The inspiration for this dessert came from a game I saw on YouTube, called Dreaming Mary. It’s a side scrolling indie horror game about an innocent little girl named Mary who was heavily implied to be raped by her pervert uncle, and it focuses on how she manages to escape from being imprisoned by finding a solution in her dreams. It’s a beautifully designed game with a lot of wonderful music, and my inspiration came from that and specifically, how the game and it’s sequel, Blue Dreams, loosely showcase cliones, also called sea angels.

For my dessert, I have a couple different components. I have two kinds of gelees: ramune and coconut. I also have mango pudding “uni” as well as a coconut crumble, strawberry-lychee sorbet, and a sea salt sugar swirl. I wanted the entire dessert to resemble a cute little fishbowl, hence why I plated the dessert in a large round glass. I used molecular gastronomy in the form of the gelees and the mango pudding “uni”, both of which use agar to set them in place of gelatin.

For the flavors, I chose this particular sorbet because it resembles the pink or reddish center of the sea angel. The uni further emulates the warm orange-yellow colors in the sea angel as well, while the shape of the pudding is meant to resemble sea urchins, another little critter of the deep. I used mango because it’s a tropical fruit that works well with lychee. Ramune is just a light and refreshing drink, and turning it into a gelee is a nice way of keeping it that way. The usage of coconut was because it’s a tropical fruit as well and it compliments everything in the dish already.

Strawberry-lychee sorbet:
3/4 cups chopped strawberries
1/4 cup chopped and pitted lychee
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
a pinch of ground ginger

Blend and strain ingredients. Churn ice cream whichever way you want and keep in the freezer so that it can set up entirely.

Mango pudding “uni”:
1 red mango; peeled and pitted
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons powdered coconut milk
3 tablespoons granulated sugar* (you can use less sugar if the mango is sweeter)
a pinch of salt
3 tablespoons agar powder
really cold canola oil (make sure that it was in the freezer)

Puree mango with coconut milk. Bring up to a slight simmer and temper in the egg yolk, agar, salt, and sugar. Whisk together over heat for about 1 minute, then strain. Bring down to room temperature. Using a spoon, gently spoon the mango pudding mixture into the cold oil, to set it into the shape of uni, or the sea urchin tongues. Strain the “uni” out of the oil and place on a paper towel to remove any excess grease.

Ramune gelee:
1/4 cup ramune
1 tablespoon agar powder
a pinch of salt
1 toothpick tip’s worth of blue food coloring* (if the ramune is not dyed blue already)

Combine ingredients and bring to a simmer. Chill immediately until solid.

Coconut gelee:
1/4 cup coconut water
1 tablespoon agar powder
a pinch of salt

Repeat the same exact instructions as the ramune gelee.

Coconut crumble:
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup coconut flakes
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons coconut oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix together ingredients and bake for 15 minutes. Break up the crumble while it’s still warm and allow to cool.

Sea salt sugar swirl:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 dot of blue food coloring*

Bring sugar, water, sea salt, and corn syrup to a simmer. Once the sugar starts to bubble (and you can see the bottom of the pan through these bubbles), but before it turns brown, take off heat, shock the bottom of the pot or pan with cold water, and then stir in the blue coloring. Drizzle swirls of the sugar onto parchment.

Assembly:
Place cubes of both gelees on the bottom of the glass. Then the uni, then the crumble, and top with a small scoop of the sorbet, and the sugar swirl on top to garnish.