Jan 25, 2010

Cooling comfort

This is a dessert I created for family some years back. Especially great after a hearty meal of feasting of Reunion Dinner on the eve of chinese new year or after a few boxes of Chinese new year cookies of all sorts.

It soothes the throat, and is mildly sweet. Since then, I have taught this delightful dessert at Country clubs, various cooking schools and also with tourists who visited Singapore during the annual Singapore Food Festival.

Chrysanthemum Jelly
Recipe by Gina Choong



Ingredients
100g chrysanthemum flowers
1 litre of water
1.5 tbsp konnyaku jelly powder
150g fine sugar
100g honey(clear)

Method
1. Heat up pot with water and sugar till sugar melts.
2. Add flowers to brew for 5 mins. Turn off the fire and leave it to stand for another 5 mins.
3. Carefully drained the flowers and soak in iced water.
4. Reserve 500ml of chrysanthemum drink and pour into another sauce pot.
5. Sprinkle jelly powder on top, turn on fire and use a whisk to whisk it it dissolves
6. Stir till the liquid slowly thickens.
7. Place one flower in the jelly mould and slowly pour the jelly liquid into it.
8. Leave it in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours.
9. Chill the remaining chrysanthemum drink till very cold, add honey to stir till dissolve
10. To serve, unmould jelly into a bowl filled with honeyed chrysanthemum water.
11. Serve cold after a nice meal.

Notes
The flower in the jelly is just for decoration. It shouldn’t be eaten as it is bitter.
Never boil chrysanthemum flowers over high heat for longer than 10 mins. It will turn the drink into a dark pale colour and makes it very bitter despite having sugar in it.

This special dessert is ideal to serve after a heavy meal like Chinese New Year dinners.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

HI Gina

would like to try this refreshing dessert for CNY eve dinner this year but would like to know, how many jelly can the recipe yield (if i use the normal konnyaku jelly mold)? also, is 1.5 tbsp of konnyaku jelly powder equivalent to one packet of red man konnyaku powder (the regular sized one)?
thks
regards
octopusmum

Gina Choong said...

hi, octopusmum, yes, 1.5tbsp of konnyaku powder is about the size pack with PH. I never counted the number of pieces made..but estimates are at least 30 pcs.

Anonymous said...

HI Gina

thks for the reply! can't wait to try this out.

regards
octopusmum

Gina Choong said...

octopusmum, my hubby ask me to make more this year for CNY as my inlaws are feasting in our house on Reunion Dinner. I will make it with Osmanthus Flower..:)

Anonymous said...

how to make with osmanthus flower? reason why i asked is, because i have planned to make 2 types of jelly, this chrysanthemum one and the osmanthus jelly separately. so find it interesting that we can combine both in one jelly...
octopusmum

Gina Choong said...

I will share the recipe separately in a new post.

Quinn said...

Gina, any idea what is osmanthus called in chinese. I wanna buy it from grocery shop but they don't know what is osmanthus and I don't read chinese. I really wanna know how osmathus taste like. Thanks!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Gina
wanted to make the dessert today but after reading the instructions on the Red Man konnyaku powder package, i think i better double check with u first. on the package, it says to use 950ml of water for 10g powder. but your recipe only requires 500ml of water for the powder which is equivalent to one pack of red man powder. Is the qty of water correct? also, when i pour 500ml of water into the konnyaku jelly mould just to test it out, i can only get about 10 jellies. so think i need to double check with you on the quantities before trying it out.thks.
regards
octopusmum

Gina Choong said...

octopusmum, I don't use PH's brand. Theirs always 'waters' after its made. about the number of jellies made, it depends on the shapes you use. I use a small jelly mould. So I get alot. If you use those standard k-jelly moulds, which are deeper, you get less jellies. I used 500ml with 1.5tbsp so the jelly have more bite and not so soft and breakable. AFter all, its served in a bowl of icy cold drink..

Anonymous said...

Thanks Gina for the reply. can you share with me which brand did u use? thks
octopusmum