GORGEOUS Pandan Coconut Panna Cotta!

Recipe: Pandan Panna Cotta Recipe »

You may have tried a panna cotta dessert but have you tried pandan panna cotta? This restaurant quality version of panna cotta takes a regular panna cotta and infuses it with South East Asian flavours of pandan. This pandan panna cotta dessert is one of the most delicious things I've eaten this year! When I first tried it I asked the chef for a recipe and he shared it and now I'm sharing this wonderful panna cotta dessert with you! It's coming out just in time for Mother's Day but is perfect for a dinner party as it needs to be made ahead of time, from anything from 1-3 days! This is also an economical dessert to make as well.

I first tried this pandan dessert at Echoes hotel in Katoomba and from the second I tried that first spoonful I was completely smitten. It had a gorgeous wobbly, silky panna cotta on the base and a wonderful pandan flavour on top. I asked the chef Sameera Viraj for the recipe and he kindly sent it through!

What is pandan? Pandan is a highly aromatic tropical plant widely used in South East Asian cooking. Its long, green leaves have a sweet, grassy aroma that's often hard to describe- it reminds me of the aroma of vanilla, coconut but has a grassy quality too. The leaves are what you extract the aroma from and you can find the leaves at Asian grocery stores (either fresh or frozen in packets in the freezer). And trust me you will want to hunt pandan leaves down. I bought a big pack of frozen pandan leaves and keep them in my freezer.

7 Helpful Tips For Making Pandan Panna Cotta

1 - Panna Cotta is an excellent dinner party dessert as it needs to be made ahead of time (also why it is served on planes a lot!). We are serving this in glasses which is easier than trying to unmould it.

2 - As mentioned you will find pandan leaves in the Asian grocery store. Check the freezer section if you can't find fresh pandan leaves. There is a pandan food extract but that is coloured very bright green which will impact the colour of the panna cotta.

3 - The pandan oil is easy to make and just requires a blender, pandan leaves and a neutral oil like grapeseed oil. I also press out the excess oil from the leaves just to avoid waste.

4 - Pandan leaves are usually knotted so that they are easier to handle and then used in both sweet and savoury cooking.

5 - Tip: whenever you want to make steamed rice, add a knotted pandan leaf.

6 - This pandan panna cotta is served with port wine grapes and it really needs the grapes to balance it, otherwise the pandan oil by itself is a bit too grassy.

7 - I love taking the panna cotta out an hour before serving it so that it is still set but it is softer and more jellied in texture.

Pandan Panna Cotta

Adapted from Chef Sameera Viraj of Echoes Boutique Hotel

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes total

Serves: 6 makes 900ml/1.9pints

• 600ml/1.2pints pure, double or thickened cream
• 300ml/10.6flozs coconut cream
• 200g/7ozs sugar
• 4 pandan leaves
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3 teaspoons gelatin powder

For Port Wine Grapes

• 150g/5ozs sugar
• 100ml/3.5flozs port wine or marsala wine
• 300g/10.6ozs seedless grapes
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cornflour/fine cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water to make a slurry

For Pandan Oil

• 100ml/3.5flozs grapeseed oil (or neutral oil, not olive oil)
• 35g/1.2ozs pandan leaves
• Sea salt to finish

Step 1 - Heat cream and coconut cream together in a saucepan but do not boil. Stir in sugar and stir to melt. Tie pandan leaves into knots and add to the saucepan. Steep with the lid on for 30 minutes.

Step 2 -In a microwave proof wide bowl add water and sprinkle gelatin over it evenly. Wait 30 seconds for it to swell and then microwave for 10 seconds or until liquid. Add to the still warm cream and stir in. It should be close to room temperature by now so pour into cups and chill for 6 hours or overnight.

Step 3 -To make the port wine grapes, place the wine and sugar in a medium saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes on medium heat until reduced slightly. Add the grapes and cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Add lemon juice and stir well. Reduce heat to low and add cornflour slurry to allow to thicken.

Step 4 -To make the pandan oil blend the pandan leaves and grapeseed oil and then heat to 90C/194F. Strain well pressing down to remove all of the oil. Chill. Add 1 tablespoon of the pandan oil to each glass of panna cotta and add port wine grapes and a little port wine syrup. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve.

• Other Panna Cotta recipes you might like:
• Vanilla Panna Cotta Recipe
• Mango Panna Cotta recipe
• Chocolate Panna Cotta Cake
• Yogurt Panna Cotta
• Coconut Vanilla Panna Cotta

I made this panna cotta for Miss America and Queen Viv when they came over for an Autumn lunch. They arrived and Queen Viv was on one crutch - she had fractured her foot again. It stems from a childhood injury when she had broken her foot and her parents hadn't taken her to the doctor or hospital so it had never healed correctly. The two have been friends since they were in their 20s. Now that they're in their 70s they always give us the baby boomer perspective on things but with a twist - she's Vivienne Westwood but born in New Zealand while Miss America has the razor sharp wit of Truman Capote but much less mean.

I opened the door and Queen Viv presented me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and hobbled into our house. She lamented an upcoming trip to Portugal and France with her sister in October that has been many years in the making. She was indignant that the trip was not going to be cancelled. She told her doctor that she had every intention to be jacked up with painkillers and that she would hobble her way across both places without a crutch. And then I noticed something, even though she had one crutch and couldn't walk smoothly without it, she was wearing heels. Because glamour is important to her and wearing flat shoes is anathema to her!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you have friends of different generations to you? Have you ever tried a dessert like this?