This Milo Santan Agar-agar is a layered jelly made with Malaysia’s most popular chocolate malt drink and coconut milk. A dessert perfect for any occasion.
Agar-agar is a popular dessert in Malaysia. You will find it in almost every gathering in a myriad of flavors, colors, and shapes. People love it because it is light, cool, and refreshing, perfect in the hot and humid weather. Best of all it is quick, easy, and economical to prepare.
The Ever Popular Milo
Today’s Milo Santan Agar-agar combines agar-agar with Malaysia’s favorite chocolate malt drink, Milo. If you grew up in Malaysia, you would have had your share of this delicious beverage either hot or cold. Children and adults love it. You will find Milo in all kinds of desserts including cakes, cookies, and even sandwiches. I had my share of Milo Sandwiches as a kid and enjoy it to this day.
Santan (Coconut Milk)
Another popular ingredient used in desserts in Malaysia is santan, the Malay word for coconut milk. One very popular dessert using coconut milk is Bubur Cha Cha, a delicious sweet creamy soup with tubers and tapioca starch jelly. As such, I am using santan (coconut milk) in my version of this dessert. While many layered Milo Agar-agar comes with carnation milk as the second layer, our family always made it with thick santan (coconut milk). If you prefer to use milk, please use the same amount of coconut milk as specified in the recipe below.
Using a Mold vs Cutting Into Lozenge Shapes
Back in the old days, most people made their agar-agar in trays. This was an economical dessert and not many people have different shaped molds in their kitchen. Today, there are all kinds of plastic molds out there to suit every occasion. You can certainly use any mold you prefer but I am going to stick to the old fashion method of making them in trays and cutting them into lozenge using a plastic fluted cutter purchased in Malaysia. Besides, it is much faster and easier to make it this way. Actually, I think it is also quite pretty. 🙂
Similar Products Used in Making This Milo Santan Agar-agar
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Nestle Milo Chocolate 14.1 OZ
Aluminum Square Cake and Brownie Pan, 8-Inch
Nonstick Bakeware, Square Cake Pan, 8-inch
Forged Aluminum Nonstick Cookware Set, 7-piece, Granite
Equipment
- 8” x 8” x 2” square pan
INGREDIENTS
Milo Layer
- 5 cups water (1.2 liter)
- 20 g agar-agar
- ½ cup sugar (110g)
- ¾ cup Milo (100g()
Santan (Coconut MilLayer
- 1 cup water (240 ml)
- 1 cup coconut milk (240 ml)
- 8 g agar-agar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup sugar (55g)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prepare an 8” x 8” x 2” square pan. Wipe or brush pan with a little vegetable oil.
Milo Layer
- Bring water in a medium pot to boil. Add agar-agar and sugar. Reduce heat to low. Stir constantly until agar-agar and sugar dissolve, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in Milo until well incorporated into agar-agar mixture. Turn off stove.
- Pour agar-agar mixture into prepared pan and allow it to set for about 45 minutes at room temperature.
Santan (Coconut MilLayer
- Combine water and coconut milk in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil.
- Add agar-agar, salt, and sugar. Reduce heat to low. Stir constantly until agar-agar, salt, and sugar dissolve, about 3 minutes. Turn off stove.
- Gently pour mixture over set Milo layer and allow santan layer to set at room temperature, about 20 minutes.
- Transfer to the refrigerator and allow it to chill until ready to be served.
- Remove from refrigerator and cut set Milo Santan Agar-agar into desired shapes.
NUTRITION
Lozenge Shaped Milo Santan Agar-agar
We had company the day I made this Milo Santan Agar-agar and so I cut and placed the lozenge shaped pieces on a long rectangular server. Our guests said it was very pretty and was curious as to how I achieved the fluted lozenge pieces of agar-agar. I was more than happy to demonstrate. 😉
The bottom Milo part is quite hard compared to the top. What should I do to make it a bit softer?
If it is too hard, you need to increase the amount of water or use less agar-agar.