Asian Desserts Haute and Not

[EllenC]

I'm teaching a class for a group of women in a couple of weeks on asian cooking. I was wondering if any of you had any ideas. I am not allowed to use alcohol or tea in anything... So can you think of something relatively simple with an Asian flavor?

Edited to correct my hideous punctuation - I think.

Ellen

Edited December 31, 2003 by EllenC (log)

[Wendy DeBord]

I like the traditional deep fried fruit dumplings with sesame seeds (served table side). It wows some people.

Also you can make sweet wontons. Fill them with bananas and ganche, ginger flavored ganche with lychees, etc.... and create a sweet dipping sauce to match.

Another idea- petite sushi cake rolls filled with sweet creamy rice and fruits (you can roll them in a thin layer of marzipan or chocolate. Roll your cake flat to compress it or use somthing like a joconde as your wrapper)....again an interesting sauce to compliment. Anything from a caramel sesame ginger sauce to a almond creme or a lychee and mandarin sauce.

[torakris]

one of my favorite and easiest dessert is tapioca in coconut milk.

I have never had anyone turn it down.

[wesza]

Another very simple Dessert very popular for Asian Parties is:

Almond Fruit Jelly, there are many recipes available on the internet or if you'd prefer that I post one for your perusal i'd be glad to. I've never seen this dessert not being the first finished, plus it's simple can be made ahead of time for self serve or in individual servings. My daughter has found it works great for overnight pajama parties as a childrens project for a refreshing breakfast treat prepared the night before.

Something else to consider is "Bubble Tea", now available at most Asian Markets in "Do It Yourself Kits".

Irwin

Edited December 31, 2003 by wesza (log)

[torakris]

Another very simple Dessert very popular for Asian Parties is:

Almond Fruit Jelly, there are many recipes available on the internet or if you'd prefer that I post one for your perusal i'd be glad to. I've never seen this dessert not being the first finished, plus it's simple can be made ahead of time for self serve or in individual servings. My daughter has found it works great for overnight pajama parties as a childrens project for a refreshing breakfast treat prepared the night before.

Irwin

Irwin,

Is your almond jelly the very firm kind that can be cut into shapes or the very soft almost pudding like one?

I really prefer the soft kind and have been looking for a recipe, if yours is of this style please share!!

[wesza]

Another very simple Dessert very popular for Asian Parties is:

Almond Fruit Jelly, there are many recipes available on the internet or if you'd prefer that I post one for your perusal i'd be glad to. I've never seen this dessert not being the first finished, plus it's simple can be made ahead of time for self serve or in individual servings. My daughter has found it works great for overnight pajama parties as a childrens project for a refreshing breakfast treat prepared the night before.

Irwin

Irwin,

Is your almond jelly the very firm kind that can be cut into shapes or the very soft almost pudding like one?

I really prefer the soft kind and have been looking for a recipe, if yours is of this style please share!!

Kristin: In my experience this variation is simple to do, by adjusting the amount of mild used. The majority of Hong Kong Almond Jellies use Canned Evaporated Milk, while I feel is better then fresh milk. If you want your dessert to be softer you may be successfull by adjusting the amount of milk/gelatin ratio to suit your taste.

The other also simple method is to prepare the Almond as a Custard Type Pudding by simply adding Corn Starch or Bird's Custard Powder in the original flavor available in Asian Groceries or even in Japan. The powder has a little annato color added to give a little egg color but all it's ingredients [no egg] are Cornflour, Salt and no artificial flavors. You add the sugar and Almond extract. The can gives instructions about adjusting the thickness of your custard.

There are also available "Almond Juice" Drinks that are very adaptable for this dessert in most Asian Markets a popular brand from China is called "NUOC HANH NHAN" made in China.

I've even resorted to using a Vanilla Type of Pudding Mix adding Almond Extract to make a acceptable quick version. But the best is simply to make it from scratch using Corn Starch, Canned Milk, Almond Extract, Almond Juice, Sugar, and a tiny amount of gelatin after your pudding starts to cool.

Bring your liquids to a Boil, lower to simmer, add flavorings, etc and whip until starts to thicken, remove from fire, taste and adjust, stir in your fruits and gelatin and set it up for what ever type service you prefer.

Irwin

[torakris]

Thank you!

I am going to give it a try.

