Strangely, today’s recipe for vegan panna cotta is the very first recipe I did for this blog. It was almost a year ago when the idea for the Lazy Cat Kitchen was born and, as it was end of summer, the first dish I shot was a portion of wobbly panna cotta with a succulent fig relish. It took a few months to get the website ready and to do the initial recipes and by the time we were ready to launch (at the end of January this year) this recipe became a bit less relevant, so I decided to wait with it until this summer. It’s crazy how eventful the past seven months have been. The blog went from being this sketchy idea in my head to a fully fledged, functioning website that’s getting more and more popular by the day. I still remember showing the designs of the blog to my friends and telling them how that’s now going to be my full time job. Looking back, I think they might have thought we were crazy and I don’t blame them. I sometimes think that myself! It’s been (and still is) a massive learning curve and something I would not swap for anything else. The more I do it the more I love it and seeing that my passion is getting noticed is a massive reward in itself.
Panna cotta is a cold Italian dessert that’s traditionally made with cream. I made mine with coconut cream (rather than milk) to mimic dairy cream’s richness and the result is very pleasing. As a big fan of Masterchef, I was very aware that, as John Torode always points out whenever a panna cotta is being judged, a decent wobble is a must when it comes to this delicate dessert. I’m pleased to say that our panna cotta is definitely wobbly one. I realise that we live in a bit of a seasonal bubble and while here in Greece summer is still in force, autumn has already showed up in the rest of Europe. So if getting fresh figs is an impossible task, feel free to substitute them with other seasonal fruit (like plums for example). The result will be just as delicious.
PANNA COTTA
- 2 cups / 480 ml coconut cream*
- 1½ level tsp agar agar flakes
- ¼ cup / 60 ml maple syrup
- 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped
FIG SAUCE
- 8 ripe black figs, cut into quarters
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- ½ tbsp lemon juice
- Put coconut cream, agar agar, maple syrup and vanilla seeds into a small pan. Gently bring it up to boil then simmer for a few minutes stirring frequently.
- OPTIONAL STEP: to be able to unmould panna cotta easier, you may want to grease the ramekins with a tiny bit of flavourless oil (like refined coconut oil, for example).
- Put coconut cream through a fine sieve before dividing the mixture between ramekins to get rid of undissolved agar agar flakes. Pour strained mixture into ramekins and leave it aside for 3-4 hours to set.
- Put figs into a small pot with maple syrup, lemon juice and a dash of water and simmer on a very low heat until figs have softened and their juices thickened up into a sauce.
- Unmould panna cotta by running a knife gently along the wall of a ramekin. Put the ramekin upside down on a plate and (holding the plate and the ramekin firmly together) lower the plate suddenly with your hands until you hear a noise. Repeat with all 4 ramekins. Serve with fig relish poured on top.
I know it’s vegan but what would be the measurements for replacing the agar with gelatin?
I am not sure but Google will surely have the answer for you :) Ania
I tried making this, it’s not soft . I don’t know how that happen, I tried many times and it’s still not soft. I used agar agar powder instead Of flakes, thank you for sharing. But would like to know how to make soft panna cotta
It's because agar powder is 3 times as potent as the flakes so when using powder you need to use approximately only ½ tsp. Hope that helps! Ania
Thanks
Yes, I mean coconut cream that you can either buy in a can or obtain it from a can of full fat coconut milk yourself by chilling it in the fridge for a few days. After a few days coconut cream separates from the water and rises to the top of the can (it's best if it contains no additives as they often stop the separation from happening). Hope that answers your question. Ania
That's great to hear, thanks so much! I have not tried myself, but I reckon they should be fine! Alternatively, given that agar sets so quickly - you could freeze the 'custard' before you add agar and set it on the day. Hope that helps! Ania
Mine was very wobbly and only just barley holding together but the result may vary slightly depending on the type of agar used. I used flakes and I sieved them out after boiling.