{"id":491,"date":"2009-03-05T22:50:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-05T22:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/veganlovlie.com\/?p=491"},"modified":"2015-11-20T21:54:08","modified_gmt":"2015-11-20T21:54:08","slug":"my-newly-adopted-sugar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/veganlovlie.com\/my-newly-adopted-sugar\/","title":{"rendered":"My Newly Adopted Sugar!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mango <\/picture><\/p>\n

Oh my dear readers\u2026I haven\u2019t abandoned you, no! There hasn’t been a single day since my last post that I haven\u2019t thought about you. My new job has been taking all of my time. I haven\u2019t had any time for myself at all. I’ve just been cooking basics, repeating the dishes over and over again every week. Hhhhh!<\/p>\n

I spend 3 hours a day in commuting to and from work everyday and I am considering of moving closer to my workplace now as I think I\u2019ll be working there longer than I expected, which is good! Very good indeed! I like the job!<\/p>\n

The only new food I\u2019ve tried lately is jaggery (also called goor or gur). You most probably have seen this on other blogs. It is very popular in sweet Indian dishes, desserts, cakes. It is an unrefined sugar made from sugarcane; it is also known as the medicinal sugar and can be used to treat lung and throat infections (more on Wikipedia<\/a>). I wonder why I\u2019ve never seen this in Mauritius where they make sugar from sugarcane. Although, I kind of remember seeing something like it a long time ago while I was still little. But anyway, I had never had it before and have seen it in Indian shops over here in Dublin. So, I decided to give it a try after having read a lot of good things about it on sites\/blogs that I haven\u2019t bookmarked (oops!) and how they manufacture it (on this blog<\/a>).<\/p>\n

This form of unrefined (therefore healthier) sugar is much tastier than brown or demerara sugar; so delicious and fudgy that I\u2019m founding myself eating chunks of it like a little sweet treat instead of chocolate! Jaggery is like a little indulgence by itself!<\/p>\n

\"jaggery\" <\/picture><\/p>\n

Jaggery can be grated, sliced or crushed then used as normal sugar in cakes, desserts or even beverages.<\/p>\n

\"jaggery <\/picture><\/p>\n

I am pretty excited to try a lot of recipes using this magical sugar, if I may say! For my first recipe, I made this jelly with rice water and mango pieces. Rice water? I don\u2019t own a rice cooker. In consequence, I pour off the excess water from the rice after boiling. I feel quite guilty chucking away all this nutritious rice water, so I\u2019ve decided to start saving it for other uses like soups, thickening sauces. Well, I decided to make this jelly using this water and some agar agar flakes.<\/p>\n

The recipe is very simple, although I don\u2019t exactly know how to measure the agar agar flakes. I bought them at the Chinese store over here and they come in long strips. I just hold the whole bunch of strips and cut off about 2-3 cm or 1 inch. If I were to scrunch the strips up, I think they might fit in something like 2 levelled tablespoons. Well, you\u2019ll have to experiment a bit to get the right consistency and they will never be the same anyway as it\u2019s almost impossible to get the exact amount of agar agar every time (except if you use the powdered one).<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the recipe.<\/p>\n

Rice Water and Mango Jelly<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/strong> (2 \u2013 3 servings, depending on portion size)<\/p>\n

1\u00bd rice water (mine was somewhat thick, from sushi rice)
\n1 cup water
\n\u00bd cup soy milk (or rice milk)
\nSmall bunch of agar agar flakes
\n4 tablespoons grated jaggery
\n\u00bd teaspoon vanilla essence, preferably non-alcoholic (optional)
\n\u00bd mango, peeled and sliced<\/p>\n