[lorea]

How about sweet taro soup?

Or sweet rice balls filled with black sesame (or red bean) in a sweetened wine rice soup?

The almond jello is a good idea too....it's super-easy to make. But if the cooking level of your students is a little higher, they would probably feel cheated by the simplicity of that dessert.

Or how about deep fried thousand layer cakes? Lightly sprinkled with granulated sugar and peanuts.

[Pan]

So I gather India is not part of Asia for the purposes of this thread.

My favorite dessert for dim sum is the cool coconut agar-agar rectangles (well, tetrahedrons, really). I have no idea how easy or difficult it is to cook, however.

Why don't you teach them how to make a dessert soup like red bean soup, white fungus soup, or Malaysian bubur cacak, which was always served to me as a breakfast and not a dessert when I lived in Terengganu in the 70s but has been adopted as a dessert in Malaysian restaurants in the U.S., at least.

[EllenC]

I knew if I put this question out on this forum there would be LOTS of great ideas.

Irwin - if you could post your Almond Jelly recipe I would be grateful!

The dessert sushi sounds fun too and I think I will start experimenting with that for next month.

Thanks for all the ideas and please keep them coming!

edited because I never seem to catch all the errors before I hit the submit button.

Ellen

Edited January 2, 2004 by EllenC (log)

[Zingano]

Mango and sticky rice is one of my favourites. Try searching the internet, it turns up plenty of recipes.

(The recipe I quoted removed at moderator's request.)

Edited January 3, 2004 by Zingano (log)

[gus_tatory]

i have had a cake that is delicious--perhaps not surprisingly called "satsuma" (sweet potato)--that is a simple sweet potato sponge cake jelly-rolled with red-bean (adzuki puree) paste.

sorry i can't offer recipes, but let us know how it goes!~

[EllenC]

Wow! My creative juices are really flowing now. I am just in awe of some of the things you all suggest. This is gonna be great. Thanks for all the ideas and feel free to keep them coming. i will let you know how it's going.

[lorea]

Not sure about Irwin's recipe, but these are the proportions I use for Almond Jello:

3/4 cup Hot water

1/4 cup Sugar

1 packet of Gelatin

1 cup of Milk

1 teaspoon of Almond extract

(Make this like you would any other jello dessert)

To this, add 1/2 can - 1 full can of Fruit Cocktail or Lychees.

Edited to add in the units!

Edited January 2, 2004 by lorea (log)

[chocklateer]

I have just started an new job where I have been given free reign to create the dessert menu for the restaurant. Boy am I excited!!! The restaurant's lunch and dinner menus have a slight asiatic influence. I would like to sound some asiatic tones in the dessert menu to compliment the other menus. Unfortunately, I am somewhat asea when it comes to asian ingredients/techniques/tastes. I have been trying to stretch my experience and increase my knowledge in this area(more so in the culinary than in the pastry up to now) but am still struggling. Does anyone have any good reference/baking/dessert books or web sites I may check out for inspiration?

Thankyou,

D.

[JustKay]

There was thread about this some time back. I'll see if I can find it. I know I posted about Chocolatier magazine featuring this fusion dessert.

[Swisskaese]

Here are some interesting fusion recipes:

Five-spice chocolate velvet with jasmine tea sorbet

Green Tea Tiramisu

Go to food network and search for Ming Tsai recipes. Here are a few:

Green Tea Iced Souffle with Sake-Marinated Dried Cherries

Baked Crisp with Five Spiced Apples, Pears, Drunken Prunes and Mascarpone Cream

Roasted Spicy Pineapple with a Passion Fruit Glaze

And a couple more (look at this website, there are a number of fusion recipes):

Hawaiian Sweet Potato Cakes with Pineapple Ice Cream and Coconut Creme Fraiche

Chocolate Mousse, Banana-Ginger Creme Brulee and Pineapple Carpaccio

[Wendy DeBord]

I noticed that the latest Albert Uster catalog has a couple recipes and photos of dessert sushi.

[Gastro888]

If you have an old/used bookstore in the area (our public library here has a bookstore) try to find the Time/Life Food of the World series. The Food of Japan, Food of China and Southeast Asian food books will give you a good background.

An idea: why not try to make pandan flavor tulies filled with matcha white chocolate mousse with a berry couli? I was assisting a cooking class and they make regular tulie with white chocolate mousse and I thought of this Asian twist as I was burning my fingers on the cooky sheet. (Inspiration, I suppose...)

