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LEMONGRASS AND COCONUT VEGAN PANNA COTTA WITH MANGO MELBA



    What does summer in a glass taste like? It’s a questions us foodies like to experiment with, but I think I’ve found the sure-fire answer: a Lemongrass and Coconut Vegan Panna Cotta with Mango Melba! Each of the ingredients are so lush, tropical and encapsulate the freshness of summer in a unique taste. Mangoes, as you all know, are my absolute favourite fruit, and my obsession runs wild during summer when it’s the peak time for mangoes. I always stock up on crates of mangoes and experiment throughout the hot months. This time I wanted to combine it with two other ingredients that are bold and I love so much: lemongrass and coconut. The flavours of this dessert remind me of when I’ve lived in and visited tropical countries, the citrusy lemongrass and sweet mango pairs so well with the creamy coconut in the panna cotta. Oh, and did I mention it’s vegan?! You won’t even believe it, it tastes just as good, maybe even better than a normal panna cotta.


    Also, I remember mentioning that a panna cotta is one of the easiest desserts to prep and plate beforehand? Here’s the perfect example of how you can make a panna cotta in advance while making the plating look exquisite! The panna cotta can be set in glasses - I used shot glasses for cute individual portions.


    You seriously need to try this because the flavours are so complex and beautiful the only way to actually experience it is to taste the dish itself. Try this recipe and send over the pictures or feedback by commenting down below!

    PREP TIME: 20 minutes COOKING TIME: 7 minutes PASSIVE TIME: 10-12 hours YIELDS: 16-18



    INGREDIENTS


    For coconut panna cotta

    • 400ml coconut cream

    • 100 ml coconut milk

    • 250g coconut yogurt, room temperature

    • 4 lemongrass stalks

    • 7 tbsp caster sugar

    • 1 1/2 tbsp agar agar powder

    • 2 tbsp hot water


    For Mango Melba:

    • 3 alphonso mangoes/ 1 1/2 cup mango pulp

    • 2 tbsp sugar

    • 1 tsp lemon juice


    For Garnish:

    • 1 Alphonso mango, diced into 1cm cubes

    • Few Mint leaves

    • Coconut shavings, toasted


    Equipment Needed:

    • 16-18 shot glasses, 30 ml capacity each



    METHOD


    1. Bruise lemongrass with the back of knife and cut into 2 inch pieces. Pour coconut cream in a saucepan, add lemongrass and heat the cream for 5 minutes on medium to low fire. Do not boil the cream.

    2. Pour the cream in a bowl along with lemongrass, cool it room temperature. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and place it in the fridge overnight to accentuate the flavours of lemongrass.

    3. In a small bowl put agar agar powder, pour hot water on top and let it sit for 5 minutes.

    4. Remove coconut cream from the fridge, strain it in a bowl through a fine sieve, squeezing lemongrass with the back of a spoon to let out all the extract from it.

    5. In a small saucepan, pour coconut milk, sugar and soaked agar agar and heat it until agar agar is melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool for 2 minutes stirring constantly. Pour it into the strained cream, and mix to combine well.

    6. Using a hand whisker, whisk the coconut yogurt and add it to the coconut cream mixture. Gently whisk everything together to incorporate. Transfer to a pouring jug.

    7. Place the shot glasses slanted in a small muffin tray. Gently pour the prepared coconut cream up to the rim of glasses and carefully place the tray in the fridge to let it set for 3-4 hours.

    For Mango Melba:

    1. Blend the mango pulp, sugar and lemon juice together and make the purée. Transfer to a pouring jug.

    2. Remove set panna cotta shot glasses, place them straight upwards on a tray. Pour the mango melba up to the rim and stick it in the fridge until used.

    3. Garnish with diced mangoes, mint leaves and toasted coconut shards.


    COOK'S NOTES:


    • Alternatively, pour the cream in silicon or metallic moulds. Let it set for 10-12 hours or overnight.

    • Pour the prepared mango melba in the serving goblets or deep bowls.

    • To serve the panna cotta, dip the moulds for 3-5 seconds in water and unmould on to the mango melba.

    • Serve garnished with diced mangoes and coconut shards or just as it is.

    • I have made it vegan, but if you are not on dietary restrictions you can replace it with gelatin powder or sheets.

    • For making mango melba, you can adjust the quantity of sugar and lemon by adding more or less according to the sweetness of the mangoes.

    • If you wish to make it bit creamy, heat the mango purée and add a small knob of butter to it. It’s completely optional.

    • You can completely skip the sugar and lemon if you don’t want to. Just purée the mangoes and use.



    ALMOND PISTACHIO CRANBERRY ORANGE BISCOTTI






      How many times have you tried to make something in the kitchen, but it doesn’t go as expected and you have to trash it? Recently, I was quickly whipping up some Eggs Benedict to go with my homemade sourdough, and the Hollandaise sauce unfortunately split. Instead of tossing out the bad batch, I decided to use the split sauce creatively and recover it!

      So here’s what I made... a gorgeous Almond, Orange, Cranberry and Pistachio Biscotti! I totally saved the day and you seriously wouldn’t be able to tell that this was made from a kitchen failure!

      I used the split hollandaise and a few ingredients I had at home and it was so easy to make, which went so well with Blackcurrant tea.


      How do you salvage your kitchen nightmares?


