Jackfruit Panna Cotta Topped with Jackfruit in Muscovado Syrup

I bought several cans of jackfruit and a bottle of jackfruit essence from the Filipino market last week so I decided to make some jackfruit panna cotta today. Jackfruit is very common in the Philippines. The ripened fruit is sweet and can be etean raw or stewed in sugar syrup which can be served as a snack or sandwich filling. The unripe fruit are used in savory dishes such as stew and soup as well as appetizer or salad. For as long as I have been here in the States, I have yet to find a fresh jackfruit. Most of it is sold canned (ripe and unripe) or frozen. While they do taste okay, I think that nothing compares to the fresh fruits. The huge seeds can be boiled with the skin still on. It is slightly starchy and taste somewhat similar to chestnut.

In the Philippines, jackfruit are often sold at the wet market and large grocery chains. I remember though that we had a huge jackfruit tree in our backyard along with other trees like guava, santol (wild mangosteen) and banana trees as well a variety of tropical plants. Having a huge backyard is one of the things that I miss in the Philippines :(

Anyways, jackfruit panna cotta is made using a basic panna cotta recipe but instead of using vanilla, I used jackfruit essence and then topped it with jackfruit in muscovado syrup. The result is a nice constrast of black and white color which tasted really great. This version of my panna cotta is a little richer than my previous panna cotta recipes because I used a combination of heavy cream and half &half instead of the usual heavy cream/milk misture that I usually use.

Ingredients:

Panna Cotta:

Panna Cottta:
2 tsp unflavored gelatin
1 Tbsp water
1/2 cup half and half
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp jackfruit essence or extract

1. Sprinkle gelatin over 1 Tbsp water and let it soften for about 10 minutes
2. Heat a pan over medium low heat. Add cream, half & half, and sugar. Simmer (do not boil) until sugar is dissolved, stirring occassionally.
3. Remove from heat and stir in jackfruit essence/extract and gelatin mixture. Mix until gelatin is dissolved completely.
4. Strain the panna cotta mixture and pour into ramekins or individual serving container. Let it cool before covering ramekins with plastic wrap.
5. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
6. Top with jackfruit slices in muscovado syrup.

Jackfruit in muscovado syrup

Ingredients:

1 cup sliced jackfruit
1 cup muscovado or brown sugar (if you prefer)
1/2 cup water

1. Heat saucepan over medium heat.
2. Combine muscovado or brown sugar and water. Stir to dissolve mucovado or brown sugar.
3. Let it simmer until it forms a syrup.
4. Add sliced of jackfruit and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and let it cool.

Mango Panna Cotta with Honey Mango Sauce

What can I say? I rediscovered panna cotta and fell in love with it. This recipe is different from the mango jelly panna cotta which I posted here. This one is just as delish as the other one. Again, I used the nestle table cream which I got from the Filipino store but I had to cut it down to 1/2 cup instead of the usual 1 cup because it was too creamy and used more milk instead. The result is still very creamy, light, and very flavorful. The mango lends a nice refreshing taste to the dish. I also drizzled it with honey mango sauce which made it taste so divine. You can totally skip the honey mango sauce though if you prefer. The mango panna cotta is able to hold its own without any accompaniment. I also strained the mixture three time: after I pureed the ingredients, after I took it off the stove, and when I poured in the molds.



Ingredients:

Mango Panna Cotta

1/2 cup mango puree
1/4 nestle cream
1 1/2 cup milk
2 tsp unflavored gelatin
1 Tbsp water
1/4 cup sugar (you can adjust according to taste and how sweet your mango is)


1. In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over water to soften
2. Peel and dice mango, place in a blender with sugar and blend until smooth.
3. Add milk and blend some more. Transfer into the sauce pan, add cream and stir to incorporate well. NOTE: I accidentally added my cream to the mixture in the blender which whipped it up a little bit and explained why there was a lot of bubbles on top when I transferred the finish product to the mold :)
4. Simmer, but do not let it boil,for a few minutes until hot.
5. Scoop a ladle or two of the hot cream mixture and add it to the gelatin mixture, mix until gelatin is dissolved.
6. Add gelatin mixture into the cream mixture and simmer for a minute or two.
7. Remove from heat and strain into a container with spout ( for easy pouring into the molds) and let it cool a little bit.
8. Using a small strainer, strain mixture while pouring into the mold. Make sure that it has cooled down before you cover it and refrigerate for 4 or more hours.
9. When ready to unmold, place the mold in warm water to loosen the edges. When loose, invert the mold into the serving dish and serve with honey mango sauce.



Honey Mango Sauce:

1/2 cup mango puree
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup water

1. Peel and dice mango and place in blender
2. Add honey and water and then blend until smooth
3. Serve with mango panna cotta

Mango Jelly Panna Cotta

Oh, darn I am in trouble now. This is my third panna cotta recipe since the other day...hehehe...my brain just keeps churning more and more ideas on what other flavors I can come up. The idea to this recipe came from Technicolor Kitchen blog. She had this passion fruit jelly panna cotta with the jelly in the bottom and panna cotta on top which looked really nice. Since passion fruit is not readily available here in the US (The last time I saw a passion fruit was eons ago), I used my favorite mango for the jelly instead.

I run out of regular whipping cream so I used a canned table cream which I got from the Filipino market. This cream is a lot thicker in consistency and taste creamier than regular whipping cream which taste much better, in my opinion. The color of the mango jelly really turned out nicely and provided a really nice contrast to the white color of panna cotta.

