Since I was in the mood for agar agar dessert, I was happy to find some frozen pandan leaves at the Asian market for about $1. It would be nice to find some fresh ones, but they can only grow in tropical climates. The package was from Vietnam and read, “Bay Thoy Leaf”.
Nicely washed and cut pandan leaf. Photo from hsa*ba, Burmese cooking.
Pandan leaves have a very interesting scent. I can’t really describe, a bit herbal floral. And somewhat of a ripe banana too. But other have described as being rose like. Not only does it offer a fragrant scent, but it could be used as food coloring too. Some even use it to wrap their food for cooking. I just want to use them to make agar agar dessert.
I am starting to enjoy agar agar more then gelatin. Gelatin is a bit boring and it’s derived from the collagen inside animals’ skin and bones. Bad for vegetarians, but good for those that don’t mind animal collagen. Agar agar is derived from seaweed and has trace minerals and more.
I found some neat inspiration for making desserts using agar agar from Appon’s: Recipe from my native Thailand. Appon made this dessert with mashed pumpkin and pandan flavor agar agar. Since I am a fan of pumpkin pie, I think this would taste great. Photo from Appon.
