Coconut & Lemongrass Panna Cotta with Sweet Chilli Pineapple
Prep time:
Cooking time:
2 hours 10 minutes
Total time:
Serves:6
15g Leaf Gelatine
400ml Coconut Milk
320ml Coconut Cream
4 Lemongrass Stalks
100g Caster Sugar
Grated Zest and Juice of 1 Lime
4tbsp Greek Yogurt
200ml Pineapple Juice
120g Caster Sugar
1 Red Chilli, deseeded, membrane removed and very finely diced
1/2 Pineapple, cut into 1
These recipes were taken from Spice Odyssey by Paul Merrett, published by Kyle Books at £19.99.
Lay the gelatine leaves flat in a tray or on a plate and cover them with cold water. Leave to soak until they turn jelly-like in consistency. Set aside.
Pour the coconut milk and coconut cream into a pan. Bash the lemongrass, a stalk at a time, using a rolling pin until it splinters into shards. Add to the pan and push below the surface of the liquid. Add the sugar and lime zest and juice and heat to a simmer. Cook for 3 minutes, remove from the heat and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve, making sure you push through all the liquid. Discard the bits in the sieve. You now have a coconut-flavoured liquid, lightly sweetened and infused with lime and lemongrass.
Squeeze the water from the gelatine and add to the hot liquid. Stir until the gelatine dissolves. Allow the mixture to cool a little and then gently whisk in the yogurt. Pour into 6 jam jars and chill in the fridge for 2 hours or until set.
Remove the panna cotta from the fridge about an hour before serving to allow to soften very slightly. Also, the flavour is better if they are not eaten straight from the fridge.
Meanwhile, make the sweet chilli pineapple. Pour the pineapple juice into a small pan and stir in the sugar. Heat to a simmer and cook until reduced by a third to form an intense pineapple syrup. Remove from the heat and stir in the chilli and pineapple. Chill in the fridge until required.
Spoon the chilli pineapple over the coconut panna cotta, adding a little of the pineapple syrup as well.
These are an indulgent treat after the fasting of Lent. Change the amount of buttercream if needed – the ratio is twice the amount of icing sugar to butter, which makes it easy to adjust.
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