Christmas will be with us soon so I hope all my readers have a throughly enjoyable time after such a difficult year. I enjoy all the celebrations at Christmas as much as anyone else although I have to admit there are some parts of the festivities that I struggle with. I love the taste of mulled wine at Christmas but my Japanese enzymes aren't that good at breaking it down the alcohol once it hits my tummy. Result - I often end up feeling a little woozy before lunch on Christmas Day! I have the same relationship with a traditional Christmas pudding - I love the taste of it but about 1 dessertspoonful is enough for me - it is so rich and filling! Not only that, but with lifestyles changing, I often find people don't want to overload on alcohol and rich food, even on Christmas Day.
So, I thought I would develop a recipe that not only helps my tummy cope at Christmas but also provides a no alcohol, no dairy alternative dessert option for those of you who want to enjoy a healthier Christmas. The result is my mulled "wine" Christmas Kanten Jelly. In fact, this recipe doesn't contain wine - I use a good quality red grape juice instead. The brand I use here is Welch's Grape Juice which is from California but I am sure there are other equally good varieties available. (Just make sure you use pure grape juice, not something from concentrate like a "grape juice drink".) Using grape juice has an added benefit inasmuch as you don't need any added sugar (which features in most traditional mulled wine recipes) as the grape juice is already sweet enough. I add the usual mulled wine ingredients - orange and lemon zest and juice, cinnamon and nutmeg - to the grape juice and simmer for 1 minute. The resulting mulled "wine" is lighter than the alcoholic version but no less tasty. I have served this as a no alcohol version of mulled wine over the Christmas period for a few years now and I'm surprised by how many people have converted to it.
To convert your no alcohol mulled wine into a kanten jelly dessert is simplicity itself. Just add kanten powder to the liquid, bring back to the boil and then turn off the heat. At this stage, depending on how you are going to present your desserts, you might want to let the liquid cool a little. Then, it's just a matter of pouring the liquid into your cups or glasses and letting the kanten set. I used some champagne "coupe' glasses for a glitzy effect but any glasses will do really. At this stage, you can decide on whether you want to dress the top of your glass with some whipped cream or as I did here, use a non-dairy alternative - whipped coconut cream - to make it vegetarian and vegan friendly as well. Producing a thick coconut cream is quite easy but requires two things - first buy a good quality coconut cream like Aroy-D, second refridgerate the tins overnight so that the cream is chilled. Once you open the tin, use a dessert spoon to remove the thickened coconut cream but leave the milky part in the tin. The cream should thicken up nicely after a minute or two under the whisk. If it doesn't, add a little caster sugar to help the process along. Once, you have your coconut whipped cream, spoon it over your (now set) kanten desserts. Decorate with some sprinkles and you have a no alcohol, no dairy, low calorie alternative Christmas jelly dessert.
If you would like to try this out yourself, you can find the written recipe below. For the Youtube tutorial click Christmas Kanten Jelly or scroll to the bottom of the page.
If, like me, you look for other ways to make your season a little more healthy and a little less calorific, you could do worse than look at my Sweet Spring Rolls. These are made using mincemeat and they make a great alternative to traditional mincemeat pies. If you want to take a look, click Sweet Spring Rolls for the Youtube tutorial. Click here, Sweet Spring Rolls for the written recipe.
Happy cooking and Happy Christmas! Kurumi XXXX.
ingredients:
(makes 4 servings)
1 orange, rinsed
1 lemon, rinsed (well washed, if it has a waxed skin)
600ml good quality purple grape juice (or red wine, if you want the alcoholic version, but remember to add 1 tbsp of sugar in this case)
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp nutmeg
4g / 0.15 oz kanten powder ( agar agar)
2 X 400g / 14 oz tins of good quality, thick coconut milk tin (or double cream, if you prefer the dairy version). you should leave the coconut cream tins in the fridge overnight so the cream is thoroughly chilled before whisking.
some sprinkles for decoration
how to:
grate the orange and lemon peel and combine the zest in a bowl.
squeeze the juice from 1 orange and 1/2 lemon and add to the zest
pour the purple grape juice in a saucepan. add the zest and juice, clove, cinnamon stick and nutmeg. stir everything together
bring the liquid boil, simmer for 1 minute, then turnoff the heat. Stand for 20 minutes to improve the infusion
next, pour the juice through a sieve into a second saucepan
add the kanten powder to the saucepan. bring the liquid back to the boil while whisking occasionally. simmer for 2 mins
leave the saucepan to stand for a few minutes, then pour the juice into serving glasses.
when the juice has become lukewarm, refridgerate
to make the coconut cream topping, take the tins from the fridge. spoon out the only thicker part of the coconut cream into a bowl. whisk until thickened. (this is best done just before serving)
spoon the whipped cream over the kanten before serving and decorate with some sprinkles
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