Note: this takes a little bit more work and wait time compared to the regular panna cotta since the jelly has to solidify first before you can prepare and pour the panna cotta over it. The taste though more than makes up for the wait and double work.



Ingredients:

Mango Jelly
1 large ripe mango (about 1/2 cup mango pulp)
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar (depending on how sweet your mango is)
1 Tbsp unflavored gelatin
2 Tbsp + 1 1/4 cups water


.

1. Place 2 Tbsp of water in a bowl and sprinkle gelatin to soften. Let it stand for about 5-10 minutes
2. Peel mango then slice flesh into chunks.
3. Place mango in a blender and puree.
4. Add 1 1/4 cups water and sugar. Blend until smooth and sugar is dissolved.
5. Strain mango mixture and get rid of fibers.
6. Place mango mixture in a pan over medium low heat and simmer for about 5 minutes or until slightly thick.
7. Scoop some some of the warm mango mixture into the gelatin bowl and dissolve gelatin.

8. Add gelatin mixture into the mango mixture and simmer for a minute or two longer.
9. Remove from heat and let ti cool down a little bit before pouring into ramekins or servng dish.
10. Refrigerate for about 4 hours or more.

Panna Cotta

Ingredients:

1 cup cream
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 tsp water

1. In a small bowl, sprinkle unflavored gelatin over water to soften it. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes.
2. Mix cream, milk, and sugar in a bowl until sugar is dissolved and cream has been mixed well with milk.
3. Transfer mixture to a pan and simmer over medium low for about 3-4 minutes
4.Scoop some of the cream mixture into the bowl containing gelatin and stir to dissolve gelatin.
5. Add gelatin mixture into the cream mixture and simmer for 2 minutes.
6. Strain cream-gelatin mixture and discard any particles.
7. Let it cool down before pouring over the mango jelly base.
8. After pouring the panna cotta into the jelly base, refrigerate for 4 hours or more.
9. You can serve as is or lossen from the cup and transfer into a serving dish. top with mango slices, if you want

Pandan Panna Cotta with Coconut-Pandan Sauce

Pandan is a widely used flavoring in Asian cooking particularly in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It is used as a flavoring for cakes, ice scream, desserts, rice, and even chicken dishes. It has a distinct aroma which makes the dishes fragrant. Typically, one would boil the leaves to extract the flavor and aroma but since it is not readily available in the United States, pandan extract, which is sold in Asian markets, is the next best thing. I got mine from the Thai market nearby. Just one of the many advantages of living in a highly diversified metropolitan area- easy access to ethnic stores and ingredients...hehehe.

The flavor of pandan goes so well with the rich, creamy texture of panna cotta, and the aroma is heavenly. The recipe used in this dish is almost the same as the vanilla panna cotta (with macerated strawberries) except that I substituted vanilla with pandan flavoring. Oh, in case you're curious what that concentrated pandan flavoring taste like, don't attempt to taste it...hehehe...I did it already, blah...it tasted really bitter. Ah, my curiousity sometimes gets me into trouble...


Ingredients:

Panna Cotta:

3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp pandan extract
few drops of green food coloring

Coconut-Pandan Sauce:
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup sugar (or less if you want it less sweet)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp pandan extract
1-2 drops of green food coloring



1. Sprinkle gelatin over milk to soften. Let it stand for about 10-15 minutes.

2. Heat pan over low medium heat. Add Cream and sugar and simmer until sugar is melted. Stir occassionally.

3. Remove cream-sugar mixture from heat. Add gelatin mixture and stir until gelatin is dissolved.

4. Strain mixture uing a fine mesh strainer. Add pandan extract and stir to mix well.

5. Add 2 drops of green food coloring. Mix to see if the color is right. If not, add 1 drop of food coloring at a time until you reached your desired color.

6. Pour into molds or container and let it cool before covering with plastic cover.

7. Refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours or overnight before serving.

Panna Cotta with Macerated Strawberries

I love panna cotta. They're rich, creamy and oh-so-yummy. I have forgotten about this dessert until yesterday when I opened my refrigerator and found a box of whipping cream. Hmmm, what to make,I thought to myself. I was thinking of making cathedral windows but that's too much work because I had to make several batches of gelatin squares using different colors. Then I thought of panna cotta which is easy enough to make but really delish...

Panna cotta is Italian in origin. This dessert is made by mixing sugar, cream, milk, and unflavored gelatin which is allowed to cool until it is set. It can be topped with berries and different sauces (chocolate, wines, fruits) or flavored with different flavorings such as vanilla and cinnamon. In my opinion, the possibility for panna cotta flavors is endless and one is only limited by one's imagination.

Ingredients:

Panna Cottta:
2 tsp unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:
1/2 cup thinly sliced strawberry
1 Tbssp sugar


1. Sprinkle gelatin over milk and let it soften for about 10 minutes
2. Heat a pan over medium low heat. Add cream and sugar. Simmer (do not boil) until sugar is dissolved, stirring occassionally.
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and gelatin mixture. Mix until gelatin is dissolved completely.
4. Strain the panna cotta mixture and pour into ramekins. Let it cool before covering ramekins with plastic wrap.
5. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
6. Topping: slice strawberries thinly and sprinkle sugar on top. Mix well and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
7. To umold: place ramekins in warm water bath for about 30 secons to 1 minute. Remove from water bath and wipe the outside of ramekins dry. Invert into a serving dish. Top with macerated strawberries and serve.
NOTE: If you are having a hard time unmolding after placing ramekins in warm bath, run a thin knife on the insides of the ramekins to loosen panna cotta. You can also shake the ramekins a little bit while unmolding.