By | August 4, 2019

~ “Gui Hua Gao” (Osmanthus Flower Infused Konyaku) ~

I love well chilled Osmanthus Flower Jelly dessert every time I dine at Chinese Restaurants. So, I am inspired and planted the idea of making this dessert at home. I presumed all jellies have an easy recipe. Only some time need to be invested. Afterall, this dessert comes with a not-so-easy price tag for the wallet! It has been a while since I wanted to make Osmanthus Flower Jelly. I actually bought a pack of dried Osmanthus Flower and left it in the refrigerator last year. It was until I attended the cooking class by Madam Annie Ho last weekend, I was finally moved to make the jelly immediately. So, I announced that to my little girl and she was all keen with making them together with me!

I like attending cooking classes or gatherings. Everytime, I sit in a session, there will be something new to learn or I will be inspired to be more innovative in the food I am cooking day in, day out. This time, I learnt how to avoid the tiny Osmanthus Flower bits and the Goji berries afloat when they are being transferred to the mould. They are simple tips but important to make the dessert look good.

Osmanthus Flower Cake is known to have a long-standing history. This premium sweet cake was first served more than 300 years ago towards the end of Ming Dynasty era. The dessert was served to Qianlong Emperor as “Gui Hua Gao”. It becomes a valuable dessert since. It is said to require a complicated process. The characteristic of the cake is that they are crystal clear, sweet and waxy. How interesting!

However, I doubt that the original cake was made with the Konyaku or Jelly powder. The process must have been simplified in the modern days. Lucky for us that we have the amazingly ready made Konyaku or jelly powder. Who wouldn’t want to give it a try when it is easy to make, right? Afterall, they are premium dessert in the olden days. Reluctant to spend more time in the kitchen, I do not mind well chilled Osmanthus Flower Konyaku this sweltering hot week!

Osmanthus Flower Infused Konyaku Recipe (Yield 36 cubes) :

A. Ingredients

  1. 1 tablespoon Dried Osmanthus Flower
  2. 1 pack 250 grams Konyaku Powder
  3. 1.25 litre Water
  4. 108 Goji Berries (or roughly half a Chinese rice bowl)
  5. 250 grams Rock Sugar

B. Instrument

  1. Konyaku Moulds (refer photos for reference)
  2. Whisk

AMC Healthy Cooking Method :

  1. Brew Osmanthus Flowers in 100ml hot water (around 90°C to 95°C) for 10 minutes. Strain the infused tea with a strainer and set the Osmanthus Flower bits aside. Rinse goji berries and set aside.
  2. Place an AMC 20cm 3.0 liter Pot unit onto Navigenio. Add all remaining water.
  3. Switch on Navigenio to automatic “A”. Turn on Audiotherm, place on lid knob, indicating “Carrot” window. When Audiotherm beeps, adjust Navigenio to heat level 3 and turn off Audiotherm.
  4. Pour Konyaku Powder into Pot, whisk until the powder has dissolved. Add the Osmanthus Flower Tea into pot and mix well. Turn off Navigenio.
  5. Fill the moulds half full. Leave the mixture to cool for 3-5 minutes. Add the flower bits and 3 goji berries in each mould. Stir a little with a tiny stirrer.
  6. Fill the moulds full. Leave to cool and chill overnight.

Tips :

  1. Osmanthus Flowers are best brewed between 90°C to 95°C for 10 minutes to make this dessert.
  2. Fill moulds half full and let set for few minutes before adding the flower bits and goji berries, so to spread evenly and to avoid sinking to the bottom of mixture.
  3. Keep mixture warm by keeping pot on Navigenio without heat to last the duration of you filling up the moulds. The Akkutherm base in all AMC Pots/Pans keep food warm even without heat source turned on!
  4. Use and AMC oPan to serve. The Akkutherm base of the Pan is great to serve chilled food. Chilled dessert remains chill longer!

Here’s my long neglected Dried Osmanthus Flowers left in the fridge.

Can you see how they look like?

The brewed tea smells so good.

Strain the tea out and set aside.

 

This is the plastic mould I bought from Phoon Huat. 2 trays make 30 cubes of Konyaku. I had to use another tray (not in picture) to fill up the remaining mixture.

Make sure you serve with an AMC oPan. It keeps chill longer!

Do these Gui Hua Gao looks premium? Definitely for me as they are also precious time spent with my little girl, making them together.

We couldn’t wait after we got them done late afternoon on Tuesday. So, we served a tray that evening after dinner. Guess what? The Konyaku are a bit wobbly and soft.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.