Strawberry Panna cotta !

….Panna cotta.. The name itself sounds so exotic , seductive and not to forget romantic 😍 I love the silken texture and the smoothness! And I am rather good at making them. 😉💃

But I wasn’t always “good” at making them ..LOL. Yeah , my first attempt was a blunder! Forget the “silken texture”, it looked more like split milk! I couldn’t save it. Quietly and quickly I threw everything away before Mr. PP could catch me! 👀😬 (sneaky me) this was almost a year ago. But I did try again last August and the results were better but definitely not there yet… Hmm, I would have to work on it! And work I did! Tried again the following week and nailed it! It was sweet, silky and dreamy 😇 Obviously I was happy! It was a basic Panna cotta with cream, milk sugar ..a bit of vanilla extract and China grass.. And I served it with some chopped kiwis. Ya you read it right, China grass or Agar Agar. I don’t do the version where u mix eggs , cream and honey & bake in a very low oven. Nah! I never tried that. It spelt disaster to me! LOL..

I didn’t exactly arrive on the recipe on my own, did some research all over the Internet..tips from Veg Indian Recipes and was able put together my recipe finally!

But when I planned to woo Him with something special this last Valentine’s Day… I thought of strawberries.. Chocolates … Cream. But I didn’t want to do Chocolates .. Had done something on those lines to ring in the New Yr. just a few weeks back.

Now Strawberries I wanted to use.. Although He isn’t to fond of them. I thought if I could only come up with something with a bit of strawberry and another element to go along. And that’s when I thought of Strawberry Panna cotta😋😋

I had the look in mind (in a jar) and even the recipe was ready. All I had to do was put it together…and those who have made this beauty on their own know that its relatively easy to put together this exotic yet easy dessert.

I have these beautiful jam jars that I saved from Moshe’s (yes, I love their jams & preserves) so the first thing I did was sterilise these beauties and air dry them. That’s actually the difficult part coz what follows is a cakewalk! 😉

Here goes the recipe… 🍓🍓

Yield : 6 servings

Equipments: 2 heavy bottomed sauce pans, a small whisk, a simple blender.

Ingredients for the Panna cotta:

200 ml Double cream / full fat cream ( I used Amul fresh cream)

1 cup full fat milk

1/4 cup fresh strawberry purée ( else use strawberry crush available in supermarkets )

1/2 cup superfine sugar ( use more as per your taste )

4 tsp chopped agar agar strands / 1.25 tsp of agar agar pwd

2/3 cups warm water to soak the agar agar strands / pwd

1 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for the strawberry jelly layer :

1 cup fresh strawberry purée / store bought crush

2 tbsp superfine sugar (add more or less as per your taste)

4 tsp chopped agar agar / 1.25 tsp agar agar pwd

2/3 cup warm water to dissolve the agar agar

Method for the Panna cotta:

Soak the chopped agar agar or the powder in the warm water for 10-12 mins until completely dissolved.

Husk and clean the strawberries & purée them and divide into two parts of 1/4 cup and 1 cup separately. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan stir together the cream, milk and sugar for the Panna cotta. Let this mixture simmer gently on the stove until the mixture comes to very gentle boil, keep stirring the mixture with the wired whisk. The sugar has to melt completely. Once it has come to the boil, turn off the heat and add the strawberry purée & the the dissolved agar agar mixture to the cream & mix well with the whisk.

Pour this cream n strawberry mix into the serving bowls / jars up to 3/4th of its capacity & place them in the refrigerator to set for at least 1 hr.

Method for the strawberry jelly layer:

Dissolve the chopped or powdered agar agar in warm water for 10-12mins. It’s be dissolved. In another saucepan add the strawberry purée and sugar. Stir them together on gentle heat until the sugar has melted completely.

Now add the dissolved agar agar mixture to the strawberry coulis and stir well.

Remove the set Panna cotta bowls / jars from the refrigerator & pour a slightly thick layer of the strawberry jelly mix. Set the bowls / jars back in the refrigerator for another 1-2 hrs for the jelly to set.

You can garnish them as you please and serve cool.

Hope you will enjoy these as much as I did ☺️❤️

Love,

Shreya ☺️