Mixed Fruit Kanten with Cream Sauce

Level of Difficulty: simple but with a fair amount of chopping involved
Pots/Pans Used: 2

Ingredients

1/4 cup agar agar flakes
4 cups apple juice
2 mangoes, skinned and diced
1 pint strawberries, sliced
3 plums, skinned and diced

Tofu Cream Sauce:

1 lb silken tofu
1/4 cup sugar
1 TBL vanilla
1/4 cup almond milk

Alicia Silverstone recently posted about a kanten with plums and blueberries she made on her site, thekindlife.com. If you are like me and had never heard of a this kind of dessert before, it's basically a thick jello type texture with fresh fruit floating throughout. I had been wanting to do a healthy dessert for a small dinner party I was throwing and this seemed to fit the bill perfectly. The only thing was that I didn't have her book on hand to look at the recipe. So I did a little searching on the internet at other Kanten recipes and improvised a bit. You can easily change up this recipe to fit the fruit you have on hand or for what's in season. Since I had mangoes, strawberries and plums in my fridge already, I went with it. It's not an incredibly sweet dessert, but I personally loved it. It's light, refreshing and would be perfect for dessert or breakfast. Agar agar is the only specialty ingredient in this recipe, and you can find it at Whole Foods. This is what gives the dish the gelatinous texture so it's an essential ingredient. If you're wondering, the dinner party consisted of my Broiled Stuffed Mushrooms, asparagus, salad, and Eggplant Parmesan. I felt I was craving lots of veggies so this meal was perfect.



For the tofu cream, combine the tofu, sugar, and vanilla in a food possessor. While it's on, add the almond milk. Pour into a bowl and let it firm up a bit in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
In a saucepan, combine the agar agar flakes, and 2 cups of the apple juice. Just set it aside for 10-15 minutes so that the flakes can soak. Meanwhile, combine the remaining two cups apple juice and mango chunks and puree in either a blender or food processor. If it's a little chunky, don't worry about it because mine wasn't a smooth puree either. Just set that aside for the time being. Now bring the agar agar flakes and apple juice mixture to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Let it simmer until the flakes disintegrate completely. Next, combine the agar-apple juice mixture with the mango puree and process again. Pour into a large tupperware container and then drop the strawberries and plums inside. Let it refrigerate until it firms up. This happens somewhat quickly, within an hour even. This makes about 8-10 servings. It keeps great in the fridge so you can have it for breakfast the next day. Just serve with a couple spoon fulls of the tofu cream sauce and you're set!