Since I have so much dried blue peas flowers collected from my garden, it's time to make some dessert from it. Here's sharing this beautiful blue pea flower longan milk jelly.
This is rather technical till I need to do a calculations on how to cook this stage by stage. Taking into considerations on different layers of color and to make sure the texture remains the same for all three different layers.
It's tedious job but I'm sure you will be happy with the final result at the end of the day.
I'm opted for using fresh milk in the recipe rather than coconut milk, a healthier version for sure.
Ingredients: (makes a 17cm diameter x 5cm height jelly mould)
5g Agar-Agar Powder
50pcs Dried Blue Pea Flowers - steep in 50ml hot water for overnight in fridge
1 can Longan (234g net weight - small can)
40g Sugar (adjust to your sweetness level)
(A) Transparent Layer
50ml Room Temperature Water
(B) Transparent Blue Layer
25ml Room Temperature Water
(C) Blue White Layer
25ml Milk (I used HL Milk)
Step by Step:
1. Separate longan & the syrups. You will have roughly 120ml Syrup from the Longan.
2. Arrange longan in jelly mould.
3. In a pot, mix 340ml Water + 120ml Longan Syrup with sugar & agar-agar powder. Bring to a boil and stirring continuously until agar-agar melts & turns transparent.
4. Then, reduce to lowest heat and scoop out 150ml of the agar-agar mixture (transparent) to a big mug and add in 50ml hot water. Mix to combine and slowly pour into the jelly mould containing longan.
DO NOT TURN OFF THE HEAT. KEEP HEATING THE REMAINING AGAR-AGAR MIXTURE TILL COMPLETED. JUST TO KEEP IT WARM SO THAT IT DON'T HARDENS. DO NOT BOIL IT TILL BUBBLING, OTHERWISE MIXTURE WILL DRIES UP, AND YOU WON'T HAVE ENOUGH MIXTURE AT THE END OF THE PROCESS.
5. Put jelly mould in the fridge for about *8-10 mins for it to half set (not totally harden). Only the surface is harden.
6. Remove jelly mould from the fridge & prepare for blue layer.
7. Pour in the 50ml blue pea extract to the pot of agar-agar mixture. Stir evenly.
8. Scoop out 200ml of the agar-agar mixture (transparent blue) to a big mug and add in 25ml water. Mix to combine and slowly pour over the transparent layer.
9. Put jelly mould in the fridge again for about *8-10 mins for it to half set (not totally harden). Only the surface is harden.
10. Remove jelly mould from the fridge & prepare for blue white layer.
11. Now, you should have 100ml of the balance agar-agar mixture (blue transparent) in the pot. Add in 25ml of milk to it. Stir to mix. Pour the final layer over the existing half-set agar-agar. (Top up with more milk if you have lesser than 100ml balance = make it total 125ml)
12. Allow it to cool and chill jelly in the fridge till completely sets.
13. Cut jelly into serving pieces before serve. Serve chill.
* Timing in fridge might varies from temperature setting. Look out if your fridge is too cold, please shorten the timing. Alternatively, you can also leave it on the kitchen counter to cool down. But this might take longer time.
I put in fridge so that it cools faster and I don't need to keep boiling my agar-agar mixture for long hours.
Enjoy & Happy Cooking.