Champagne lychee jelly recipe
Lychee jellies are a delicious and easy recipe to use up leftover champagne and are the perfect crowd pleaser at parties!
Servings: 10 people
Calories: 474kcal
Equipment
- Weighing machine/ Measuring cups
- Pot
- Heat-resistant whisk
- Silicone molds
Ingredients
Making jelly with 1 litre of liquid (water/ champagne/ lychee syrup)
- 1 Can Lychees My 565g can of lychees yielded 230g of lychees once drained. If you can get them, use fresh lychees instead- the weight should be of the peeled fruits.
- 1 Packet Agar Agar powder amount as per back of the packet; can be substituted with konjac powder or gelatine. If the amount of water required for your jelly packet is not 1 litre, please adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly. For eg, if your packet only requires 500ml, please halve the amount of lychees etc used
- 0.22 lb granulated white sugar (100g) Only add if your konnyaku jelly packet does not include sugar- you may need to add more/less depending on how much lychee syrup you use (and also depending on how sweet your champagne is). Rock sugar is a good substitute but brown sugar is not. If vegan, make sure the sugar is bone char free
- 1 litre liquid You can use water, lychee syrup, champagne, sparkling or a mix of these liquids to make up 1 litre. Don't use less than 20% champagne (calculated as a percentage of the total liquid ie 200 ml of champagne is the minimum for 1 litre of water), if not you won't be able to taste it! Vegans note that not all brands of champagne are free of animal-products
- Nata de coco, aloe vera, rambutan etc Optional.
Instructions
- Open the can of lychees and separate the lychees from the liquid. Do not throw away the liquid in the can, unless you do not want to use the lychee brine.
- Place the lychees in the molds- I would suggest not more than 1 lychee in each mold. You may want to cut up the lychee if your mold is very small. (Alternatively you can use the lychee as the vessel for the jelly and set the jelly in the lychee (as shown in the photo)- tips on how to do this is in the text above this recipe.)
- If using nata de coco or any other fruits (suggestions in the text above), place an appropriate amount in each mold.
- Mix the sugar and agar powder together well - this is to reduce clumping when the agar powder is poured into the liquid.
- Add the liquids (but not the champagne) to the pot- i.e. water and/ or lychee syrup. The amount of water and/or lychee syrup added would depend on the champagne concentration you want. For example, if you want the jellies to be 50% champagne, add 500 ml of water and/or lychee syrup to the pot.
- Heat the liquid in the pot and when almost boiling (you will see small bubbles forming at the bottom of the pot), very slowly add the agar agar- sugar mixture. Keep stirring continuously whilst adding slowly, if not the powder will form unattractive white clumps in your jelly.
- Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer, stirring continuously for 3 minutes (or till the bubbles disappear).
- Switch off the fire then add the champagne to the jelly mix and stir well.
- Pour into molds and allow to cool in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
- Remove the jellies from the mold just before serving, if not you will sometimes see the liquid leach out of the jellies.
Notes
If using konnyaku powder
- if your jellies ooze out water after solidifying, either the konnyaku powder was not dissolved properly or you've added too much sugar to the jellies.
- As these contain alcohol, I'm guessing you won't be giving them to children but just a note to remind you to be very careful when it comes to giving konnyaku/ konjac jellies to kids (or the elderly), as there have been several instances of kids fatally choking on them!
Nutrition
Calories: 474kcal | Carbohydrates: 128g | Protein: 0.4g | Fat: 0.03g | Sodium: 6mg | Potassium: 76mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 128g | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1mg