Coconut jelly is a sweet, tropical-flavoured cold dessert in many Asian cuisines, like Vietnamese, Chinese, Malaysian and Thai. Our basic recipe shows you how to make a basic Asian coconut jelly dessert with only 4 ingredients.
Using our basic version, you can make coconut jelly as a boba topping or as a dessert in pudding or cube form. You can customise it by adding fruits and changing the shape. Alternatively, you can vary the ratio of milk and water used for a different flavour intensity.
When this vegan dessert is used as a drink or boba topping, we use coconut water and milk. This helps the topping's flavours not overpower and interfere with the drink's flavours.
On the other hand, when eaten on its own as cubes, pudding, or a dim sum dessert, we use a higher concentration of coconut cream. This gives the dessert a fuller and richer texture. In the end, the ratios for both of these depend on which of our recipe variations you're making.
Jump to:
Coconut Jelly Ingredients
Our easy coconut jelly recipe uses coconut milk, water, agar agar powder, and optional sugar. You can use any sugar or sweetener. We use white sugar so it doesn't tamper with the dessert's white colour.
We're sharing a basic recipe to make coconut jelly, which you can build on. Later in our recipe, we'll show you how to mix and match with different ingredients to make different variations.
Coconut milk
For our recipe, we will use canned coconut milk with a high amount of extract. When you buy this, make sure to check the back to see if it has more than 70% extract. If you cannot find it, find one with at least 50% coconut extract content.
Some brands call their products coconut milk, but it contains only 20% extract. This usually refers to the portions of milk and cream.
Some recipes also incorporate coconut water. However, this would make it a softer, watery jelly with a less vivid and creamy flavour. If you want a lighter tropical flavour, use something with lower extract content. Alternatively, you can dilute it by adding some plain water.
Agar Agar powder
Agar-agar powder can set the liquid to give the dessert a light and crumbly mouthfeel. It breaks apart before melting in the mouth.
We boil the mixture because agar-agar needs to reach 100°C (212°F ) to activate and solidify into a gel. Typically, we will allow it to simmer for a few minutes after boiling to ensure most, if not all, of the agar-agar is activated.
However, you can vary the agar used for softer or harder textures.
Cooks may sometimes use a different setting agent. Instead of agar powder, you can also use gelatin to set the liquid. However, this will make the dish not vegan-friendly.
Flavourings
You can add 1-2 drops of flavourings to our recipe to change the flavour. For example, Almond, orange, ginger, and rose water are great flavours in our dessert.
A large majority of fruits would go well, too. For example, mango and strawberries. Herbs like mint and small amounts of basil also work. Once you master the technique of preparing our Asian jelly, you can add anything to enhance its taste profile.
Easy Coconut Jelly Recipe | Pudding or Boba Topping
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon agar agar powder
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 1 cup coconut milk
Equipment
Cooking Instructions
- Add the coconut milk and agar to a saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Slowly bring the coconut and agar mixture to a boil while continuously stirring. Once it starts to boil, allow it to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat. While it is still hot, pour it into your mould or leave it in the saucepan for cooling and setting. Allow it to cool to room temperature and set for 1 hour. We recommend just cooling it on your dining table or kitchen top for 1 hour before placing it in the fridge to cool for another 1 hour. Cooling in the fridge is optional, but it helps harden the coconut jelly further for easier cutting later.
- Once ready, cut your Asian coconut jelly into the desired size or serve directly to enjoy.
Recipe Notes
- You can use granulated, powdered, or icing sugar in this recipe. Try to steer clear of brown sugar as it will ruin the milky white appearance of the final product.
- Use 1.5 cups coconut cream and 1.5 cups of coconut milk if you are eating it on its own.
- Use 2.5 cups of coconut milk and 0.5 cups of coconut cream if preparing as a boba drink topping.
- You can add any mix-ins or extra flavours you wish.
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimate.
How To Make Coconut Jelly Boba
You can add our Asian jelly pudding directly to the boba as a topping. However, to make a lighter-flavoured topping, we use a mixture of water and milk.
