I remember my mom used to make this for us while growing up in Hong Kong. The summer weather was super hot and humid and having this as a snack or dessert was so nice and refreshing. I was going to call this “Chinese” Coconut Pudding but I am sure the Chinese adopted this Memorable Dish from other southeast Asian countries. Also, it’s not really like a pudding but more like a jelly-like cake.
My mom gave me the recipe she had from her notebook and said it wasn’t the greatest but I tried it anyway. It turned out to be a big disaster. I was suspicious of the recipe when I looked at it. It used a huge amount of cornstarch that I knew was going to yield a pasty pudding. So the first one I made went straight to the garbage 😛 .
I found different recipes online that use gelatin powder but this wasn’t what my mother used. She used agar-agar instead. Agar-agar is sold dry but when reconstituted, it becomes jelly-like. Lots of Asian desserts use agar-agar to create a jelly-like effect. This recipe combines my mother’s recipe along with my own experimenting. It tastes great and has the agar-agar texture that I expected. Next time I’m going to experiment with gelatin powder and see what that would be like. This Memorable Dish has become more like a science experiment than cooking 😉 .
Ingredients
- 1/2 oz agar-agar
- 1 cup Water
- 2 cups Coconut Milk
- ½ cup Sugar
- 1 Egg White
Preparation
- In a medium pot, heat 1 cup of water and agar-agar using low to medium heat. (Make sure the water is never boiled but at a low simmer.)
- Whisk agar-agar in the water until it’s dissolved. Add sugar and mix.
- In a small bowl, beat egg white gently. Pour egg white in the coconut milk. Then pour this mixture into the pot and simmer gently until everything is mixed. (About a minute or two.)
- Pour coconut milk mixture in a 8x8 glass pan (to be cut into squares) or into different molds to set.
- Put it into the fridge to chill and set.
- Cut into squares.
Notes
Note #1: I divided my 1.5 oz agar-agar into thirds to get my 1/2 oz by cutting it with kitchen shears.
Note #2: If you want to make the texture extra smooth, strain the mixture before putting it in the pan or molds.
Agar-Agar & Coconut Milk
Hi there. I wanted to check in to see if you had a chance to try this recipe with gelatin sheets in lieu of agar-agar. I recently discovered a dessert place called kokonut dessert bar and tried them out. I really love that they use don’t use synthetic flavorings, dyes, additives, or preservatives. I’m going to try your recipe and hope it will yield similar results. Thank you.
Hello Terie, no I haven’t used gelatin sheets before. My mom has always used agar agar. But I think gelatin sheets would work as well. Let me know how it turns out 🙂