AGAR-AGAR

Magic Mirror Agar-Agar (Dessert) 

Agar-agar is a seaweed alternative to gelatin which is usually derived from animals. It is widely used in South East Asia to make jelly or desserts instead of Jello.

A lot of desserts in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand & Indonesia use pandan (screwpine) leaves to flavor desserts and in some dishes. Its rather difficult to find pandan leaves in the US so we use pandan flavoring. You can choose any flavoring of your choice or leave it plain.

Note: I used coconut milk instead of the plain agar-agar as the base. If you choose to use coconut milk, replace 180ml of the balance water with coconut milk. No flavoring is needed for this will lend a nice flavor to the agar-agar. 

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups presoaked agar agar strands

6 cups water

1 1/4 cups sugar

6 pandan leaves washed or flavor (optional)

coloring 

Method

1. In a pot, combine 1 cup agar-agar, 2 cups water and three pandan leaves. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly till agar-agar dissolves. Add 1/3 cup sugar and stir till dissolved. Strain into three trays. Add a different color to each tray. Leave to set. 

2. Meanwhile, prepare remaining agar-agar, water, pandan leaves and sugar similarly but leave the cooked mixture uncoloured. Strain into a large tray. Allow to cool and thicken but not to set. 

3. Cut the coloured agar agar into small cubes. Stir this into the thickened agar-agar. Chill in refrigerator till set. Cut and serve.