Passion Fruit Pudding

I found a six pack of passion fruit on sale at the fruit and veg market that was to good to pass up. Now I love passion fruit but I'm not to keen on the seeds.  So after an afternoon of thought, I came up with a quick and easy dessert that would make the best use of on hand pantry ingredients as well as highlight the passion fruit flavor. A dessert that doesn't require the oven or the stove top (for my friend Junko) sounded superb.

This is my own recipe that is loosely based off of a Brazilian Passion Fruit Mousse, or Maracuja, that I have made in the past. My version here has received the appropriate rave reviews from my husband. I hope that you like it too.

Ingredients:

6 passion fruits
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can coconut cream
1 tsp vanilla paste
2 tsp gelatin powder
1/2 cup near boiling water

Method:

To start with put the coconut cream, while still inside the can, into the freezer for twenty minutes.  This will help separate the cream from the water.

Next, pour half a cup of near boiling water into a Pyrex glass and add the gelatin. Mix thoroughly until combined and then set aside.

Cut five of your six passion fruits in half and spoon the pulp into a mesh strainer over a medium size bowl.  Once you have all five of them in the strainer, use the back of a large metal or silicon spoon to push the liquid pulp through the strainer leaving the seeds behind. Throw out the seeds or put them aside to possibly grown you own passion fruit vine... :)

Remove the coconut cream from the freezer and open the can.  Be careful not to shake the can as you want the water at the bottom and the cream on the top.  Using a spoon, gently remove the cream from the can and placing it into passion fruit liquid.  Be careful at this step to only get the cream. Leave the water in the bottom and use it for something else.

Once all the coconut cream is in the bowl, add the vanilla paste and sweetened condensed milk and whisk it all together.  Slowly pour the slightly cooled gelatin water mix into your pudding while whisking.  Once all ingredients are incorporated, spoon into four larger or six smaller individual size ramekins.

Cut your last passion fruit in half and top the puddings with the pulp. There are not many seeds in one passion fruit and it adds a visual aesthetic to the dessert that wouldn't otherwise be there.

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Try this out and let me know how you like it.  Leave a note or drop me an email. 

Bon Appétit!

Cauliflower Soup

I love love love Donna Hay!  There, I said it.  She is a fantastic chef and wonderful creator of great recipes.  The recipe that I am currently enamored with is out of the Donna Hay Magazine Jun/Jul 2013 (Issue 69) on page 81.  It's called cauliflower soup with spiced cauliflower.  I've made it twice now, once the way she does it in the magazine and once my vegan way.  I have plenty of friends who are vegetarian and/or vegan and I thought that maybe I'd give it a go for them.  Take one for the team so to speak.  :)

Since her recipe was absolutely fabulous on all levels of consciousness, I thought I would play around with it and see if I could a) make a vegan version and b) experiment with additions to it.  I'll feature my adapted version here but I strongly suggest that you buy the magazine (Issue 69) and try making it her way if you are not vegan.

So, start with gathering the ingredients.  I used the following:

• 2 TBSP coconut oil
• 1 leek, trimmed and sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 400 grams raw cauliflower, chopped
• 200 grams potato, peeled and chopped
• 3 1/2 cups of vegetable stock or water
• sea salt and cracked black pepper

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a medium stock pan over medium to medium high heat.  Add the leek and cook for about five minutes until soft.  Be sure and stir it on occasion to keep it from browning too much.
2. Add the garlic and cook for one minute more.
3. Add the cauliflower, potato, vegetable stock (or water), salt, and pepper then bring to a boil.  
   
4. Reduce heat to simmer and then cover with a tight fitting lid.  Cook for twenty minutes or until cauliflower is tender.
5. Remove from the heat and blend the soup until smooth.  
6. Set aside and keep warm.

The spiced cauliflower that I made had a different ingredient than what she did and I think it came out just as good as hers.  The following ingredients are needed for the topping:

• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP coconut oil
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 100 grams of cauliflower, chopped
• 1 tsp ground coriander (cilantro for those in the US)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin OR cumin seeds
• 1/4 cup of pumpkin kernels

Method:

1. Place the oils, garlic, cauliflower, coriander and cumin in a small frying pan over medium / medium high heat.  Cook, stirring often, for about five minutes.
2. When the cauliflower starts to get crisp and golden, add the pumpkin kernels and cook for another minute or two.

To assemble, pour soup into bowls and top with spiced cauliflower.  Bon Appétit!!