      YIELDS: 28-30

      PREP TIME: 15 minutes

      BAKE TIME: 50 minutes

      PASSIVE TIME: 30 minutes



      INGREDIENTS


      For Split hollandaise sauce:

      3 egg yolks

      1 tsp white vinegar

      125g unsalted butter


      Other ingredients added for biscotti :

      3 egg whites (saved from eggs used for hollandaise sauce)

      75g unsalted butter, room temperature

      1 orange, zested

      1 tsp vanilla extract

      3 cups all purpose flour

      2 1/4 tsp baking powder

      1/2 tsp salt

      1 cup plus 2 tbsp caster sugar

      110g pistachios, unsalted and shelled

      120g almonds, unsalted

      80g dried cranberries


      METHOD


      1. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180°C.

      2. Let the split hollandaise sauce cool down to room temperature. Add butter and blend together with hand blender until lightly pale and creamy. Add sugar, orange zest and vanilla, beat until just blended.

      3. Add egg whites, blend until well combined and little fluffy.

      4. In a separate bowl, sieve flour, salt and baking powder, add it to the butter mixture in three batches, blend on low speed to just combine. Do not over blend. Drop in the pistachios, almonds and cranberries and stir to combine.

      5. Divide the biscotti dough in two halves, shape them in two 12” inch long and 3” inch wide logs. Slightly flatten the logs keeping them about 1.25” inch tall. Keep them about 3 inch apart as the logs would expand when they bake.

      6. Bake them in preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes. Turn the tray once half way during the baking. Remove from oven, let it cool for 25-30 minutes. Using the sharp sedated knife cut the logs carefully into 3/4 inch thick slices. Arrange the biscotti, keeping cut side down on the baking tray. Bake them again for about 15 minutes until light golden in color, turning the tray once halfway through baking.

      7. Remove from the oven and transfer them on a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container for up to a week..



      COOK'S NOTES:


      1. This recipe is created keeping in mind to utilise your ingredients used in your kitchen failures rather than tossing them in the bin. I made these biscottis using my split hollandaise sauce ingredients while preparing Eggs Benedict.

      2. If you are preparing biscotti from scratch, keep all the proportion of ingredients same as is in the recipe above including hollandaise sauce ingredients except vinegar. No need to separate the yolks from the eggs, instead use the whole eggs and add them after beating the butter sugar vanilla and orange zest. The total quantity of butter used will be 200g for the recipe made from scratch. Do not use vinegar for this recipe.


      #biscotti #Italianbiscotti #Italian #snack #teasnacks #bakedrecipes #baking #orangepistachiobiscotti #almondbiscotti #almond #pistachios #cranberries

      BEETROOT CARPACCIO SALAD



        Beetroot carpaccio is the vegetarian version of the classical Italian recipe of carpaccio which is prepared with thin slices of raw beef dressed with a vinaigrette using olive oil, lemon, capers, and even mustard is added for bit of a kick.


        This beetroot carpaccio salad is an impressive yet effortless appetizer salad which is so fresh, healthy and delicious. It’s one of those recipes that barely requires any cooking but still looks like a million bucks on the table.


        Beetroots are packed with essential nutrients and are a great source of fibre, folic acid, vitamin B6, iron, potassium, magnesium and many more.


        Recently I was detected with low iron deficiency and I was kind of worried. Started googling, reading and searching about the best natural sources of food to enhance the levels of the deficiency and found that beetroot is an amazing vegetable which contains nitrates and pigments that helps in increasing the blood flow.

        During this lockdown I ordered my bulk quantity of the veggies from the vendors and I had a large bag full of beautiful beetroots and I still had some organic arugula leaves growing in my garden. I paired it with orange vinaigrette which adds the beautiful sweet citrusy note to this refreshing summery salad. I served it with some grilled sumac and za’atar chicken and hassle back potatoes and everyone in the family was thrilled and thoroughly enjoyed the feast.



        SERVES: 4-5

        PREP TIME: 10 minutes

        BAKE TIME: 1 hour

        PASSIVE TIME: 1 hour

        ASSEMBLE TIME: 10 minutes



        INGREDIENTS


        • 3 medium beetroot

        • 4 cups/1 bunch Arugula leaves, washed and spin dried

        • 40g feta cheese

        • 40g hazelnuts, toasted & roughly chopped


        For Orange Vinaigrette:

        • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

        • 3 tsp lime juice

        • 1 tsp grated ginger

        • 1/2 small navel orange, zested and juiced (2tbsp of juice)

        • 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup

        • 1/3 tsp salt or to taste

        • Dash of freshly cracked black pepper


        METHOD


        1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

        2. Wash the beetroots and wrap them individually in a piece of foil.

        3. Place them on a baking tray and bake them for an hour.

        4. Cool completely and gently peel off the skin.

        5. Slice them thinly with the help of a mandoline or a sharp knife.

        6. Arrange the slices on a platter, slightly overlapping each other.

        7. Mix all the ingredients of the orange vinaigrette to prepare the dressing.

        8. Sprinkle half of the vinaigrette dressing on the arranged beetroot slices. Place arugula leaves in the center, sprinkle feta cheese and toasted hazelnuts, drizzle rest of the dressing on top of arugula leaves and serve immediately.


        COOK'S NOTES:


        • Beetroots can be baked and kept wrapped in the refrigerator for 2 days. Cool them completely before placing in the refrigerator.

        • Dress the beetroots only at the last minute before serving else the beetroot will sweat and the arugula salad leaves will wilt and won’t stay fresh and crisp.

        • I added ginger in my vinaigrette but you can always skip it if you don’t like the flavour.

        • Prepare vinaigrette few hours ahead or a day before and refrigerate. This will intensify the flavours and make it more delicious.

        • I don’t prefer to boil the beetroot as all essential nutrients and deep colour of beetroot is lost. Always try and bake them wrapped in foil to ensure all the nutrients are still intact.


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