A favorite at parties and during the holiday season, this frozen treat combines fresh fruits with a sweet, creamy sauce. Make sure you thaw it in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours before serving.
1 cup (250 ml) whipping cream
½ cup (110 g) cream cheese, softened
¾ cup (200 ml) sweetened condensed milk (see note)
4 cups (500 g) mixed fresh fruits (apples, pears, honeydew and grapes), cut into bitesized pieces
8 whole maraschino cherries, to garnish (optional)
Serves 6-8
Preparation time: 15 mins + 30 mins thawing
Freezing time: 8 hours
1 Whip the cream until fluffy. Add the cream cheese and condensed milk then whisk until smooth. Fold in the fresh fruits and maraschino cherries, if desired. Transfer to a large bowl and cover.
2 Freeze for about 8 hours or until firm. Thaw about 30 minutes in the refrigerator before serving.
If sweetened condensed milk is not available, you can make your own using 2 cups (500 ml) of whole milk and 1¼ cups (250 g) of sugar. Combine the milk and sugar in a large saucepan. Simmer over low heat, stirring frequently to prevent scorching, until the mixture thickens, about 45 minutes. Remove from the heat immediately and set aside to cool. The mixture will thicken further as it cools. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator. This makes about 300 ml (1¼) cups of sweetened condensed milk.
2 lbs (1 kg) ripe cooking bananas
2 cups (300 g) dark brown sugar or palm sugar
4 cups (1 liter) water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups (500 ml) fresh cream, evaporated milk or coconut cream
Crushed ice
Serves 8-10
Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 50 mins
1 Slice each banana diagonally into bite-sized pieces.
2 Combine dark brown sugar or palm sugar and water in a casserole dish or pot and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves.
3 Add the bananas and return to the boil. Lower heat and simmer until bananas are tender and the liquid becomes thick and syrupy, about 40 minutes. Skim off any impurities that rise to the top and discard.
4 Stir in vanilla essence and set aside to cool.
5 Spoon bananas and syrup into serving bowls. Add ¼ cup (60 ml) fresh cream or evaporated milk or coconut cream to each serving. Top with crushed ice.
Fresh coconut cream may be obtained by grating the flesh of 1 coconut into a bowl (this yields about 3 cups of grated coconut flesh). Add ½ cup water and knead thoroughly a few times, then squeeze the mixture firmly in your fist or strain with a muslin cloth or cheese cloth.
Palm sugar ranges in color from golden brown to dark brown. It has a distinctive, maple-syrup flavor.
This super-fast dessert is delicious served hot or cold.
¼ cup (30 g) sesame seeds
6 ripe bananas, peeled
2 cups (500 ml) thick coconut milk
1 cup (250 ml) water
1 pandanus leaf, washed and tied in a knot (optional)
½ cup (100 g) sugar
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
3 tablespoons dried tapioca pearls or sago pearls, rinsed in cold water and drained
Serves 6
Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins
1 Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add sesame seeds and stir constantly for 2-3 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside.
2 Slice each banana in half lengthwise. Slice each half into 3 pieces, to obtain a total of 36 pieces.
3 Combine coconut milk, water, sugar, salt and pandanus leaf in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves. Add the bananas and tapioca or sago pearls. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring often, for 5-7 minutes, or until the tapioca pearls turn translucent.
4 Remove the pan from the heat. Spoon the mixture into individual dessert bowls and sprinkle ½ teaspoon sesame seeds over top before serving.
Bananas with Iced Coconut Custard
4-6 ripe bananas, steamed until soft, about 6 minutes
3-5 cups crushed ice
Coconut Custard
¾ cup (100 g) rice flour
4 cups (1 liter) thick coconut milk
2 pandanus leaves, raked with a fork, knotted
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (150 g) sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
Syrup
½ cup (125 ml) water
½ cup (100 g) sugar
Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 25 mins
1 To make the Coconut Custard, mix the rice flour with ½ cup (125 ml) of the thick coconut milk and set aside.
2 Put remaining coconut milk, pandanus leaves and salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Simmer 2 minutes, then remove pandanus leaves. Stir in the reserved rice flour mixture, stirring until the mixture thickens and is cooked, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and vanilla essence, and stir until sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool.
3 Make Syrup by bringing the water and sugar to the boil in a small saucepan, stirring constantly. Simmer uncovered for 3 minutes and set aside to cool.
4 Peel bananas and slice. Divide between 4-6 large serving bowls. Add some of the Coconut Custard and add about ½ cup crushed ice to each bowl. Top each portion with some of the Syrup and serve immediately.
Although the Coconut Custard is of a firm rather than pouring consistency, it becomes more like a cream when mixed with the crushed ice before eating.
Sweet Tapioca and Cantaloupe Soup
To make this simple dessert, you’ll need to shop at your local Asian market. For the tapioca, you will need the pearl tapioca sold at Asian markets; the Western tapioca pearls are not a substitute. Coconut juice is not the same product as coconut milk—it is available canned or fresh from a coconut that is cracked open—but if you cannot get it use water instead. Young coconut meat is sold frozen or in cans.
