The kittens dropped my camera on the floor. I think it may be slightly damaged.
This is light and bright and simple. The first time I made it I flavoured the rhubarb with a little fresh ginger. The jelly was lovely but the colour was weak. The raspberries add beautiful colour but their own flavour overpowers the gentle vegetable. Whichever way you choose it's a great low calorie way to make a spring pudding.
Wipe clean three sticks of rhubarb and cut into chunky sections. Pick over your raspberries, use about 200g, and put all the fruit into a heavy saucepan with just enough water to cover the base of the pan, no more. Sprinkle a couple of spoonfuls of sugar over to your taste (it won't need much). Put a lid on it.
Heat very gently until the water starts to simmer and the juice begins to run from the fruit then turn off the heat and leave the pan, cover in place for 10 or 15 minutes. The mixture will continue to cook in the residual heat.
To set the jelly I used a commercial product, Vege-gel, which is carrageenan based. Add the powder to 300ml of cold water in a saucepan and whisk it in. Bring the mixture to the boil and simmer for a moment, then pour the liquid into your fruit.
Mix well and spoon out into four individual moulds (or set in a pretty single bowl). Vege-gel, like agar agar, sets quickly at room temperature.
Serve with vegan ice-cream or make a fruit coulis for posh dinners.
We paid £3.55 for five sticks of rhubarb in Waitrose and felt ripped off, then a friend gave us a huge bundle and we were blessed. Raspberries aren't in season yet and so are expensive. These were on their sell by date and marked down to 60p and although I had to remove a few mouldy specimens they were fine for cooking with.
