Sunday, May 27, 2007

Indonesian Coffee Flan at Everydaydish.tv!

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Photo by Yongkie Hurd

During my vacation at Portland, Oregon(see last blog), one exciting event I did was fulfilling Julie's request to present my Indonesian Coffee Flan recipe in her Everyday Dish.TV, a newly born website to present healthy and creative cooking. This is, indeed, a wonderful site with videotaped cooking shows (click on Cooking Show) where you can view what the dishes look like and how recipes are made, in short webtv segments. No measurements of ingredients are mentioned during the videotaping since you can find the recipes on the right hand side of the cooking show page. It is a smart idea for individuals who want to learn an easy-does-it cooking by using simple recipes and simple techniques.


I was, of course, NERVOUS, because the experience was really nerve-wrecking! It was my first experience being videotaped. Just try it, cooking something with someone breathing on your neck and watching you closely or from behind your back. In my case, it was the camera and the cameraman/director/producer, Jay. I was cooking under the shining bright lights everywhere. Hence, I have never cooked like this before. But Jay was very patience with me and methodical. At one time, he offered me a shot of tequila...hhmm....what a good idea! But I didn't take a shot and was able to go through it with his help. Let me know what you think of my video: Everyday Dish.tv presents Indonesian Coffee Flan. You may need to download the latest Quicktime 7 for Windows to view all the cooking shows in this site. If you are an iPod user, you can subscribe and download all cooking shows from this site. DH happens to get an iPod for his birthday and will be able to show his wife cooking to everyone he knows. :-)



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Indonesian Coffee Flan is a recipe I invented because an acquaintance visited an Indonesian restaurant, had this dessert, and wanted to know how to make it. The secret ingredients are Indonesian Palm Sugar called Gula Jawa, Pandan (Southeast Asian flavoring leaf smells like vanila, also called screwpine leaf), vanilla, and a good coffee. I grew up with these ingredients and have always used agar powder in making jello-like desserts. I didn't know that gelatin powder that is used commonly in the US is made of an animal ingredient until I became a vegetarian and was told so. Indonesians have always used agar powder which is derived from seaweed for gelling desserts.

You may say, 'Wow these are EXOTIC ingredients! How can I find these ingredients?' If you live in a metropolitan area, you can find these ingredients in asian markets who usually carry Indonesian ingredients. You may find Gula Jawa (palm sugar) and agar powder in the aisle of Thai or Indonesian ingredients and the pandan leaves in the frozen section. It is very unfortunate that I can't find fresh pandan leaves in the States. The aroma of fresh pandan leaves is so wonderful!

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Agar powder found in Asian markets in small packages


If you live in a non-metropolitan area, you can find on-line sources for gula jawa: IndoMerchant or Indonesian Food Mart; agar powder: barryfarm.com or Amazon , and pandan essence (use 1 to 2 teaspoons): Importfoods.com.

16 comments:

Michelle said...

i watched your video, and thought you did great! i would also be very nervous, cooking with people watching/recording my every move!

n/a said...

That looks unbelievably good!

cv said...

Hi Spice Island Vegan, Your video is wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing this presentation of your terrific recipe. Catherine

Dori said...

Hi Debbie, I noticed that you changed you photo ... I remember when you first shared your beautiful coffee flan on the Vegan Feast Talk Boards, Looks great!!

spiceislandvegan said...

Hi all,

Thanks for the wonderful comments! Yes, I changed my picture after I am exposed in the video. :-) No hiding anymore. The world knows who I am now.

Debbie

KleoPatra said...

Debbie, love the new photo. And your flan is FLANTASTIC. Wow, now that is truly art... Well done. i love it!

Sheree' said...

Oh my goodness. It all looks so good! I just came upon your site and am going to try my hand with your soy & seitan "sausage" from bryanna's newletter. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Anonymous said...

Hi Debbie,
Wanted to drop you a note to thank you again for the Lemon Grass - It is still alive, despite my not-so-green thumb. My computer crashed and I lost my email address book - so I have to contact you this way.
-caela

Anonymous said...

aw, i want them now! they look so pretty :) i usually use agar-agar bars, but powder makes sense. i will look for it next time around!

Anonymous said...

Hi Debbie,
Apa kabar Sis ?
Reminds me of what my Mom used to make.

Greetz from

Indo Ruwet

Unknown said...

Hi,
This is the blogger's goofy brother. Just want to say I followed Dr. Neal Barnard's vegan diet program and I was able to reduce my A1c (blood sugar) from 9.1 to 6. Cholesterol and triglyceride were down to ridiculously low levels. I lost like 11 lb in 3 weeks. However, after I found out the result I celebrated in a Brazilian BBQ place :-). I am not eating vegan yet, but trying to do so. Now, my sister promised me the Flan recipe with no sugar and no fat. So, let's wait for another recipe :-) She said she will use agave juice for sweetener. You make tequila with Agave . . . so I think I will be lean, mean, and a bit drunk?? ;-)

Wheeler's Frozen Dessert said...

wow, that looks really good. great pictures!

Virginie said...

They are beautiful with their mix of colours. I heard about pandan essence just a few days ago, and hope I can find a natural one in France.

Anonymous said...

HI Debbie,
I was looking for a nice picture of my spice cake and remembered your wonderful post, funny and sweet, and the great looking cake. Now I am drooling over the flan. Yummy! Agar! My Vegan Baking Boot Camp finished last Monday and the students worked with all 3 forms. You cannot do vegan desserts without learning your agar, can you? I use agar powder, though, only in small quantities and for fixing.
In any case, I sure wish I had your flan right now!
Your work is amazing.
Congratulations.
Fran

Wheeler's Frozen Dessert said...

Hi again!
Just wanted to pass on this information ...

Boston Magazine recently published an article all about us this month - here is the link:

Oh Soy Tasty!

If you have a few minutes to spare, could do us a huge favor and read the article and comment at the bottom of the page? We're very excited about getting such great press, especially from a magazine of this caliber. If everyone drops by and leaves a quick comment, soon there will be no doubt in any publisher's mind: YES, readers absolutely do want to know about vegan happenings and developments. Please don't hesitate to repost the article on your blog and spread the world!

Thanks!
Emily @ Wheeler's Frozen Desserts

Dazy said...

I've always wanted to make flan. But the whole caramel making process gives me the creeps! I tried once,
and it failed. May be I should give it a try once again bcoz this looks gorgeous!