Apple Sesame Kanten
by Brenda Langton, Tastemaker in Residence
Kanten is a traditional Asian fruit dessert. It is like a refreshing, creamy fruit pudding. Top it with nuts and fresh fruit. You can vary the juice used to make many different flavors. Apple juice with almond butter is a good combination, and pineapple-coconut juice with sliced oranges is very refreshing. Kanten is pretty served in goblets, and using goblets makes it easy to layer two different flavors.
// serves 6
Ingredients
4 cups apple juice
5 heaping tablespoons of agar flakes
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons tahini
Instructions
Pour the apple juice into a saucepan. Add the agar flakes and the salt and bring the juice to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until the agar dissolves.
Pour the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate the kanten until it sets, approximately 11⁄2 to 2 hours.
Using a blender, blend the kanten with the tahini until it is smooth and creamy. If necessary, blend in batches. Tahini varies in thickness. If you have very thick tahini, you may need to add a little more juice to get a smooth creamy texture. Pour the kanten into individual serving dishes.
Serve the kanten cold. It’s pretty served in stemmed glasses. Garnish it with fresh fruit: try berries, grapes, kiwi, or citrus.
Cook’s Note
Use apple-peach or apple-cherry juice and substitute almond butter for the tahini.
Use coconut milk in place of the tahini.
