This is the sweet dish I made for the Sake Cooking competition. The theme of my dishes for the competition was ‘Sake for Eating’. This dessert was a food but I wanted to put some reminder that Sake is alcoholic ‘Drink’. That is why I wanted to use a wine glass for serving this dessert.

My thoughts behind this dish were

1. I wanted to keep all the flavour and taste of Sake in my dessert without losing any by heating Sake. That is the reason I decided to make Jelly.

2. I like flavour of Sake, however, I wanted something ‘more than just Sake’. I infused Sake with Rose Petals in order to enhance the delicate Sake flavour. The consequence of that made the Jelly has fragrant Rose smell and also slightly Rosy pink colour. I managed to infuse Sake in both flavour and colour.

3. It has been changing in recent years but Sake still has the image as it is the drink for men more than for women. I wanted to create something which suggests that Sake could be something romantic.

Rosy Sake Jelly with Raspberry Sauce

[Ingredients] (for 2 Wine Glasses)

 (Jelly)

• Sake 60 ml
• Dried Rose Petals 2 Tsp
• Water 100 ml
• White Granulated Sugar 2 Tbsp
• Powder Gelatine 3/4 Tsp

(Raspberry Sauce)

• Sake 2 Tbsp
• Fresh Raspberry 50 g
• Sugar 2 Tsp – 1 Tbsp (to your taste)

(Garnish)

• 2 Raspberries
• Fresh Mint leaves

[Preparation]

• Place Sake into a small bowl and add in Dried Rose Petals to infuse Sake for over 1 hour
• Place Powder Gelatine into a small bowl and add in 2Tbsp of water from the measured (100 ml) water

[Direction]

Heat water (100ml – 2Tbsp) and White Granulated Sugar in a sauce pan on a low heat. Melt the Sugar completely and turn off the heat when it starts to boil

Add in the soaked Gelatine into the sauce pan. Dissolve the Gelatine completely and leave the mixture to cool down a little for 5 minutes

Sieve the Sake to remove the Rose Petals. Do not press down the Petals in the sieve

*Pressing down the Petals makes the infused Sake cloudy. Clear Jelly is much nicer

When the sauce pan becomes not hot any more pour the sieved infused Sake. Mix well

Pour the Jelly mixture into two wine glasses

Chill the Glasses in a refrigerator for 2-3 hours until the Jelly sets

Place Raspberries in a small pan and squash them with a fork. Add White Sugar and 1 Tbsp of water. Start heating at the low heat. When it boils and the fruit becomes soft, turn off the heat and cool the pan for 5 minutes.

Sieve the Raspbberry and remove seeds. Add in 2 Tbsp of Sake and mix well to make Raspberry Sauce. Chill it in a refrigerator

Pour the chilled Raspberry sauce on top of the set Jelly and garnish with fresh Raspberries and Mint leaves to serve

So How about this Rosy Pink dessert for your Valentine’s Day?  💓