Caramel Pannacotta with Strawberry Coulis - A Guest Post by Vineetha of Malabar Ruchi

Hello every one, I am back with another guest post for the blog. Today's guest post is from an amazing blogger whose food recipes and pics are both mind boggling - Vineetha from the blog Ruchi. Vineetha's blog was one of the few blogs that I started following in the beginning.  Being a novice in cake making and decorating, the way Vineetha presents and decorates her cakes caught my attention very soon and I became a big fan :) You can check out some of her wonderful cakes here, here and here. Her blog Ruchi has not just cakes and other delectable desserts, but includes a variety of Kerala and other regional and international dishes as well. When I requested Vineetha to do a guest post for me, she readily agreed and came back to me with a wonderful dessert.  

Over to Vineetha:

Avika has been so patient with me giving me nearly 3 months time for doing this guest post for her. She was really sweet and very supportive when this post got delayed. So when I got a chance to make a dessert for taking it to a friend’s place for a dinner party I made up my mind to send it over to Avika. What I like about her blog is her step by step instruction which is very easy to follow even for a novice cook. Her recent post, Hotel style kuruma with paneer cubes seriously left me drooling :)

Talking about me, South Indian blogger from  Kerala living in London with hubby and my 5 year old son. Can call myself a long time blogger but a very slow one.  Blogging is one of the best hobby I have and I am so lucky to live in a  place where we have a big group of Desi bloggers who have became my good friends now.

Coming to the recipe it’s Caramel Pannacotta with strawberry coulis, an elegant Italian dessert. Usually when I post desserts I click two pairs of them in plates or bowls for the food styling sake, but this time I have only one, wonder why ? Since I knew that I won’t get time to take  picture of the dessert before taking it to my friends place I made one extra bowl for clicking picture next day. The next day morning was no different as I had to leave house in the morning for a whole day, so I had to click the pictures in a hurry. Even though I couldn’t do justice to the pictures, this dessert is  very delicious . I made one simple mistake by adding one extra teaspoon of gelatin as I was worried whether it might not set which made by pannacotta slightly hard, but if you try the recipe with one teaspoon less it will be soft and perfect. I have corrected the recipe accordingly so do try it out as it is easy to put together and tastes yumm !

Recipe adapted from – GB chefs 

Caramel Pannacotta:

Ingredients:

Milk – 1/2 cup

Double cream/ Heavy cream – 2 1/2 cup

Vanilla bean – 1

Sugar – ¾ cup + 3 tbs ( as required )

Gelatin  powder – 2  ¼ tsp ( 1 packet )

Water – 3 tbs  + 2 tbs

For Strawberry Coulis:

Strawberry – ½ cup

Sugar – ¼ cup

Method of Preparing:

• In a saucepan combine  2 ½  cups of cream and 1/2 cup of milk.
• Slit the vanilla bean into half, scrape the seeds  to the milk - cream mixture and place the saucepan on medium heat stirring in  between. Once this  boils, simmer it for 5 minutes until it reduces a little bit.
• Meanwhile  take gelatin powder in a bowl, add water and let it bloom for few minutes.
• Add the gelatin to the milk – cream mixture and stir until the gelatin is dissolved.
• In another pan  take ¾ cup sugar, add 2 tbs of water and place the pan on a low flame until the sugar caramelises.
• Add the caramelised sugar to the milk – cream mixture and stir well until dissolved completely.
• Finally add the 3 tbs of sugar or as per your taste to the mixture and stir until sugar is dissolved. Sieve it in case there in any lumpy bits.
• Pour the mixture into glass bowls or moulds and chill for 3-4 hours in a refrigerator.
• Serve it just like that or if you have made in moulds, dip the mould in boiling water for 5-8 seconds and give it a gentle tap and your panacotta should slide to a serving plate.

Making  Strawberry Coulis:

• In a saucepan add take ½ cup strawberry, ¼ cup sugar and cook for 3-5 minutes until strawberry is a bit soft.
• Let it cool for sometimes and then puree them with a hand belnder or in a mixie. Chill it.

 Serving:

Serve the pannacotta in glass bowls by drizzling some strawberry coulis on top or if you have made them in moulds, dip the mould in boiling water for 5-8 seconds and give it a gentle tap and your pannacotta should slide to a serving plate. Pour the strawberry coulis on top and serve !

Thank you so much for a lovely post Vineetha. Ever so happy to feature you on my blog. Wishing All the very best to you And hoping to see many more spectacular posts on Ruchi.