berrylicious almond panna cotta

When I told my chiropractor I usually drink soy milk, he adamantly told me that soy milk is not very good for me, and suggested an alternative like almond milk. I was quite indignant, since I've been drinking soy milk all my life, and a lot of asians do too. It took some time. But, I thought, alright then, why not?? There's no harm in trying something new.

I had the almonds sitting in a jar on my kitchen bench for the longest time. You see, I don't have a blender. Hahaha.... I know, tragic, right? To make the milk I had to go to mum's place and borrow her $700 Japanese titanium blade blender.

When I finally had the chance to, I used every opportunity and made three litres of the unsweetened almond milk. One litre we drank on the spot, one litre I gave to mum and dad, last litre I brought home with me. 

With that last litre, I made milky almond panna cotta with sweet & tart berry coulis. The berry coulis was a late addition. Halfway making the panna cotta, I realised that plain white panna cotta on a plain white plate ain't very pretty to look at. I decided to use the frozen mixed berries that have been sitting idly in my freezer for the last few months.

Later on, I found out that this was a winning flavour combination. I mean if David Lebovitz think so, who am I to dispute.

Making panna cotta is very easy, there's almost nothing to it. Combine the almond milk, sugar, vanilla essence and agar-agar powder into a saucepan. Heat it up until the sugar and agar-agar are dissolved.

Pour the milky mixture into moulds. Set aside to cool for a bit before chilling in the fridge.

I like to plan ahead for the garnish and thaw a few of the berries on a paper towel to drain the moisture away. Learned this from an episode of Masterchef, oh yeah!

Now to make the berry coulis, place the rest of the frozen berries in a saucepan and add the sugar. Cook on medium-low heat until berries reduce into a pulp.

Pour the pulp into a strainer and press press press with a spoon to your heart's content. You can make the berry pulp smoother by blending it first before straining, seeing as I haven't got a blender, I skipped this step.

Look at that liquid rouge goodness.

I did such a chefy thing plating up by brushing the coulis on the plate with my dessert spoon. As you probably can tell, this was the first time I did this. I went a bit nuts with it and did three swooshes. May not look as professional, but it felt so satisfyingly chefy.

Berrylicious almond panna cotta

by closet domestic bunny

Almond panna cotta ingredients:

• 900mL almond milk (adjust amount according to instructions in the agar-agar powder packet)
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• half a cup of sugar
• a packet of your favourite agar-agar powder

Berry coulis ingredients:

• 200g of frozen mixed berries (reserve a few for garnish)
• 2 tbsp sugar

Method:

1. Combine the almond panna cotta ingredients in a saucepan, cook in a medium-low heat, until all of the ingredients combined and dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour into moulds. Wait until it cools down before chilling in the fridge.
2. Pick a few different frozen berries to thaw on a paper towel. We'll use this later for garnish.
3. In another saucepan, combine the berry coulis ingredients, cook in a low heat until all the berries break down into a pulp. Pour berry mixture into a blender to smooth it out. Strain with a strainer to get the berry coulis.
4. Dress your plate however you like using the thawed berries & berry coulis. Unmould the panna cotta by running a small knife on the edges of the mould.