Ingredients for coconut jelly boba topping:
- ½ cup of coconut milk
- ½ cup of coconut water
- 1 tablespoon agar agar powder
- 3 tablespoon sugar
It's the same method as our main recipe. After it sets, break it into smaller pieces using a spoon or cut them into thin slices. Thanks to the agar powder, it should break quickly and cleanly.
It works well with light teas and fruity drinks. You could even use it as a topping on cocktails. Try adding it wherever light and sweet tropical flavours would be welcome.
Cooking Tips
Here are some of our cooking tips.
Shake and stir
If unstirred for a long time, coconut milk in a can might start to separate into two layers of coconut water and cream. Make sure to shake the can or stir it well before using it.
Refrigerate
You don't need a freezer-safe mould. After boiling the agar in the mixture, the coconut jelly will set and solidify at room temperature. But if you want to make it slightly harder, we recommend cooling it further in the fridge. You will need fridge space to place your mould or pot, but you don't need freezer space.
From our experience, agar sets fairly quickly within 1 hour at room temperature. However, we recommend cooling it further in the fridge for an additional 1 hour. This would help harden the agar a bit more, making it easier to cut into your desired shapes.
Getting 2 layers
Here's how to make coconut jelly with two layers, one with transparent jelly and the other with white jelly. You can achieve this by making two batches of this asian jelly, one using coconut milk and the other using coconut water.
For example, you can follow the recipe above but use coconut water instead of coconut milk. Then, pour into the mould. This will be the first semi-translucent layer. Wait 30 minutes before repeating our recipe using coconut milk.
Pour the second batch into the same mould over the first layer. Allow both Asian jelly layers to cool to room temperature before cooling further in the fridge.
Make sure the first layer has set and hardened slightly before pouring it over. Otherwise, you will not get 2 distinct layers.
How To Enjoy
The possibilities for this dessert are genuinely endless. You can add it to drinks, enjoy it on its own as a refreshing dessert or snack, or add it to any number of things. In addition, many cultures utilise similar preparations in their desserts.
In Malaysia, it's sometimes included in Ais Kacang or ABC, a shaved ice dessert with various toppings. A simple way to enjoy it is to serve it in a small dessert bowl with some fresh fruits.
For example, a similar Filipino creation uses it as a topping in halo-halo. In Vietnam, this cubed dessert is cut into bite-size pieces. Then, you eat it on its own as a summertime sweet. You can also choose to eat it directly from a bowl without cutting it for a nice pudding treat.
Don't limit yourself to our recipe's more traditional and popular uses. Instead, you can add it to anything. From ice cream sundaes to cake toppings to fruit salad to granola and smoothies, the sky is the limit.
You can even use it to make your boba pearls for a light, refreshing take on the popular drink addition. We have included the recipe for making these pearls.
Chinese Vegan Dessert
Chinese coconut jelly is vegan and is one of the most ordered dishes at the end of a dim sum course. This vegan jelly uses agar agar powder derived from seaweed instead of gelatin from animal bones. Therefore, like aiyu or herbal jelly, another traditional Chinese dessert, this creamy dessert is vegan.
Coconut cream is also an excellent way to add richness to desserts without adding dairy. Unfortunately, at dim sum restaurants, vegan options are often limited. So, this provides a perfect example of one vegan dish without sacrificing taste and texture.
Coconut Jelly Calories
Our easy recipe is excellent as a dessert since it is exceptionally low-calorie. A single large slab of our sweet vegan dessert nets only 150 calories. You can omit the sugar, but it will make it less sweet. Hence, we recommend adding at least 1 tablespoon of sugar when making our Asian coconut jelly recipe.
We hope our recipe is simple enough for beginners to try. It's an excellent base for many vegan dishes.
If you like these, try to make them into crystal boba pearls or rainbow jelly toppings for other desserts. Test your creativity with these tasty snacks.
Please share your creamy white dessert with us by snapping a photo and tagging us @honestfoodtalks on your Instagram post.
Maybe you're looking for a dessert that is a bit more bittersweet. Then, we've got the perfect thing for you. Check out our Japanese coffee jelly dessert recipe.
Leave a Reply