From one of my favorite hangouts in DC, Teaism - jasmine creme brulee and chocolate torte with green tea ice cream as a "basic" dessert for those guests who may not want to get out of their safety zone. Chocolate and matcha (green tea) go very well together.

Also, ube (purple yam) or sweet potatoes could be used in a dessert. Corn is very Asian as well. Why, I don't know but we treat it as a sweet more so than a savory. For a Southeast Asian twist, try palm sugar.

Oh, I just thought of this - passionfruit "dan tat" or egg tarts. Hmm.

[plk]

In "In the Sweet Kitchen," Regan Daley has a recipe for "little lime-syrup-soaked coconut cakes." It would go very well with a Thai dinner. Also, I believe the same book has a recipe for lychee ice cream.

[Mooshmouse]

The Philippines is an oft-forgotten country when it comes to Asian cooking, and we have fantastic desserts!

Here's a link to the Sweets & Desserts page of The Radical Chef's weblog which features loads of great Filipino recipes and photos.

Hope you find this useful.

[LT Wong]

You can check out this book Asian High Tea Favourites. Or browse that site for other books.

For a dinner tonight, I'm making several "updated" desserts. One is a black glutinous rice with coconut ice cream and grass jelly. This is usually eaten thick like pea soup, but I'm making it more like a soup with softened black glutinous rice grains. Alternatively, you can serve this with taro ice cream and drizzle in thick coconut milk. In a bind, vanilla ice cream will also do.

My second dessert is a lemongrass jello infused with pandan and pomelo (similar to a grapefruit) leaves, and served layered with pureed mango. The gelling ingredient is not gelatin, but a powder supposedly extracted from a fig. The texture is softer than agar or gelatin.

I'm also serving a cream of mango soup with pomelo pulp and sago pearls.

For drinks, it's a choice of rose-flavored or calamansi lime drink with pandan flavoured agar strips.

[chocklateer]

Wow! An Abundance of Ideas and Inspirations! I'm overwhelmed and unsure where to begin! Thanks so much!

On Sunday, I made a lemongrass brulee and a double ginger cookie to go with it. I haven't tried the brulee yet(I'm not back at work till tomorrow) but the cookie was really yummy and nice and crisp! It's a small step. I'm going to follow up some of the ideas/leads that you all have given me...and that should lead me further along the right path.

Thanks again,

Della

BTW, what is pandan and dan tat?

[Gastro888]

Pandan, also known as screwpine leaves. It's commonly used in Southeast Asian cooking as a flavoring agent. It's very unique - very fragrant. Westerners associate it with vanilla but honestly, to me it's a floral, coconutty kinda thing, with emphasis on coconut. Very tropical. You don't eat it, you take the long grass like leaf (it looks like grass on 'roids) scrape it with a fork to release the essence and knot it and drop it into coconut milk and simmer the coconut milk a bit and then use the milk in whatever recipe you have.

Dan tat is Cantonese for egg tart. You'll find it at dim sum places and Chinese bakeries. Basically it's a lard based pastry with an egg filling, almost like flan but firmer and not as liquid. Served in mini-tins about 3 inches across. Google dan tat and you will find various recipes. Vary the traditional sugar-egg filling with different flavors.

May I ask where do you work and live? Perhaps there's a large Asian population nearby where you can get ingredients?

Funny, I think of lemongrass as a savory instead of sweet. I guess it's from the lemongrass pork I eat at Vietnamese places.

Oh...mochi!!!! You can do various things with mochi and sweet red bean paste. Yuuum.

[phaelon56]

On vacation a few weeks back in Paris (lucky lucky me!) we had dinner one night in a casual bistro (La Boussole - recommended by an eGulleteer - naturally). The dessert I chose was a "trio of creme brulee's". One was citrus, one cinnamon and the third was infused with star anise and had an actual anise star on top.

It was by far the most subtle and fascinating of the three - the anise flavor sort of floated beneath the creaminess of the creme and the burnt crunch of the brulee - emerging just enough during each bite to make one aware of its presence. Yet it never dominated or interfered with the appreciation of the traditional creme brulee experience.

I've always been leery of creme brulee that tries to deviate from the classic formula but this was really, really good.