Jiggly Cat Jelly
I am obsessed with these jiggly jellies. They’re shaped like cats, they're insanely jiggly, and they also accurately represent how I feel most days — a little clueless, maybe a bit anxious, but somehow still raving to my inner theme song. Oh and of course some days I just want to flop over and do nothing.
I first had these at Dodoo cafe in Kuala Lumpur — their whole social media page is a wibbly wobbly patchwork of posts and reels about these cat jellies — and thought they were really funny and cute to eat. So I bought the molds online, filled them with a milk tea custard along with some gelatin mixed in to help the jelly set, and let them chill overnight in the fridge.
The next day, I flipped them out, gave them some black sesame eyes and mouth, and they came alive with their jiggly wobbliness! Honestly, I thought they were almost too cute to eat. Almost.
Technically you don’t have to make them in these molds. With this recipe, you can fill the custard into any regular jelly mold and it’ll still turn out wibbly and wobbly. But when they’re in the shape of a cat, not only do they taste creamy and milk-tea-rich, somehow they’re extra fun to play with!
So maybe now that I’ve had this, when life gets me down, I’ll try headbanging my way through it.
Jiggly Cat Jelly
Makes: 2 cat-shaped jellies
Total cook time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
5g gelatin powder
60ml (¼ cup) water
360ml (1½ cup) milk
50g (¼ cup) granulated sugar
1g (¼ tsp) salt
2 black tea/earl grey tea bags
6 black sesame seeds
Method
Combine the gelatin powder and water in a small bowl, and leave it for 5-10 minutes to bloom the gelatin.
In a medium pot or saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, salt, and the tea bags, and place over medium heat. Heat for 5 minutes until the milk starts to steam (~70°C), then turn the heat down to low and let the tea steep for 10 minutes. When done, take the tea bags out of the milk, then add the bloomed gelatin powder into the milk tea. Give it a stir, and let it cook for 2 minutes.
Strain the milk tea mixture into the cat jelly molds (or whatever other mold you’re using) until its ~1cm from the top. Chill it in the fridge, uncovered, for at least 4 hours until completely set, or up to 2 days. (I usually leave it overnight to be safe.)
When done, gently unmold the jellies onto plates, arrange the black sesame seeds on the cat face to make its eyes and mouth. Jiggle away!
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