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Lemongrass Pandan Tea
- 5–6 pandan leaves (see note 1)
- 2 stalks lemongrass
- 1.5 L water
- Sugar or simple syrup to taste (see note 2)
Pandan Jelly
- 6 pandan leaves
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 ½ tsp agar agar powder (see note 3)
- 3–4 Tbsp sugar
Instructions
To make the tea:
- Add water to a pot and set over high heat.
- Tie pandan leaves into knots, add to pot. Smash lemongrass to bruise, then cut into 1-inch pieces and add to the pot.
- Bring to a boil then let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes. The water should be light green and is aromatic.
- Add sugar to taste or leave it unsweetened and add syrup when serving. Strain into a pitcher and once it is at room temp, chill.
To make the jelly:
- Blend pandan leaves with the water until fine; strain into a small pot through a muslin or some type of fine-weave cloth strainer.
- Add agar agar powder to the pandan juice and cook over high heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a full boil. Turn off the heat and check that there are no more grains of agar agar left, then stir in sugar.
- Pour into a large flat mold of some sort, like a cake pan, and let cool until set (it will set at room temp.) Remember to pour the jelly only as deep as you want the final jelly cubes to be so there will be less chopping to do later.
- Unmold the jelly and cut into small cubes, making sure the cubes are small enough to be sucked up by whatever size straws you are using. Add jelly cubes to the pandan tea (the tea doesn’t have to be cold when you add the jelly).
- Chill completely in the fridge.
- Serve over ice and with simple syrup if you haven’t sweetened the tea. Enjoy!
Notes
- You can buy pandan leaves fresh or frozen at Asian grocery stores. Be sure to give it a wash before using as sometimes there is dirt that collects in the fold close to the root end.
- To make simple syrup, use equal parts water and sugar then cook over heat until the sugar is dissolved.
- If using gelatin instead of agar agar, make the jelly extra firm then make sure you wait until the tea is cold before you add the jelly to the tea because gelatin melts at very low temperature. I haven’t tried it with gelatin myself so I don’t know how much gelatine you will need, but I would try doubling the gelatin amount that you would use for gelatin dessert.
Keywords: pandan tea, herbal tea, lemongrass tea, iced tea, jelly tea, bubble tea, agar agar
