The month of October marks Breast Cancer Awareness.
This year, Royal Selangor has organised a 30-day "Get Your Jelly On" challenge in aid of breast cancer awareness. The competition involves 10 food bloggers from all four corners of the globe that will see them dazzle you with their fantastic creations using the Royal Selangor pewter jelly mould designed by Nick Munro. For more details, see this link.
Despite the pain (imagine 30 days of squeezing the brain juices for creations!) and my limited free-time, since it was for a worthy cause, I decided to jump on the bandwagon. Pink of course is the official colour for breast cancer awareness so expect to see various shades of that colour on the blog for the whole month.
I have always love jellies and being one who hates anything with preservatives and chemicals, I opted for the natural pink colour from the pink dragon fruits. The puree seems to turn everything in a bright uber cool pink that I would love to wear.
Originally I started out with this idea of mixing marshamallows with the dragon fruit agar agar. Bad idea since the marshmallows started to float up and I ended up with a big mess. Hence I settled for just the plain jane...only using the dragon fruit puree. It looked fine but lacked that va va voom I wanted. Scouring through magazines for ideas, I realised it was polka dot season in the fashion world. I've always been partial to the dalmatian look and for those who know me well, will notice it translates to my taste in handbags too!
So what happens if I encase white and pink round balls within the dragon fruit jelly?
The result is an ultra cool looking polka dot jelly that packs a punch in terms of looks and taste.
The round shaped jellies are cream based while the pink jelly has a fruity taste.
It's not overly sweet but nice and crunchy. Looks like a winner to kick start the day one of this challenge.
Like all challenges, it'll be only fun if there's a prize involved right? Here's your chance to get interactive. I'm giving away this nifty little camera Olympus VG-110 to whoever gives me the most creative idea for using the Royal Selangor jelly mould. This would of course involve a form of jelly or food. Tell me your wacky ideas and flavours and who knows I may just make it and award you with that cool camera. Just leave me a comment on the blog or email me at booliciouskl@gmail.com with your suggestion. The deadline for these entries is by October 24. You can submit as many entries. So get that thinking cap on too!
Uber Pink Polka Dot Jelly (For 2 moulds)
round jelly
300ml water
100ml cream
3 1/2 tablespoons agar agar powder
100g caster sugar
dragon fruit jelly
250ml dragon fruit puree, sieved
250ml water
4 tablespoons agar agar powder
150g caster sugar
To prepare round jelly: Combine the ingredients in a small pot and slowly bring to boil, stirring continously. Once it thickens, remove from heat. Pour into a measuring jug. Slowly fill the round jelly moulds. Press down to shut. Leave to cool. Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes before using. Remove the round jellies with a toothpick.
To prepare dragon fruit jelly: Combine all the ingredients in a small pot and slowly bring to boil, stirring continously. Once it thickens, remove from heat. Pour into a measuring jug.
To assemble: Wash the pewter moulds. Do not dry completely to prevent jelly from sticking. Place moulds each in a glass as a holder. Pour a little dragon fruit jelly for the tip. Add the round jellies in one layer. Pour the dragon fruit jelly to cover. Add more round jellies and cover with dragon fruit jelly. Repeat for second mould. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
To remove: Using a plastic knife, slowly loosen the jelly from the mould. You can also dip the mould in hot water for 30 seconds to melt it. Place a plate on top of the mould and turn around to remove jelly. Serve chilled.
For more pictures, see my Flickr set.