This is a fun recipe using molecular gastronomy. The creamy coconut panna cotta is served with a mango sphere which will spill the mango nectar on the panna cotta when it breaks.

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a great Holiday and a wonderful time with your family and loved ones…we sure had a memorable time, and I am fortunate to say that my year started very good because my son is recovering very well after being in a snowboarding accident, sent to emergency and diagnosed with a bad concussion and a broken arm. After hours of agony and uncertainty I am so thankful that he is getting his senses back, and now is mainly dealing with the broken arm which it will mend by time. I have never felt that scared in my life…but this is all behind and I look forward to this new year.

To celebrate my joy I am sharing with you a fun dessert…which I made for our family Christmas party. I knew that I wanted to make something different for the taste bud and the eyes, and end up creating this recipe for the party, and it was so much fun from the time I envisioned to the time I served it.

This recipe consists in two parts: coconut panna cotta and mango sphere, which uses molecular gastronomy, specifically reverse spherification. If you are interested in the science behind you can read more at Molecular Recipes or at Molecule R.

I made these desserts into little disposable cups for the party and some into shot glasses. The coconut panna cotta was adapted from here and the mango spheres.

Ingredients:

Coconut Panna Cotta

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups coconut milk (not coconut water)
• 2 packets powdered gelatin
• 7 tablespoons water
• 5 tablespoons sugar

Mango Sphere

• 750 g mango nectar
• 15 g calcium lactate
• 1000 ml distilled or filtered water
• 5 g sodium alginate

• Fresh strawberries (or any other colorful berry) for garnish
• Mint leaves for garnish

Method:

Coconut Panna Cotta

Mix the heavy cream, coconut and sugar together in a saucepan and place in a medium heat until begins to simmer, making sure that the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat. Do not boil.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes.

Add the gelatin to the coconut mixture and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved, lift the spoon and make sure that there are no undissolved granules.

Let it cool and divide into cups, and chill until firm, for approximately 2 hours or overnight.

Mango Sphere

Combine the mango nectar with the calcium lactate. Mix well using a hand blender. Pour the mango nectar into hemispherical molds and freeze.

Combine the sodium alginate with water and blend until all the alginate is dissolved.

Fill one small bowl with water and another one with the alginate solution.

Take the frozen mango nectar spheres out of the ice tray and gently place into the alginate bath. For the small spheres leave them for about 2 ½ to 3 minutes. For the medium spheres leave them for about 5 minutes.

Remove the mango spheres from the alginate bath using a slotted spoon and place them in the clean water bath. Rinse them gently and place the mango sphere in a container with mango nectar. Store them in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Assembly:

Gently remove the mango spheres from the mango nectar. And place on the firm coconut panna cotta. Garnish with strawberry and mint leaves. Serve cold.

If you enjoy Molecular Gastronomy recipes, you might want to check on this section of my Recipe Box.

Thank you so much for visiting Color Your Recipes and wish you all a happy 2014!

This is an easy and simple recipe adapted from Desserts Magazine…I had lots of lime from my brother’s lime tree so I made some changes from the original recipe which uses lemon and is served with raspberry sauce. It is so good that you will not miss the raspberry sauce, I could not even wait, so as soon as the lime pudding cake cooled down I dig my spoon in it…trust me it is delicious, you will find a layer of cake and a layer of pudding… anyway, for the original recipe please visit Desserts Magazine, and if you haven’t seen this virtual magazine you HAVE to check it out, it is absolutely amazing.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for ramekins
1 tablespoon of grated lemon lime zests
3 large eggs, separated
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole fat free milk
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon lime juice
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Method:

Heat oven to 350F. Butter 4 small pirex ramekins and coat with sugar. Place a folded dish towel in bottom of 13 x 9-inches pan, set aside. Boil water for the water bath.

In a bowl mix sugar, salt and flour. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the butter until well blended.

Whisk in the milk, lemon juice and zest until well blended. Whisk the flour mixture into the lemon mixture until incorporated; the batter will be very liquid.
Beat egg whites until stiff. Whisk gently the egg whites in egg-yolk mixture until there are no large lumps.

Immediately pour into custard cups; place in prepared baking pan; fill pan halfway with hot water. Bake until they are puffy and golden on top or when you insert a clean knife inserted in the center of lemon pudding cake and the knife comes out clean; the cake is done, about 30-35 minutes. Cool puddings on a wire rack, 30 minutes. Sprinkle confectioner’s sugar before serving.

Did you know that lime is denser that lemon? Lemon contains more oil than lime. Lime is more acid than lemon, therefore is more sour.

Thank you for stopping by Simple Recipes and have a great week!

This a very popular dish in the Taiwanese community…my mom used to make this very often and we all loved it. It is very tasty and is just a great complement with a bowl of white rice…yummie! Since it is kind of rich I like to cook this dish when the weather is cold.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of pork ribs
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons sugar
½ cup cooking wine
½ cup soy sauce
4 green onion cut into 1 ½ inch
5 slices of ginger
1 cup water

Method:

Cut the pork ribs into approximately 1 inch.
Boil the ribs in 4 cups of water, drain and set aside.

In another pot, heat the oil and stir the sugar until the sugar turn light brown and bubbly. Add the soy sauce, cooking wine and water. Once start to boil add the green onion and ginger. Lower the heat and cook for 1 ½ hour until the ribs are soft.

Serve with white rice. I hope you enjoy this traditional Taiwanese dish.