Sago, Coconut, Palm Sugar

Friday, 2 Apr 10

Memory is an odd thing. Sometimes it is clear, evoked by a certain scent drifting past, the smell of a bakery that reminds you of that cake your grandmother used to make on rainy sundays afternoons, of the fruitiness of  that shampoo that leaves a bittersweet note, because it had been so present when you ran your fingers through that someone’s (now gone) hair. Other times, it hits you completely unexpectedly, when you try something you thought was new. A barely tangible familiarity that lingers on the edge of your tastebuds, teasing and prodding gently, until…That’s it!

That coconut candy we spent a whole summer hoarding jealously after a trip to muggy Vietnam. For dad, it was the cake his mother used to make in his childhood. Sago, palm sugar, coconut milk. Something from a place different from home, but striking each of us in its familiarity. So, inspired, I borrowed the flavours from that Malaysian dessert, sago gula melaka, that Tim’s family had introduced us to, and created something I hoped would evoke those fragile threads of memory from in others.

It was a success with the extended family at Tet. It’s hard to go past the deep, almost burnt caramel notes of palm sugar, softened by silky coconut pannacotta. The acidity of passionfruit gelee, though thoroughly breaking tradition, prevents the dessert from being too cloyingly sweet, while pearls of sago provide a link back to the original inspiration. (Can you tell I was a Visual Arts student with a flair for justifying my work after the fact?). Not that anyone really understood the links back to sago gula melaka. No, instead, I hope they were drawn to search out the ends of a memory thread of their own.

…Though I’ll settle for them acknowledging it was a damn good dessert too.

Passionfruit gelee

200ml passion fruit puree

2 teaspoons gelatin powder

3 tablespoons cold water
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Put passion fruit puree into a saucepan over low heat warm gently. Bloom gelatin powder in the cold water in a small bowl.  Add the gelatin into the passion fruit mixture and stir until dissolved. Allow to cool, but not set.  Pour a little the mixture into each of the containers – I like to use plastic disposable cups which I have cut the top half off, so it’s easier to unmould the pannacotta. Allow to set in the fridge.

Coconut pannacotta

300ml thickened cream

250 ml coconut milk

75g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2.5 tsp gelatine

1 tablespoon water

Sprinkle gelatine over bowl of water until translucent and bloomed. Stir cream, milk and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Add vanilla extract and remove from heat. Add gelatine to cream mixture and stir until completely dissolved. Allow mixture to cool, but not set, so that it does not melt the set passionfruit gelee. Divide mixture amongst prepared moulds. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until just set.

For plating

palm sugar syrup (i used store bought)

sago, boiled in water until clear

1 Comment

1. And this is why food is so much more than the tastes it brings. For behind every meal there is a process of making it, why its made, where its origins stem from and why it is enjoyed =)

   Comment by mademoiselle délicieuse — April 2, 2010 @ 3:47 pm

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