It’s getting warmer this time of year and now is the perfect time to enjoy a cold dessert! Today will be introducing Fruit Cream Anmitsu, a dessert low in calories.

Fruit Cream Anmitsu Ingredients

(serves 3)

Packaged Kanten – Agar Powder (4g / 0.141 oz)
500ml Water (2.11 us cup)

Kuromitsu
1 tbsp Mizuame – Thick Starch Syrup
100g Kurozato – Muscovado or Unrefined Brown Sugar (3.53 oz)
70ml Water (2.37 fl oz)

Gyuhi
30g Shiratamako – Glutinous Rice Flour (1.06 oz)
50g Sugar (1.76 oz)
60ml Water
Potato Starch

3 Strawberries
3 Navel Orange wedges
3 tbsp Anko – Sweet Red Bean Paste
3 scoops of Matcha Ice Cream (Green Tea Ice Cream)
20-30 Boiled Aka Endomame – Red Endo Beans

Fruit Cream Anmitsu Guide

Preparing Kanten (Japanese Agar)

Add water (500ml) and Kanten powder into the pot and turn on burner. Lightly stir mixture with rubber spatula while cooking. Reduce heat to low when water reaches boiling point. Constantly stir Kanten in water while simmer for 2 minutes. Wet container before pouring Kanten. Place into the refrigerator after Kanten becomes cool.

Preparing Kuromitsu Sauce

Add water (70ml), Kurozato (unrefined brown sugar) and Mizuame (thick starch syrup) to the pot and heat at medium heat. You can substitute corn syrup for Mizuame. Thoroughly mix ingredients till Mizuame dissolves completely. When it boils, reduce heat to low and thoroughly remove foam. Place pot on a trivet. Once Kuromitsu cools, place into another container and chill in fridge.

Preparing Gyuhi (Sweet Mochi)

Put Shiratamako rice flour in bowl and gradually mix in water. Remove any pockets of flour and add sugar to the Shiratamako mix. Put bowl in microwave (700 watts) and heat it for 1 minute. Cooking time depends on microwave wattage. Remove bowl from microwave and mix dough with wooden spatula.

Heat dough in microwave again for 40 seconds. Remove bowl from microwave, damp spatula and begin mixing dough thoroughly. The mixture should be translucent, glossy and gooey. If it’s not gooey enough, heat it an extra 20 seconds and mix well.

Use damp wooden spatula to place Gyuhi on baking sheet that is generously covered with potato starch. Sprinkle potato starch on the dough through a sieve. The Gyuhi is extremely sticky so feel free to use potato starch generously. Shape Gyuhi into 1/5 inch thick square and cool it.

Cutting Kanten

Remove Kanten from container and place onto the cutting board. Dice up Kanten into half-inch cubes. Place Gyuhi onto cutting board that is generously covered with potato starch. Chop off four edges and dice Gyuhi into half-inch squares.

Cutting Oranges

Trim off top and bottom of orange. Slice orange peel vertically. Remove the white part of range. Make a V-Shape cut into the center of orange and remove the piece. Make a slice along thin layer and make another cut to get 2 more pieces.

Cutting Strawberries

Chop off stem ends. Cut strawberries vertically in half.

Serving Fruit Cream Anmitsu

Put one-third of Kanten cubes in the bowl. Generously pour Kuromitsu sauce on it. Place sweet red bean paste and one scoop of Match Ice Cream on Kanten. Garnish with navel orange and strawberry. Finally place 2 pieces of Gyuhi and sprinkle on some red endo beans.

Fruit Cream Anmitsu Tips

Kanten is high in fiber and has zero calories, so feel free to use it as much as you want. Gyuhi is so soft and tasty and I recommend that you should try it out. Please check out the wattage of your microwave and adjust cooking time for Gyuhi accordingly.