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Sugar Free Halal Panna Cotta

This was my first time I had made this desert and it was by trial and error. I ate the disasters while they are still edible but there is no way I can post those poor excuse of panna cotta in this blog. I am glad I had enough fruit sauce to go around. I had gotten some halal unflavored gelatine from Cermac groceries. They carry stuff from everywhere around the world. The one I go to is like my neighborhood a mini UN.

Plus I have been procrastinating about when I am going to come on line to write this recipe and another. I gave way in to my depression because I am still grieving my dad and my mom’s friend’s husband who both ment a lot to me. If you see the pictures above, you will see how I made this panna cotta. However please pardon my crowded refridgerator picture. I am merely showing you that it goes in there until it is set and now I am going to share with you how I did it.

At first when I tried to make it the way someone else did it, it did not turn out the way they did it and I came up with my own foolproof way of making this desert. I got out my very small coldero which is the size of a small sauce pan. You can use a sauce pan too if you have them and it is perfered but I made do with what I have and it works very well.

It is 1/4 cup of water brought to a boil on high heat. Add 4 tbs of agave nectar or sugar free syrup, 1 drop of vanilla essence, 2 tbs of unflavored halal gelatine in the boiling water and keep stirring until the gelatine disolves. The vanilla essence you can buy at any Indian and Pakistani store since it is alcohol free. The sugar free syrup and halal unflavored gelatine you can get it at a store that sells Middle eastern groceries. Agave nectar you can buy it everywhere.

Here briefly turn off the heat and make a slurry by adding to a bowl 1 tsp of cornstarch, 1 tbs each of Nido, Hoosier Hill Farms heavy cream powder and sour cream powder. Mix in 1/4 cup of water a little at a time until it becomes very smooth. Add this to the pot on the stove. Add 1/4 cup of milk and stir and use an immersion blender to blend it all until it is smooth. If you do not have access to the Hoosier Hill Farms then you can use an equal amount of heavy cream and sour cream. Be sure to mix this with the nido and cornstarch before adding to the pot. Here you do not have to add water.

Nido is found everywhere. The Hoosier Hill Farms products are available on Amazon. Turn the heat back on this time to medium and stir constantly until it thickens. Place the thickened milk misture in ramekins let them cool and stick them in the refridgerator for 4 hours or until next day.

For a variation you can even add food coloring of your prefferance to the panna cotta mixture, sprinkle it with either nutmeg or cinnamon instead of the fruit sauce, add cocoa powder if you wish or add either I drop of either orange, pineapple or orange essence too if you wish also. One of these items is added during the prepertion of the panna cotta recipe.

The ground cinnamon stick which gets ground in a mortar and pestle and you need 1 tiny piece to grind in to a powder and nutmeg which gets grated with a mini grater in place of the fruit sauce.

For the fruit sauce you will need 1/4 cup of any type of fruit you would like like berries, apples, peaches, nectarines, plums, pears which all need to be deseeded and pits removed. Cherries need pits removed and this is the only one in the berry family that needs this. Strawberries, rasberries, cranberries, black berries and blueberries can be given the pass because they do not need this. Oh do not forget to wash your fruit before prepping.

Add 1/4 cup of water in to a small pot with the fruit. Oh you can use mixed berries besides to using them alone too if that is your thing also. Bring this to a boil on high heat then reduce to medium heat. Add 4 tbs of agave nectar or sugar free. syrup, 1 capful of lemon juice and stir until the fruit is softened. As soon as they are soft and mushy then take 2 tsps of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water added a little at a time to make a lump free slurry. Add this to the fruit that has softened during the cooking process and stir until it is thick. This sauce is now ready to be used for the topping of panna cotta.

I almost did not want to try to make this popular desert at first because of the issue with it containing gelatine. It is when I did find the halal unflavored gelatine then I said finally that I am going to finally give it a go, so what do I have to lose, right? My hunches are never wrong. I hope you will enjoy this new recipe and please come in to my group in Facebook based on this very blog. Oh please watch the adds so I can get some add revenue please.

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