Palm Sugar Jello (Agar-Agar Gula Melaka)

I made this Palm Sugar Jello (Agar-Agar Gula Melaka) for a Christmas party of Malaysian and Singaporean friends. The theme for the potluck is Malaysian food. The party is on Boxing day and my boys had asked me to go shopping in the morning. I made the Agar-agar Gula Melaka on Christmas day so that I can have time to go shopping and have food to bring for the party.

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Gula Melaka or palm sugar has a unique fragrance to it that cannot be substituted with other type of sugar. You can find gula Melaka at Golden Summit on Westminster Hwy (across Richmond Public Market). Agar-agar can be found in most Asian groceries store.

Ingredients

  • 18g agar-agar strips
  • 685ml water
  • 1 teaspoon pandan essence (or 2 pieces of pandan leaves)
  • 275ml coconut milk
  • 300g palm sugar
  • 1 egg
  • pinch of salt

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Source: this recipe is adapted from Traditional Nyonya Cuisine by Lucy Koh


Instructions

Agar-agar-Gula-Melaka-2Soak agar-agar strips for about half an hour.
Agar-agar-Gula-Melaka-4Boil water with soaked agar-agar until agar-agar dissolved.

If you use pandan leaves, boil the leaves together with the agar-agar.

Otherwise, add pandan essence to the mixture.

Agar-agar-Gula-Melaka-5Add gula Melaka to the agar-agar mixture and cook until the sugar dissolves.
Agar-agar-Gula-Melaka-7Beat the egg in a small bowl.

Mix egg with coconut milk and salt.

Agar-agar-Gula-Melaka-8Add coconut milk mixture into the agar-agar mixture.

Bring to a boil.

Pour into a mould to set before serving.

You can keep it in the refrigerator to help it set faster.

This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. etranger

    Interesting! I’ve had this at a dim sum place but didn’t know what it was. What I had wasn’t at all green, which I expect with pandan — but yours is not green either. I will have to try it. I’ve never used agar before.

  2. hungry in tsawwassen

    Is agar agar a suitable vegetarian substitute for gelatin?

    1. Suanne

      Hi hungry in tsawwassen, yes, agar-agar can be used as a vegetarian substitute for gelatin.

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