Recipe: Matcha and coconut panna cotta

My first recipe review! Matcha and coconut panna cotta. The hardest part of this recipe? Finding the ingredients! Matcha (a fine powdered form of Japanese green tea leaves) is not so easily obtained in some parts of Melbourne – i.e. Docklands. I went to the only nearby Asian grocers, which was tiny in comparison to others actually in Melbourne CBD, tried the two Woolworths and eventually had to venture to Purple Peanuts to buy a jar of their matcha paste from their dessert bar. It’s not quite the same as the actual powdered green tea leaves, but it was close enough!

Scribbling down the recipe so that I didn’t have to work off my computer screen.

Matcha paste from Purple Peanuts, $7. It’s got added sugar, coconut milk and some other stuff, ready for eating straight from the jar! Or to add to milk to make a matcha shake. Or to icecream for extra flavouring. Or use it in this recipe!

Mixing everything together.

Chilled and turned out, garnished with pomegranate seeds.

So here is the recipe:

Matcha and coconut panna cotta
(Serves 6)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoons matcha powder (or 2 tablespoons of matcha paste from Purple Peanuts)
600mL pouring cream
1/3 cup caster sugar
3 teaspoons gelatine powder
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
1. Heat cream and matcha powder in a pot until simmering – do not let boil.
2. Add caster sugar and stir to dissolve – do not let boil!
3. Pour 1/2 cup cream mixture into mixing bowl and whisk in gelatine until dissolved. Whisk in remaining cream mixture. Let stand for 10 minutes.
4. Whisk in coconut milk and vanilla extract.
5. Pour into 6 bowls and chill for 2 hours or until set.
6. Plate up and enjoy! (I slid a sharp and bendy knife around the sides to loosen it up, then tipped it onto a plate. Some people mentioned immersing the mold into hot water briefly. See what works for you!)

The verdict? It’s a super easy recipe, I’d even say foolproof. However I do have a knack of getting recipes perfect the first time and then spectacularly failing with every subsequent attempt. The taste was yum and ever so smooth and creamy, but not too sweet, and the pannacotta wobbled like crazy on my plate (with a bit of enthusiastic shaking by yours truly).

I might try it with less cream and more coconut milk next time to see if I can get more wobble, but that’s more out of curiosity than for flavour or texture.

Note: the rating isn’t for my cooking really. It’s for the ease of the recipe and end result. In this case, easy recipe with an excellent outcome.

Rating: Three mochi

Recipe adapted from here.

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