When Natasha of 5 Star Culinary Adventures approached us to do a guest post with the theme "5 Star Make Overs," we were honored, but had no idea what to do. But a few days later, a box of treats from Marx Foods, an online gourmet specialty store came and the aroma that hit us like a 2 ton truck were the madagascar vanilla beans. We knew just just had to incorporate it in a recipe somehow.
The first thing we did was to make vanilla extract. Our friend Ju from the Little Teochew had recently made it and so we followed suit. Within a few weeks the vanilla bean and rum turned in a dark magical potion of vanilla aroma that will last for months and years to come. Thanks, Marx Foods!
Our make over is jello/gelatin. So why did decide to make over jello/gelatin? Growing up in a Vietnamese household, jello to us meant agar-agar or thach rau cau which is flavorless gelatinous substance made from seaweed that we flavored with various extracts and flavoring agents such as coffee, pandan, coconut, but really any thing goes so that's why we love it. But of course we were also aware of American brand Jell-O which comes in your typical preset flavors of cherry, lime, etc. So our idea is to make over jello/gelatin with a coconut water and vanilla gelatin and reinforce the fact that you can be much more creative with your gelatin desserts by using agar agar or gelatin powder. Coconut water is all the craze these days because of it's high mineral content than most sports drinks and more potassium than a banana and naturally sweet, this is about as natural a jello as you can get.
The hardest part cutting off the top of the coconut. We use a cleaver and carefully cut about 2 inches below the top. The key is to wedge it into the coconut, then instead of wacking away, take both the coconut and the cleaver in the same motion and pound the coconut on the ground/cutting board--driving the coconut into cleaver and not the other way around. This will wedge the top of the coconut off without risk of you cutting off any fingers. :) . Each fresh young coconut has about 1 cup of water.
Coconut Jelly
- 4 fresh young coconuts
- 4 ts of agar agar powder or gelatin
- 1 tablespoon of sugar (optional)
- 1 cup of julienned coconut (we found this in the freezer section of Asian Grocer)
- drop of food coloring (optional)
- 1 ts vanilla extract
In a sauce pan under low heat, pour in the extracted coconut water and mix in the sugar, extract, agar agar powder. Stir until agar completely dissolves and come to a gentle simmer. Add a drop of food color (optional). Turn off heat and add in shredded coconut. Stir and pour back into coconut shell. Let cool and set in the refrigerater for about 30 minutes and serve chilled.
This is such a great treat to eat the coconut gelatin and at the same time carve out the sweet and succulent young coconut meat. With agar agar, you can be creative with your gelatin using unlimited flavor extracts or juices. This is a great party dessert that you can make a day ahead of time that will delight your guests.
Thanks again Natasha and Marx Foods for this opportunity to share our blog with your readers!
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This guest post is part of the 5 Star Makeover Summer'10 Special:
Ten special bloggers have been invited to recreate different classic dishes of their choice and share them on the 5 Star Foodie Culinary Adventures blog. These guest posts will be featured every Monday from June 28 to August 30. This event is sponsored by MarxFoods, an online store that offers fantastic high quality gourmet products. In September, a final roundup of these makeovers will be posted and readers will be able to vote for their favorite recipe to receive a fabulous prize.
Ten special bloggers have been invited to recreate different classic dishes of their choice and share them on the 5 Star Foodie Culinary Adventures blog. These guest posts will be featured every Monday from June 28 to August 30. This event is sponsored by MarxFoods, an online store that offers fantastic high quality gourmet products. In September, a final roundup of these makeovers will be posted and readers will be able to vote for their favorite recipe to receive a fabulous prize.
