No Bake | Kokum Coconut Milk Panna Cotta … coastal flavours from friends #dessert #giftthanks #kokum

“I’m not a vegetarian! I’m a dessertarian!”
Bill Watterson

Kokum Coconut Milk Panna Cotta … as if the Italian version of the panna cotta wasn’t delicious enough, the coconut milk version is glass scraping good too. So when the very sweet Ajit posted about a kokum cooler on FB, I was instantly on his case. “Want Want Want”, I said {read pleaded}. The fine, ever obliging and efficient man that he is, ensured that I had a ‘kokum’ package in my hands a few days later. It was a 100 watt smile on my face I tell you!

Ever since we had the sol kadi {top left corner, and just above} at Baramati on the wine fam trip to Four Seasons Winery a couple of years ago,  kokum has had me smitten. Must be a taste bud thingy. I might bake and make a load of sweet stuff, but my heart belongs to savoury. Piquant, tangy, sharp, citric … flavours that make my mouth water. Add garlic, astoefetida, sumac, phalsa berries, raw tamarind to the list and you just might hear my heart sing out loud.Kokum or Garcinia Indica  is indigenous to the Western Ghats region of India located along the western coast of the country. It is used as a staple souring agent typically in Goan cuisine and some parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Kokum yields a peculiar flavour and blackish red colour. It is a preferred substitute for tamarind in curries and other dishes from the Goa and Konkan region.

So you can imagine my happiness when the package with kokum arrived. With it, a sweet hand written note from the A of A & N, a blog that I first connected with several years ago. At the time A & N were in the US, and regaled their audience with tales of getting flood waters in their home, food and a lot more. The they came back to India, and we reconnected. A and me exchanged notes over ingredients, oohed and aahed over experiments with 100% whole wheat bread, and a lot more…

The N of course is the sweetest thing to walk the earth… joyful, exuberant and uber talented. She works with of my most fave online furniture stores Urban Ladder. Anyway, to cut a long story short, A in his note said “I’m sure you’ll work your magic and turn it into something wonderful. Looking forward!” The pressure that didn’t allow me to make just a simple cooler. I wanted to make something to embrace sweet & savoury for summer….

I knew it was panna cotta. To tie in the coastal flavours from where kokum is born, it was going to be a coconut milk panna cotta. Vanilla bean because I love it so, and it flavours the panna cotta gently.  More flavours because I have bunches of lemon grass growing outside, and a box of kaffir lime leaves in my freeze. The pairing was beautiful. The basic panna cotta pairs well with most fruit …. so think strawberries, cherries, blueberries, mango, blackberries…

[print_this]Recipe: Kokum Coconut Milk Panna Cotta

Summary: Kokum Coconut Milk Panna Cotta … gentle, tropical, flavourful, this panna cotta gone light comes alive with the zing of kokum. The pairing is beautiful. The basic panna cotta pairs well with most fruit …. so think strawberries, cherries, blueberries, mango, blackberries if you can’t find kokum. Serves 6

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes {plus chilling}
Ingredients:

• Coconut Milk Vanilla Panna Cotta
• 400ml coconut milk
• 200ml single cream {Amul 25%}
• 3/4 tbsp gelatin
• 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
• 1 stalk of lemon grass, bruised
• 2-3 kaffir lime leaves, bruised
• 75-100g raw sugar {as per taste}
• Kokum White Chocolate Ganache
• 80g white chocolate
• 25g single cream
• 25g kokum concentrate {recipe follows}
• Kokum concentrate {makes enough for a jugful of kokum cooler. Can be made a day or two in advance}
• 12-15 kokum halves soaked for an hour in 250ml hot water
• 200g raw sugar
• Pinch of Himalayan pink salt

White chocolate shavings or coconut chips, fresh mint to garnish

Method:

1. Kokum concentrate
2. Run the soaked kokum halves, sugar and salt in a blender to get a smooth concentrate. Pass through a sieve if you like.
3. Store covered in a glass/non reactive container in the fridge , covered, for 4-5 days.
4. Coconut Milk Vanilla Panna Cotta
5. Warm 75ml coconut milk in a small bowl, and sprinkle the gelatin over to allow it to soften. Leave to stand.
   
6. Place remaining coconut milk, cream, scraped vanilla bean, sugar, bruised lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves in a heavy bottom pan, and bring to a simmering boil. Turn off heat, add the bloomed gelatin and stir in well to mix.
7. Allow to cool while the flavours seep in.
8. One it has cooled down, strain and pour into serving bowls/glasses, leave to set for 3-4 hours.
9. Kokum White Chocolate Ganache
10. Pace white chocolate and cream in a heat proof bowl and microwave for 30 seconds to a minute until the chocolate has almost melted. Stir until smooth, then stir in the kokum concentrate. Add more concentrate if you like.
11. Spoon the concentrate over the set panna cotta, drizzle some .extra concentrate over if you like.
12. Garnish with white chocolate curls, coconut chips and fresh mint.

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