1½ cups (375 ml) water
½ cup (60 g) tapioca pearls or sago pearls
1 cup (250 ml) coconut juice
¼ cup young coconut meat
⅓ cup (65 g) sugar
½ cup (125 ml) coconut cream
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cantaloupe, flesh scooped out with melon bailer (about 3 cups/500 g)
Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
1 Bring the water to the boil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Stir in the tapioca pearls or sago pearls and coconut juice. When the tapioca becomes almost translucent, after about 5 minutes, stir in the coconut meat and the sugar, stirring constantly. Cook 5 minutes more, taste for sweetness adjusting if necessary; then remove from heat.
2 Warm the coconut cream over low heat. Add the salt and stir until it dissolves. Remove from the heat.
3 To serve, spoon ½ cup cooked tapioca into each individual serving dish and top with 2 tablespoons coconut cream and several pieces cantaloupe. Stir and serve.
Sago and Melon in Coconut Milk
4 cups (1 liter) water
3 tablespoons sago pearls
2 cups (500 ml) thin coconut milk
⅓ cup (65 g) sugar
1 pandanus leaf, tied into a knot
1 ripe honeydew melon (about 13 oz/400 g)
Ice cubes
Serves 5-6
Preparation time: 30 mins
Assembling time: 20 mins
1 Bring the water to the boil in a large pan. Add the sago pearls to the water and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat, cover pan and set aside for 10 minutes. The sago should be translucent, indicating that it is cooked.
2 Pour the cooked sago into a colander and rinse under running water to wash off excess starch, until sago grains are loose and separate. Leave the sago in the colander to drain thoroughly.
3 Place the thin coconut milk, sugar and pandanus leaf into a pan and bring to the boil. Take the pan off the heat and place it in a sink of cold water to cool. When the coconut milk mixture reaches room temperature, pour into a jug and refrigerate until ready to serve.
4 Remove the skin from the honeydew melon and cut the flesh into ¼-in ½-cm) dice.
5 To serve, place a spoonful of sago pearls and diced honeydew melon in a bowl. Pour over the coconut milk mixture. Add ice cubes and serve immediately.
Pearl Barley and Ginkgo Nuts in Sweet Broth
¼ cup (50 g) pearl barley
6 cups (1½ liters) water
1½ cups (200 g) ginkgo nuts (with shells)
1 pandanus leaf, tied into a knot
2 sheets dried beancurd skin
½ cup (100 g) sugar, or to taste
Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 20 mins + 20 mins soaking time
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 mins
1 Rinse barley in several changes of water until water runs clear. Place in a large pan with the water and set aside to soak for 20 minutes.
2 Meanwhile, carefully crack the ginkgo nut shells and remove the nuts. Place in a small pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Remove pan from heat, drain water and run cold water over the nuts—this makes it easier to peel off the papery skins covering the nuts. There is also a germ within the ginkgo nuts which needs to be removed as it is bitter. You can do this by either splitting the nut into half and removing it, or by gently pushing it out using a toothpick.
3 Place the prepared ginkgo nuts into the pan of soaked barley and bring to the boil. Simmer until tender, about 45 minutes, adding the pandanus leaf half-way through the cooking.
4 When barley and ginkgo nuts are tender, crumble the beancurd skin into the broth and cook for 10-15 minutes. Sweeten to taste. Serve either warm or cold.
If using canned ginkgo nuts, add to the broth when the barley has softened.
Dried beancurd skin is the light brown skin that forms on the top of boiling soy milk as it cools. It is sold in thin sheets for use as wrappers or in thick twists for use in meat and vegetable dishes. It is sold dried or frozen in Asian grocery stores and supermarkets, and may be substituted with dried beancurd sticks.
12 oz (350 g) orange or yellow sweet potatoes
4 cups (1 liter) water
1 in (2½ cm) ginger, thinly sliced
1 pandanus leaf, tied into a knot
⅓-½ cup (65-100 g) superfine sugar (depending on sweetness desired)
Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
1 Peel sweet potatoes and cut into bite-sized chunks.
2 Rinse the sweet potato chunks, then place in a medium pan with the water, ginger and pandanus leaf. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook until sweet potato chunks are tender, about 10-15 minutes. Remove the ginger slices and pandanus leaf.
3 Sweeten to taste and serve warm or cold.
⅔ cup (1 50 g) black grain glutinous rice
4 cups (1 liter) water
1 pandanus leaf, tied into a knot
½ cup (1 00 g) sugar, adding extra to taste if desired
1 cup (250 ml) thick coconut milk
¼ teaspoon salt
Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 40 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour
1 Pour the glutinous rice in a large pan and pick out husks and any foreign particles. Wash in several changes of water and then cover with fresh water. Set aside to soak for 30 minutes.
2 Drain rice and add 4 cups (l liter) fresh water. Bring to the boil together with the pandanus leaf; then reduce heat to low and simmer until grains are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 1 hour. (The final consistency should be creamy and porridge-like; if it looks dry, stir in 1 cup of water.)
