You want to make a dessert to impress your guest. You don’t want to spend the whole day in the kitchen preparing and washing the dishes. Here is an easy way out: panna cotta with cucumber and mango.

Panna cotta is a cooked cream originally from Italy. It’s often served with berries. I would like to add some Asian ingredient to give it a twist. A balance dish should have a harmony of flavour and texture. Looking at the photo, you will notice there are only four elements on the plate: panna cotta, diced cucumber, sliced mango, honey lime sauce.

In this dish, panna cotta will deliver a smooth creaminess to the palate. I infused the cream with some petals of torch ginger bud (bunga kantan). I just love the unique floral aroma it imparts. Need some crunch for contrast of texture, adding cucumber seems like a great idea. When I was in Shanghai, I can often see local Shanghainese biting into a cucumber during summer, krak krak krak…ah…as cool as a cucumber. I’ve chosen to use kyuri, Japanese cucumber with greener skin, less seed and slimmer than the cucumber in the market. Green and white is refreshing, throwing in mango, you will get vibrant color as well as adding a dimension of sweet and sour flavour. The slice of mango also serves as a bridge of texture between the soft panna cotta and crunchy cucumber. To round up the dish with an exotic touch, what is better than honey lime sauce?

Here goes the recipe (Serves 4):

Panna cotta

300g cream

30g sugar

3g gelation powder

1 tablespoon of cold water

6 petals of ginger flower (thinly sliced)

  1. Sprinkle the gelatin powder in cold water to soften it.
  2. Bring the cream, ginger flower petals and sugar to a boil. Take it off the heat and whisk in the gelatin till fully dissolved.
  3. Pass the mixture through a strainer and poured into mould*.
  4. Allow to set in the fridge overnight.

* I use a flexible mould for ice cube with 2cm(width)*8cm(length)*2cm(height). You can poured into any mould and cut the panna cotta to size with a slightly warm knife after it has set.

Diced cucumber

100g water

100g sugar

1 kyuri (Japanese cucumber)

  1. Bring the water and sugar to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Allow to cool.
  2. Wash the skin of the kyuri with some salt, and cut the cucumber into dices.
  3. Add the diced cucumber to the syrup mixture and store it overnight in the fridge.

Honey Lime Sauce

3 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoon lime juice

1. Combine the honey and lime juice together. Store in fridge.

Sliced Mango

1 mango

  1. Peel off the skin of the mango and cut four thinly sliced rectangle.

After plating the dessert, you will certainly have some extra diced cucumber in syrup and honey lime sauce. So, why don’t try making a honey lime drink with diced cucumber by combining diced cucumber, syrup, honey lime sauce and water (or if you prefer soda)? Hope you will enjoy a break away from the scorching sun with this recipe. Cheers!