Es Sarang Burung (Bird Nest Ice)

This weekend was very special since we invited our close friends to celebrate Ave's birthday. I was so excited to prepare the food. Most importantly, all of us had a great time together sharing our stories. Yeah...we joked a lot about Tea Inn boarding house where Thu, Ave and I met. The dodgy entrance door with graffiti, rat in the kitchen and crickets in Thu's bedroom door!

Theme for the dinner was Indonesian. So, we had es sarang burung for the drink; deep fried soft-shell crab, sambal terasi, lalapan, pepes udang, pepes tahu, and soto ayam for the mains. I also baked kue pandan for the birthday cake. Here is a photo of our dining table with the food prepared (the cake was still hiding in the kitchen).

Es sarang burung is one of the easiest Indonesian drinks to prepare. I actually planned for es cendol but cendol dough was overcooked so it completely failed. Well... it didn't matter since I decided to serve es sarang burung instead.

Ingredients:

• agar powder
• white sugar
• Indonesian basil seeds
• two fruit cans of your choice

Preparations:

Make the agar based on the instructions given. I usually reduce the amount of water and sugar required to 70%. This agar will be much easier to grate later on.

Soak basil seeds in cold water for at least 1 hour. Leave the boiled agar at cool temperature for 3-4 hours.

When the agar has completely cooled down, grate the agar.

Mix all the ingredients together. Use the syrup from the fruit cans. Add more water and ice to adjust the sweetness.