A creamy twist

Down foodpath

Coming from the lush green surroundings of the North East, I was never exposed to processed and canned food. Everything we ate was fresh and home grown.

I come from a family of really good cooks, so we have always had great food at home. And that was my motivation to start cooking myself.

It all began when I came to Bengaluru for my education. I didn’t know anything about cooking until then. This first experience got me hooked and I started to experiment with different cuisines and recipes.

I enjoy cooking so for me, it’s all about finishing my day at work quickly and getting into the kitchen for an hour or so to fix a meal. It’s a stress buster and extremely meditative in nature. It started as a necessity and I am glad that it happened.

I have a background in human resources and I spent almost 10 years working in the corporate sector. However, now I have started an initiative based on learning. After I quit my corporate job a couple of years ago, I pursued a diploma course in baking, patisserie and boulangerie from Lavonne Academy of Baking Science and Pastry Arts.
I remember that the first thing I made was ‘chapatis’ and that I never got the consistency of the dough right for at least two to three weeks. However, the first proper dish I made was when I started baking, so cakes and cookies occupy an important place in my culinary journey. I am in love with French cuisine; the subtlety and the way they do their meat is excellent. I love their desserts and meat dishes the most.  

Today, I am sharing the recipe of ‘panna cotta’, which is an Italian dessert. Though the basic ‘panna cotta’ is made from milk, cream and gelatin with a vanilla flavour, I have given a twist to the recipe by infusing a very local Indian fruit into it — custard apple. It is a very versatile dessert as interesting fruity flavours like mango and chocolate can also be incorporated into it.

Custard apple panna cotta
Recipe
Ingredients
*Milk – 200 ml
*Cream – 200 ml
*Sugar – 80 gm
*Water – 24 gm
*Gelatin – 8gm
*Custard apple extract – 40 gm (Scoop out the pulp with the seeds into a bowl and then deseed).

Quantity: Makes 4

Method:
*Bloom the gelatin: Pour water on the gelatin and let it soften for 5 minutes or until the surface is wrinkled and the gelatin grains look wet and slightly dissolved.
*Dissolve the sugar: In a saucepan, stir the sugar into the milk and continue warming until it dissolves. Don’t let the mixture boil.
*Melt gelatin: Melt the gelatin by placing it in the microwave for a few seconds or just until it starts to bubble over.
*Whisk in the cream and fruit: Remove the saucepan from heat. Whisk in the cream, custard apple extract and melted gelatin.
*Pour into ramekins and chill: Divide the mixture evenly between four ramekins and put in the refrigerator to chill for at least four hours.

Tip:
Choose really ripe custard apples so that you are able to extract the pulp easily. It takes a little time and effort to deseed the fruit but when you taste it in the dessert, it will be worth it. Don’t give in to the temptation of pulping the flesh before using it; you will love its creamy texture in the panna cotta.




Debapriya Nag
(Debapriya can be contacted at [e-mail])

(As told to Surupasree Sarmmah)

We invite our readers to share their favourite recipe which has an interesting story behind it. You can write to or [e-mail]