Matcha Panna Cotta
Panna cotta is one of my favourite desserts to make especially when I have a group of people over for dinner. It involves minimal prepping in the morning and by the time you’re ready to serve dessert, it’s just a matter of unmoulding them. There are plenty of videos online that show how to do this but I find that if you properly prepare the moulds before pouring the mixture in, with just a little dip in some hot water, they just slide right out. There’s something fun about how a good panna cotta wobbles on the plate.
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp matcha powder
4 gold gelatine leaves (each leaf I use has approx 2.2g gelatine)
1 cup pouring cream
2 cups full cream milk
1/3 cup sugar (if you want it sweeter ½ cup)
Equipment:
Nestle Dariole Moulds
METHOD
Lightly grease the inside of the moulds with a neutral flavoured oil (vegetable or canola) – if it’s too greasy, wipe excess with paper towel (you only want a light residue).
In a saucepan, warm up the milk, cream and sugar till the sugar is dissolved and the mixture just starts to simmer.
Whilst the milk mixture is heating up, bloom the gelatine leaves by placing them in cold water till the leaves soften (be careful because if you leave it too long the gelatine dissolves into the water – it’s ready when it becomes soft and you can wring out the extra liquid)
Remove the milk/cream mixture off the heat. Place the matcha powder in a bowl and spoon a few heated spoonfuls of the milk mixture over the matcha powder and stir to lightly dissolve. Tip this mixture into the saucepan of milk/cream mixture and stir everything together.
Add the bloomed gelatine leaves to the saucepan and whisk everything together, till the gelatine is completely dissolved.
Pour through a sieve into a large pouring jug (this removes any residual lumps and the jug makes it easier to divide the mixture between the moulds).
Pour the mixture into the moulds, filling up to at least ½ way (I probably go up to 2/3), depending on the size you want the panna cottas to be. There’s enough mixture here for about 8 panna cottas.
Allow to cool on the bench before refrigerating for at least 4 hours.
To turn out panna cottas, pour hot water into a deep bowl and dip the dariole mould into the water for 5 seconds and tip onto a plate. Gently squeeze the mould to break the seal and allow air into the mould.
Tips:
- If you want the colour of the panna cotta to be more even, once you dissolve the matcha in some of the hot liquid, pour it back into the pot with the milk/cream and whisk over low heat for it to dissolve more. If you’re really particular about not having the matcha settle to the bottom you can strain through a very fine holed material like cheese cloth but I quite like the look of intense matcha at the top so I just use a normal sieve.
- Apparently if you cool the moulds down quickly in an ice bath, it stops the matcha falling to the bottom but I’ve never tried this.
- Another thing you can do to make a more even coloured panna cotta is you wait for the mixture to cool down to room temperature in the pouring jug, give it a stir and then pour it into the dariole moulds before refrigerating.
- If you notice a film form on the top of the panna cotta once it cools and before it’s set, just use a chopstick or skewer to remove it (it’s the fat from the cream).
- I use the Essential Ingredient Gold Gelatine Leaves and find them easy to work. If you notice that after 4 hours the panna cotta still isn’t set, you may need to leave overnight. So if I’m planning on serving this at a dinner party, I’ll make it the night before to make sure it’s definitely set.