August 15th is India’s Independence Day and this time due to corona, our ‘freedom’ has taken a hit and we are all prisoners of this tiny twit of a virus. Yet we are trying to stay safe by staying home unless absolutely necessary and taking other such precautions.

So the mind and body are occupied with ideas that lead me to the kitchen multiple times a day and apart from the innumerable bakes and sourdough experiments and other dishes, this occasion eggs me on to do what several incarcerated Indians are doing, namely creating food items in the hues of the Indian flag 😎

And while I never had time to indulge in this ubiquitous activity in the past, this year I had to jump on the bandwagon and toot my horn too 😀 And since I am also playing with agar agar as you have seen on my earlier post on Pink Pitaya Jelly, I found this dessert the easiest to recreate in the colors of the Indian flag. I also baked a sourdough bread because that bug has infected me in unshakeable ways but we will get to that recipe another day.

The shades of my dessert are probably a little off from those of the actual flag but then it’s the thought that counts right? And with a barrage of food flag dishes online, who’s really flagging me for the hues, tell me? 😀

So what do you think of my Independence Day Jelly?

Liberty – 

Before we proceed I would like slip into philosophical mode for a bit because you need to earn the recipe and what better way than by playing audience to my rambling 😀

What does it mean to be Liberated? Well to me, apart from other things, it also means not just having the ability to get whatever I want but also to be able to not want what I cannot get. The mind is shackled by innumerable needs and we are its prisoners, consciously and sub consciously. Our desires have no end and they rule us and dictate how we feel.

We can break free of this imprisonment by reworking our priorities and also training our minds to accept the unavailability of what we have no access to.

When wishes are fulfilled, they bring forth a huge feeling of satisfaction. Likewise when we no longer yearn for that which is unattainable, the accompanying sense of power, brings forth a sense of liberation that so palpably releases the prisoner from within us.

Well to get back to our current situation, we have been jailed by this tiny but deadly virus and we can choose to be miserable or we can break free and continue living in the best manner possible under the circumstances, without wasting time longing for what is not presently in our reach.

We can also get our priorities right and focus on things that matter, without getting into further misery by turning our conversations to man made issues like politics, religion and other unnecessary controversial topics.

When we live in harmony and unity and understand what is important and what is best left alone, only then we will be truly free as a country and as a society and we will attain peace.

Speaking of peace, I can sense your violence at my long discourse, so let me now hasten on to the recipe 😀

Independence Day Jelly –

While the recipe is almost the same as my earlier Pink Pitaya Jelly, this time I have tried a vegan variant by replacing the dairy with coconut milk. You can use regular milk too and you can also use gelatin in place of the agar agar.

Feel free to use any colors that you want but I personally prefer only natural food hues. So I have used Palak (spinach) for the green.

For the saffron I initially made a mistake and used only turmeric and and a very inaccurate yellow is what I obtained 😎

So my work went in vain and I had to redo this one. This time I tried out 2 options. I initially tried a mix of turmeric (haldi) powder and kokum juice and that gave me a satisfactory color. But I also serendipitously happened to get hold of some ripe palm fruit which has quite an intense orange pulp much like that of a ripe mango.

I have a detailed blog on the ripe palm fruit

Adding a bit of Kashmiri chilli powder to it, gave me a shade similar to the earlier trial. So I have used both in my pictures are they are so identical that you will not be able to tell which is which 😀

You can figure out your own ways to obtain the saffron in case you do not have kokum or palm fruit. A dash of beet juice and turmeric or even a mix of turmeric and Kashmiri chilli should do the trick. It is not spicy at all and hence quite edible.

Recipe for Independence Day Jelly –

Time taken – 

Approximately 15 – 20 minutes per layer.

Ingredients – 

Layer 1 –

Pulp of the ripe palm fruit – 200 gm

Water – 50 gm

Organic sugar – 40 gm

Agar Agar powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Alternatively you can make Layer 1 with – 

Coconut milk (medium thick) – 250 gm

Organic sugar – 40 gm

Haldi powder (turmeric) – 1/2 teaspoon

Concentrated Kokum juice – 2 teaspoon or enough to get a saffron shade OR Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 teaspoon or enough to get a saffron shade

Agar Agar powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Layer 2 –

Coconut milk (medium thick) – 250 gm

Organic sugar – 40 gm

Agar agar powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Layer 3 –

Coconut milk (medium thick) – 250 gm

Organic sugar – 40 gm

Thick puree of spinach ground raw – 1 – 2 tablespoon or enough to give a green shade

Agar agar powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Method for Layer 1 –

Mix all the ingredients and pour into a pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 – 2 minutes. Pour into a tall glass or any mould. You can lightly grease the glass with oil or even water. Jellies which are set with agar, usually slip out easily.

Setting Layer 1 – Set this in the fridge or freezer. In the freezer it soft sets in 5 minutes. After this you can place it in the fridge while making the next layer.

Layer 2 –

Mix all the ingredients and pour into a pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 – 2 minutes.

Allow it to cool until lightly warm. Pour it over the earlier Layer 1. If you allow it to completely cool, it will not stick to Layer 1 and will slide off while unmoulding.

Follow the above method for setting. Keep it in the fridge till you make Layer 3.

Layer 3 –

Mix all the ingredients and pour into a pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 – 2 minutes.

Allow it to cool until lightly warm. Pour it over the earlier Layer 2. If you allow it to completely cool, it will not stick to Layer 2 and will slide off while unmoulding.

Follow the above method for setting. Keep it in the fridge till you need to serve the dessert.

To Serve –

Make sure the jellies have set well. If you wish to unmould and serve, then gently loosen the edges with a blunt knife and invert the dessert onto a plate.

You can also serve directly in the glass without unmoulding.

Notes – 

This is a generic dessert. You can use any other colors or flavors.

You can also vary the quantities in each layer. Meaning, you can make each layer thicker or thinner. Use a proportional amount of agar.

In the variant below, I have used Kokum juice and turmeric.

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I hope you will successfully try this recipe and I would really appreciate if you leave your feedback in the Blog comments.

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