3 Add sugar and cook for another 10 minutes before removing the pan from the heat.
4 Combine the thick coconut milk and salt in a small pan. Heat gently, stirring constantly, until it reaches boiling point. Remove the pan from the heat. Serve the porridge in small bowls with a spoonful of coconut milk swirled over the top.
¾ cup (150 g) azuki beans (red beans), picked clean, rinsed and drained
½-in (1-cm) piece dried tangerine peel, washed and soaked in ¼ cup (60 ml) hot water
7 cups (1¾ liters) water
½ cup (100 g) sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour dissolved in 2 tablespoons water (optional)
Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour
1 Put the red beans, dried tangerine peel and water in a 3-quart (3-liter) saucepan. Bring to the boil.
2 Reduce heat, cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour until softened.
3 Add the sugar and stir. Trickle the cornflour mixture into the soup to thicken the consistency, if desired.
Azuki beans are small red beans that are boiled until soft and eaten whole in desserts. They are also boiled and mashed to make sweet red bean paste, a filling used in many Japanese cakes and desserts. They may be substituted with red kidney beans.
1 cup (200 g) dried mung beans
6 cups (1½ liters) water
2 pandanus leaves, raked with a fork and tied into a knot or 2 drops pandan or vanilla essence
1½ tablespoons sago pearls (optional)
4 tablespoons coconut cream
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (150 g) coarsely chopped palm sugar
1-3 tablespoons sugar
Serves 4
Preparation time: 40 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour
1 Pick the beans over for grit then rinse in several changes of water. Place beans in a large pan and add water. Set aside to soak for 30 minutes.
2 Add the pandanus leaves or pandan or vanilla essence to the pan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until beans are tender, about 45 minutes.
3 Place the sago in a colander and rinse, if using. When the mung beans are tender, add sago. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the sago is clear and swollen, about 15 minutes. If not using sago, simmer the mung beans uncovered for 15 mins.
4 Remove pandanus leaves, then add coconut cream, salt, palm sugar and sugar to taste. Stir gently, until sugar dissolves, 1-2 minutes. Serve warm or cold.
The mung beans may be cooked in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes, using 3 cups (750 ml) water.
1¼ lbs (600 g) pumpkin
1 cup (200 g) coarsely chopped palm sugar
2 cups (500 ml) thick coconut milk
2 pandanus leaves, raked with a fork and tied into a knot or few drops pandan or vanilla essence
¼ teaspoon salt
Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
1 Peel the pumpkin and cut into bite-sized chunks. Set aside.
2 Put palm sugar, thick coconut milk, pandanus leaves and salt into a medium saucepan. Heat gently over low heat, uncovered, stirring constantly to stop the coconut milk curdling.
4 When the palm sugar dissolves, add the pumpkin and cook uncovered over low heat, stirring several times, until the pumpkin chunks are tender but not mushy, about 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Pandanus Jellies in Coconut Milk
Shaved ice or ice cubes to serve
1½ cups (375 ml) thick coconut milk
¾ cup (190 ml) Palm Sugar Syrup (see page 7)
Pandanus Extract
10 pandanus leaves
¾ cup (200 ml) water
Chendol Jellies
6 tablespoons mung bean flour (green pea flour)
2 tablespoons rice flour
Serves 4
Preparation time: 40 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
1 Wash the pandanus leaves and cut into ¾-in (2cm) lengths. Place in a blender with ¾ cup (200 ml) water and grind until the leaves become liquidized. Strain through a sieve and squeeze the pulp to obtain the pandanus extract. Discard solids.
2 To make the Chendol Jellies, pour pandanus extract into a measuring jug and top up with water to make up a total of 2 cups (500 ml) liquid. Add the mung bean flour and rice flour. Stir well until free from lumps then strain this mixture into a pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, until mixture boils and thickens, about 5 minutes.
3 Remove pan from heat and form the Chendol Jellies into little strands (see note). If using a perforated ladle, hold above a bowl containing iced water and, working with a spoonful of dough at a time, pass it through the holes in the ladle by pressing on the mixture with a spoon or rubber spatula. The dough should pass through in little strands. Remember to work fairly quickly, as you must shape the Chendol Jellies while the mixture is still very warm. Once it cools, the mixture will set and it will become difficult to press it through the perforations.
4 To serve this dessert, place 2-3 tablespoons of the Chendol Jellies in a deep bowl and top with a generous mound of shaved ice (or 5-6 ice cubes). Pour in about ½ cup (125 ml) thick coconut milk and drizzle on 1-2 spoonfuls of Palm Sugar Syrup (page 7) to sweeten. Serve immediately.
Traditionally, the cooked cendol mixture is passed through a frame with round holes, but if you don't own a cendol-making frame, you can improvise by using a perforated ladle. The above recipe will produce cendol of a natural, muted shade of green. If you prefer a brighter-colored cendol, add 2 drops of green coloring to the mixture before you cook it.
