New Year Wishes with Vanilla-Strawberry Panna Cotta

A very happy, healthy and delicious new year to all my blog readers. As it’s customary to celebrate occasions like this with sweet treats I have decided to share my Vanilla – Strawberry Panna cotta recipe with you today.
Panna Cotta is an Italian dessert which literally means cooked cream. It’s a very easy recipe which looks really elegant in individual servings. It’s quite a rich dessert, so it’s best to keep the portion sizes small.
Do let me know what special dishes you have made to celebrate the new year.

Ingredients:

For Vanilla Panna Cotta
*Unflavoured powdered gelatin – 1 level tablespoon
Cold milk – 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Heavy whipping cream – 2 1/4 cup (540 ml)
Icing/Confectioners’ sugar – 1/2 cup
Pure Vanilla Extract – 1/2 teaspoon
* Halal gelatin brands are available in South Asian grocery stores

For Strawberry Coulis:
Strawberry Jam – 1/4 cup
Water – 1/2 cup
Sugar – 1/2 tbsp
Cornflour – 1/2 tbsp dissolved in 1 tbsp water

Fresh Strawberries – for garnish

Method:
1) Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold milk and let this mixture sit for 5-10 minutes.
2) Combine the cream and sugar in a saucepan and bring it just to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
3) Once the cream is very hot, remove it from fire and stir in the gelatin mixture. Stir until the gelatin dissolves completely. If the gelatin does not dissolve completely, return the saucepan to very low heat and stir until the gelatin dissolves completely.
4) Add the vanilla extract.
5) Rinse 6-8 small bowls or ramekins and pour the cream mixture into the wet bowls. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until the panna cotta sets.
6) In the meantime, prepare the strawberry coulis by combining the strawberry jam, water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add cornflour dissolved in 1 tbsp water to the jam mixture. Cook till it coats the back of a spoon and attains a thick pouring consistency. Cool.
7) When the panna cotta sets , dip the base of the bowls in hot water, run a knife to loosen the edges and unmold on serving plates. Pour the strawberry coulis around the panna cotta and garnish with fresh strawberries.

I’m linking this to the following events:

Kids’ Delight – Desserts started by Spice Up Your Life and guest hosted by Veg Nation