Coconut Jello

 

This recipe really could not be any simpler or quicker for a great tasting light dessert. Coconut jello is my favorite dessert at chinese restaurants, but I stopped ordering it just because I felt like it was something I should easily be able to make at home at a much lower cost. It was also a hit or miss ordering it in restaurants because it never tasted quite rich or coconutty enough to me, like they were trying to skimp on the coconut milk. Well, after my recent foray into jelly desserts with the Osmanthus jelly, I thought I would give coconut jello a go as well.

After scouring the available recipes for coconut jello, I settled on this one from HI Cookery and it was fantastic. It's rich with coconut flavor and sooo easy to make. If you include some of the possible add-ins, it takes a little bit longer, but it's still really easy.

Coconut Jello molded in mini muffin cups

Coconut Jello
Recipe from HI Cookery

1 can unsweetened coconut milk(13.5 oz)(I like Chaokoh brand)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup milk(whole or reduced fat milk)

In a sauce pan over low heat, mix the coconut milk and sugar until dissolved. Measure the 1/2 cup water in a measuring cup and sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Let sit for a few minutes. Stir the gelatin mixture into the coconut milk. Turn off the stove and mix in the milk.

Pour mixture into an 8 by 8 inch pan or a 9 inch pie dish to set. You can pour the mixture through a sieve if there seems to be any bits of undissolved gelatin. At this point, you can mix in your add-ins. They tend to sink to the bottom, but as the jello cools and begins to set up, you can stir it up to redistribute everything.

Let the mixture come to room temp before chilling it in the fridge for at least a few hours until completely set. Cut into squares and serve.

Add-ins:
Cooked Adzuki beans, mung beans, cooked and rinsed tapioca pearls, shredded coconut, etc.

Add as much of the add ins as you'd like, but not so much that it's hard for the coconut mixture to come together. I've found that the tapioca makes the jello a bit firmer. I boiled about an 1/8 of a cup of dried tapioca pearls until translucent, drained, and rinsed them and found it to be plenty.