Saturday, June 19, 2010

Passion Fruit Mousse

Passion Fruit Mousse

This is really one of favorite desserts, in Sri Lanka, and i try it every where i go. I've blogged about it before but i never thought i'd be able to make this at home. Don't know why, but i thought it would be too complicated and beyond me. So the good news is, its not! Thar it is, right there, and it was quite good also. Here is what i did.

10 Passions fruits (from Colpetty market) were juiced -- i use a simple manual juicer. Then i stained the pulp, and got about 150 ml juice. I saved the seeds, for garnish. This fresh juice can be sweetened a little, and i added some vodka also, cos i heard its against the law not to drink in this country, i may be wrong about this -- :) -- and poured spiked juice into my small cognac glasses, just letting it sit at the bottom. Then i whipped 500 ml cream, that's a little more than i needed for 5, so it should do for six, if its a medium size serving, as in the photo. I used anchor UHT whipping cream (of course, that's all that really works in SL, no doubt options abound in other places!), mixed in cordial, yes you need loads, and then would take kilos of fruit if you don't use this short cut (but the taste was fine, that's the thing about passion fruit, it such a distinctive tang, its hard to kill it)-- sigh, i hate using any thing premade - to taste, until the color turned a light yellow. I then beat the whole thing again, it was stiff enough so that i did not use any gelatin, just put it in a zip lock bag, slit a corner and squeezed it out, into the glasses. It lasted a day in the fridge too. (Lower your regulator to normal, after giving it a burst on high for two hours or so -- other wise the cream will go brittle.) Garnish with seeds, and pour some hot cordial over the whole thing, when you serve it.
I made this for a big dinner, and there were other desserts too -- but this went down well.

12 comments:

Angel said...

I love the little touch of the hot cordial on top garnished with a few seeds!

I'm a little worried about anchor UHT cream, because the first and only time I used it (in a cheesecake) it came out funny... maybe I was whipping it wrong. Someone said that fresh cream (e.g. kothmale) would work better... what do you think?

Pradeep Jeganathan said...

hey Angel!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. I really need to do a full cream comparison post. I've never had any luck with kotmale, often the cream has separated in the container, when open it at home. But i should really study is further -- and also Nell farms cream, which i have not tested out.
But this what i do know:

Anchor UHT has two varieties. Culinary and Whipping. Of course, you need the second one for mousses, the first for sauces and patta cottas. (the second it is available in 250 ml packs for Rs. 160, in FC/Keels/Luaghs. The first in 1 liter packs. It has chemicals in it. Sighs. But it whips beautifully because of that. I use a low tech hand held electric beater you can get anywhere for less than Rs.2000. I beat 500ml on full, until the cream stiffens. It takes less than 3 mins. if you keep beating the cream, it will separate, and start turning into butter. Stop when its stiff. And it keeps in the fridge.

Other option is Redman,(at Keels) which also beats beautifully, but this is pre sweetened, and so your mousse may end up to sweet when infuse flavored sweet liquid like kithul or passion cordial.

Hope this helps.

Angel said...

Thanks so much for the info. and yes, I would love to read your cream comparison post when you have time to do it! Hmm, I guess I'll avoid the kothmale cream (have never tried it) and stick to anchor...

I may have whipped it too long because it turned all grainy (butter?), but this sorted itself out when I added the cream cheese. But the taste and texture of the cheesecake weren't what I expected. will let you know progress! :)

Pradeep Jeganathan said...

Angel: Look forward to your progress. i've never made cheesecakes, but i want to.

another important tip: you've got to keep every thing cold, (but not freezing) for the cream to whip stiff. The UHT must be a cold fridge until right before. The vessel you beat it in must be very cold also. I use a inexpensive thin plastic bowl (made in thailand, i think, which i got at Arpico). Before i start, i fill it with tap water, add ice cubes, and put in it in the freezer, for a bit. When you are ready to whip, take out the bowl, and empty it. But now the bowl is really cold. Add the cream, taken from the fridge, at once, and whip on high for 3 mins. As the peaks form, stop. Yes, it can go grainy on you, if you beat for too long. Redman, is easier to whip. its harder, much harder to over shoot. it makes, huge, soft, snowy peaks. But its sweet. :).

BTW: I am great fan of your blog, and i look forward, one day to seeing your best posts as a book!

Angel said...

Thanks so much for the vote of confidence Pradeep!!

Sandra said...

This looks completely gorgeous. Passion fruit is one of my favourite flavours, however virtually unobtainable here in Ireland. I'll have to wait until I go to SL later this summer!

Lovely blog, I'll be telling people about it.

Pradeep Jeganathan said...

Thank you! Hope yours turns out nice :)

Unknown said...

Hi..!!
Thank you for the recipe..
Its looking soo yummy..
Perfect Mousse..

Robert White……
Pakistani restaurants

NIDHYA said...

wow! mousse looks totally wonderful..love the passion fruit. You made me thirsty.

Love your photography, happy following you.
http://aaha-oho.blogspot.com/

Pradeep Jeganathan said...

thank you Sandra, Robert and Nidhya for the lovely comments

Juicers said...

I truly like to reading your post. Thank you so much for taking the time to share such a nice information. I'll definitely add this great post in my article section.

Canna_W said...

Passion Fruit is a great favourite of mine too. Interesting recipe - thank you!

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