椰汁红豆糕 Coconut Milk Red Bean Pudding

For mother’s day, I made this Chinese dessert for my mom. It’s not very hard to make and it’s not very sweet. Plus it’s cold when you eat it which is perfect for early summer.

Ingredients

• 50g 红豆 Red Beans
• 400ml 椰汁 Coconut Milk
• 150ml 牛奶 Milk
• 40g 糖 Sugar
• 18g 鱼胶粉 Powdered Gelatin

Directions

1. 先浸泡红豆在水里3个小时或者一个晚上. 焖煮红豆大约半个小时到一个小时, 或者是煮到软了. 把红豆放到容器的底部. Wash and leave red beans in water for three hours or over night. Cook red beans in boiled water at medium heat for about 30 minutes to an hour, or until they are soft. Place the soften red beans at the bottom of the container. 
2. 鱼胶粉用冷水浸泡. Dissolve powdered gelatin in cold water. 
3. 椰汁加牛奶混在一起加糖搅拌在锅里融化. Heat coconut milk and milk in a pot and dissolve sugar in the mixture. 
4. 把泡过水的鱼胶粉加到椰汁里面融化. Add the dissolved gelatin into the milk mixture.
5. 等椰汁凉了就倒进容器里. 放凉了之后就放进冰箱里等3个小时. Wait for the mixture to cool down a little and then pour it into the container. Chill for 3 hours.

Original Recipe: http://www.xinshipu.com/椰汁红豆糕-195634.htm

Mango Panna Cotta

A friend of mine recently asked me how do they make these mango milk pudding (or mango yogurt which he called it) that they have at certain sushi restaurants. So I’ve decided to figure out what they were. After some googling, it turns out the milk pudding is called panna cotta, an Italian dessert and I found a simple recipe to use. The dessert is not very sweet but very tasty and very easy to make. This makes about 6 cups of pudding.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of heavy cream or half and half
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 packet or 2 tsp of powdered gelatin
• 3 tbsp of cold water
• 2 cups of Mango Puree

Directions

1. Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan or microwave until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in vanilla extract.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let it stand for about 5 minutes.
3. Pour the warm cream mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
4. Divide the mixture into cups and chill them until firm. Depending on your fridge it could be between 2 to 4 hours.
5. Add mango puree on top of the panna cotta.

Panna Cotta Recipe based on: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/04/perfect-panna-cotta/