Matcha, soy milk, a little coconut blossom sugar and agar-agar – that’s all you need for this light summer dessert.
Especially now, as summer slowly draws to a close and the days are still warm, a well-chilled dessert is particularly appealing. Our Matcha Jelly is light, refreshing, and pleasantly subtly sweet – ideal for the last warm afternoons and evenings of the year.
In Japan, jellies and Kanten desserts are popular in many variations. They can be fruity, made with azuki beans or tea, but also in savory versions – even fish-flavored. Typically, they have a clear, light consistency and a rather subdued sweetness.
Our Matcha Jelly embraces precisely this idea: few ingredients, a delicate consistency, and an intense matcha flavor. Instead of a lot of sugar, we use only a small amount of coconut blossom sugar, which gives the jelly a pleasant caramel note. The dessert is also vegan and is prepared with agar-agar instead of gelatin.
And the best part: The recipe works just as well with Hōjicha powder instead of Matcha. This gives the jelly a softer, roasted note with hints of caramel and roasted nuts.
Matcha Jelly – vegan summer dessert with little sugar
Ingredients
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10 g Matcha
alternatively: 10 g Hōjicha powder -
350 ml unsweetened soy milk
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40 g coconut blossom sugar
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6 g agar-agar powder
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100 ml water
Preparation
1. Heat soy milk
Slowly heat the soy milk over low heat. It should get warm, but not boil.
2. Mix matcha and coconut blossom sugar
Thoroughly mix the matcha with the coconut blossom sugar. Mixing with sugar makes the matcha easier to stir smooth later.
3. Make matcha paste
Add some of the warm soy milk to the matcha-sugar mixture and stir carefully until a smooth, thick paste without lumps forms.
4. Prepare agar-agar
Bring 100 ml of water to a boil and stir in the agar-agar. Stir well until no lumps are visible.
5. Mix everything together
Stir the matcha paste with the remaining warm soy milk. Then add the agar-agar mixture and mix everything thoroughly.
6. Pour through a sieve
Pour the finished mixture through a fine sieve into a suitable mold. This makes the jelly particularly fine and even.
7. Chill
Let the Matcha Jelly set completely in the refrigerator.
8. Invert and serve
Carefully invert the finished jelly onto a plate or tray and cut into bite-sized pieces.
Our Serving Suggestion
We serve the Matcha Jelly with a little fruit purée and powdered sugar. Slightly acidic fruits are particularly suitable, as they create a nice contrast to the creamy matcha and the delicate sweetness of the coconut blossom sugar.
For the Hōjicha variant, pear, plum, or roasted nuts also go very well.
Thus, a light dessert for the fading summer is created from a few ingredients: cool, uncomplicated, not too sweet, and with a lot of Japanese character.