Lest we forget what this Royal Selangor Jellyriffic Challenge is all about…

The whole point about this challenge to create 30 different uses for the Royal Selangor Jelly Mould is to raise awareness about breast cancer. Sure, we’ve been having fun making jellies, panna cottas, terrines, steamed cakes and musubi. We want to celebrate life, laughter and humor with our creations.

But we must remember that breast cancer is not something to play around with. As Annie herself learned with her breast cancer scare, if you feel a lump, go get it checked out right away. Over 4000 Malaysian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and many will die from this terrible disease.

So today’s creation, a Sago Gula Melaka, is intentionally colored rose pink to highlight again the importance of breast health maintenance and getting regular mammograms when appropriate.

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Today’s creation for the Royal Selangor Jellyriffic Challenge is something near and dear to my heart: Spam musubi. Being from Hawaii, I grew up eating these all-in-one meals. We still do make Spam musubi here in Kuching, from time to time, breaking into our supply of Spam that my Mom thankfully brings each time she visits (Spam being substantially cheaper in Hawaii than anywhere else). But we haven’t done it lately, so this challenge is a good excuse to make some again!

Spam Musubi and Ume Musubi

Most musubi are trangle-shaped, like the ones sold at Mana Bu’s musubi shop in Honolulu. We don’t have a triangle-shaped musubi mold, but we do have the Royal Selangor Jelly Mould to shape the musubi! Putting the musubi together couldn’t have been easier.

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We wanted to recreate a Vietnamese dish that we loved to eat back when we were living in San Jose: chả lụa or Vietnamese steamed pork roll. This tasty sausage is usually sliced thinly and served alongside favorites like bánh cuốn or inside banh mì sandwiches. It’s been a while since we had it, so we decided to try making it ourselves.

Chả Lụa

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Waldorf salad is one of my favorite salads. I like its combination of sweet, savory and tangy flavors, and crisp and bursty textures. We took a winning Waldorf salad recipe and stood it up on its head.

Tall Waldorf Salad

When we were brainstorming ideas for the Royal Selangor Jellyriffic Challenge, Annie suggested making a Waldorf salad in jelly form. As she described it to me, at first I was skeptical. But the more the idea turned over in my head, the more I warmed up to it. Plus, I love puns: standing the Waldorf salad up turns it into a “Tall-dorf” salad ! So I agreed that we should do it.

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