My Birthday with Lychee and Ginger Pannacotta

Pannacotta means “Cooked Cream”. This is an Italian dessert. This is so silky smooth and soft. These are perfect for parties. They can be made a day in advance and kept refrigerated until they are ready to serve. This is made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatine and letting it cool until set. This is served with berries,  nuts and so on.

I saw this in a book called  “Vanitha pachakam”. The recipe was for plain pannacotta, but I just added lychee and grated ginger for some extra taste and they tasted perfect. I made this on my birthday which was on Saturday, 11th of June. Cakes have become common since they are made even without any occassion nowadays :-)

My birthday started with wishes from my dear and near ones, a surprise cake waiting for me in the kitchen (my Husband arranged that) followed by a sumptous lunch the next day. In all, I really enjoyed a lot. In the meanwhile I also made this dessert for the first time and it tasted lovely. Now this will be on my regular menu for special occasions.

The surprise cake at mid night

Ingredients:

1. Milk- 1cup
2. Amul Cream- 1cup
3. Sugar- ½ cup
4. Gelatin- 3tsp
5. Ice Water-2tsp
6. Lychee- 4 to 5 (pureed)nos
7. Ginger (grated)- 11tsp
8. Vanilla Essence- 2tsp

Method:

1. Take gelatin in a bowl and sprinkle water over that and let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Mix milk, cream, ginger and sugar in sauce pan and heat it on low flame. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
3. Melt the gelatin in microwave oven for 10 to 12 seconds. Stir well.
4. Add this melted gelatin into the milk - cream mixture and stir until dissolved. Add the pureed lychees and leave the cream mixture to cool.
5. Pour this in glass bowls, chill them until firm for about 2 to 3 hours. I have kept it over night.

At the time of  serving

1. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each pannacotta and unmold each on a serving plate and garnish as desired.
2. You can also demold by dipping the bowls in hot water for ½ minute. The dessert will easily come out on serving plate.

At the time of serving I didn’t had anything which I mentioned before for garnishing. So I used jam. I poured little warm water in 1tbsp of jam and mixed it well. Poured this over the pannacotta and decorated with some lychees.