Agar-agar Santan Berlapis (Layered Coconut Milk Jelly)

There was a request from Zalyah to me that I should post my next recipe in a conversation-mode. So here goes -

There is no special recipe to this. It is essentially a simple dessert but looks and tastes good! All you need is the agar-agar (processed seaweed) strips, sugar, fresh coconut milk and screwpine (pandan) leaves. Since this is UK, substitute the ingredients with powdered version of agar-agar (can get this in Mill Road with halal markings), creamed/tinned coconut milk and screwpine paste.

The powdered packet of agar-agar pretty much tells you how much water should be added for every gram of the powder. So it is easy. Remember to add in sugar - for every litre of water, add 250g of sugar and leave it to boil and then turn the heat minimum on the stove. Stir occasionally.

For layering purpose, separate the mixture into two pots on the stove when it is ready. Do leave the heat on, or otherwise the mixture will turn solid into agar-agar before u finish layering! For one portion add in the screwpine paste. Since the paste is green, it automatically turns the mixture green! This is the answer to Nora's question why my desserts are always green in colour! You can use food colouring for other colours (if you want).. For another portion, stir in the coconut milk.

And you can start layering! There is of course no rule as to which layer goes in first or how many layers you should do. I used to do 6, but for our get-together that day at Mohini's I did only 4 because I was tired! You can even do just two!

Ladle the coconut milk mixture into a container and put it into the fridge to help the agar-agar set. This will take 5 to 10 minutes depending on how cold your fridge is. When that first layer is solid, bring out the container and then ladle in the next layer of the screwpine mixture and put it back into the fridge. You can repeat this process for as many (or as little) layers as you like. But remember to check that the previous layer is solid before you ladle in the next layer of piping hot mixture. Otherwise, the previous layer will break (happened to me once) and you will lose your layers!

Essentially this dessert is pretty simple and all you need is patience to wait for one layer to turn solid before u add the next one. Dont forget to keep the mixture on the stove liquid while you wait for the one in the fridge to turn solid!

Happy experimenting!

P/S: This one has 6 successful layers because I found patience!