different. It is not as wobbly. It is more thicker and creamier too. This dessert is mostly found at all Filipino parties and I remember my mum making this many times for our family gatherings. My mum sometimes put cocktail fruits from a can in it but I decided to leave it out this time but I’ll definitely put it in next time I make it.

For the setting agent, I used agar agar. I had used this only once before when I made coconut noodles. I used a small bundt cake tin as it kind of looked like a flower. I also made one with pandanus essence. I love the taste and texture of the jelly. I will definitely make this again.

Recipe : (for a 600ml and a 250ml capacity mould)

500ml water

1/2 cup white sugar

10g agar agar strands

185ml evaporated milk

165ml coconut milk

pandan essence

pink food colouring

1. Place the water, sugar and agar agar into a pot.  Simmer until the agar agar has dissolved.

2.  Add the evaporated milk and coconut milk.  At this stage you can taste it.  You may add more sugar if you like it sweeter.

3.  Pour 250ml of the liquid into a bowl and add a drop of the pandan essence.  If your essence is clear in colour, you’ll need to add a drop of green food colouring.  To the rest of the liquid add a drop of pink food colouring. Stir well.

4.  Using a sieve, pour the green mixture into a 250ml capacity mould and the pink one into the 600ml capacity mould, again pour over a sieve.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set.

5.  When set, remove from the moulds.  You may need to dip it in a some hot water to loosen a little.

You can check out what the members of the Kulinarya Cooking Club cooked up for this month’s theme here.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie