Creamy Matcha Panna Cotta with Passion Fruit Mango Compote

Silky smooth and creamy Matcha Panna Cotta (Green Tea Panna Cotta) with sweet, fruity, tart Passion Fruit Mango Compote! This dessert is so simple to make, but an absolute dream to eat. A light, refreshing, delicious dessert perfect for parties and entertaining. 

K and I headed up to Chicago and Milwaukee this past weekend – just a quick detour from what’s been an insanely stressful and busy year so far. We spent a couple of days in Chicago, and another day up in Milwaukee. It was my first time in both of those places, and as luck would have it, I wasn’t feeling well!

It was still a fun trip though. We went on a food tour in Chicago, and walked everywhere in the city and learned a bunch and got inspired a bunch in the process! One of the places we visited was a tea shop. As a Sri Lankan, I do know quite a bit about tea (especially black tea), but I still learned a ton, and had the best green tea that I’ve ever tasted! Even my fiercely green tea hating husband, finished all of his drink – that’s the mark of great green tea, if there ever was one.

And today I’m sharing another green tea recipe that I made recently that Mr K couldn’t get enough of – silky, creamy Matcha Panna Cotta with Passion Fruit Mango Compote!

I’m really picky when it comes to panna cotta. A defining feature of a good panna cotta is that jiggly texture. You only add enough gelatin to set the liquid, so that it’s still wonderfully soft, silky, creamy and smooth when you eat it.

But too often, I’ve had panna cotta with too much gelatin that had the texture of creamy jello pudding. This panna cotta however, is an absolute dream to eat and it’s so easy to make too. Light, creamy, almost like a mousse but with that uniquely sweet and earthy flavor of matcha. Then topped with a sweet, fruity, tart passion fruit mango compote! It’s like summer in a little glass.

This matcha panna cotta is perfect for parties as well since you can serve them individually, plus you can make them ahead of time. This recipe serves 6-7 people easily. I’ve made this matcha panna cotta with buttermilk, because I feel that tartness adds another spark of flavor to this dessert. BUT, if you can’t find buttermilk, DO NOT substitute with lemon + milk instead. You don’t want to use clotted milk for this recipe, because that can easily affect the texture of the panna cotta. So instead, I would suggest using half and half OR half or single cream with about 12-18% fat content (not whipping cream).

Panna cotta is one of my favorite desserts and the great thing about a light dessert like this is that it can be used as a canvas on which to build some really unique flavors. One result is this green tea panna cotta where I used matcha powder. When you make this matcha panna cotta, make sure that you don’t boil the matcha powder or the gelatin. The milk, matcha and sugar are heated until the sugar has dissolved and is steaming, and then the gelatin is dissolved in the residual heat. This prevents the matcha from burning, and the gelatin from losing its gelling ability.

I have also professed my love of passion fruit before, so this passion fruit mango compote was a no-brainer! The passion fruit mango combo adds a refreshingly sweet, tart, tropical flavor that perfectly complements the more delicate flavors of the green tea panna cotta. I used fresh passion fruit to make the compote, but if you can’t find fresh passion fruit, simply use frozen pulp which should be easier to find. However, if you can’t find anything passion fruit, just add the juice of 1 lemon to the mango compote instead. It won’t be the same, but it’ll still be delicious! 🙂

This matcha panna cotta is absolutely perfect for parties and get togethers and just about any time you’d like a refreshingly decadent, fruity, tangy, creamy dessert. Mr K couldn’t stop eating these, and if I can get him to enjoy a green tea flavored dessert this much, there’s no telling how much you guys will love it! 🙂

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Matcha Panna Cotta with Passion fruit Mango Compote

Creamy Matcha Panna Cotta (Green Tea Panna Cotta) with sweet, fruity, tart Passion Fruit Mango Compote. A simple make ahead dessert that is light, refreshing and perfect for parties! 

Total Time 6 hours 30 minutes

Prep: 6 hours

Cook: 30 minutes

Print Rate

Ingredients:

Matcha Panna cotta (Green Tea Panna Cotta)

• ▢ ½ cup water
• ▢ 2 ¼ tsp gelatin 1 package
• ▢ ½ cup sugar
• ▢ 2 tbsp matcha powder
• ▢ ½ cup milk or water
• ▢ 1 ½ cups whipping cream
• ▢ 1 cup buttermilk or 12-18% fat cream - that is NOT whipping cream

Mango Passion Fruit Compote

• ▢ 1 lb mango flesh I used frozen, but fresh is great too
• ▢ 1 ½ passion fruit pulp about ¼ - ⅓ cup
• ▢ ½ cup white sugar

Instructions:

Matcha Panna Cotta

• Place the water in a bowl and sprinkle the powdered gelatin over the surface. Using a skewer or toothpick, mix the gelatin and water until the gelatin is completely hydrated. Set it aside for about 10 minutes to let the gelatin bloom, until you have the green tea / matcha base ready.
• Place the ½ cup of milk and matcha powder in a saucepan. Using a matcha whisk (or hand-held milk frother or whisk), mix the green tea with the milk until there are no lumps and you have a thick mixture. Add the sugar to the saucepan and heat over medium heat stirring frequently until the sugar is completely dissolved. Do not let the milk mixture come to a boil.
• Add the bloomed gelatin to the warm matcha milk. Stir to dissolve. Heat gently if necessary but do not let the milk come to a boil. When the gelatin has completely dissolved, remove the milk base from the heat.
• Add the cream and buttermilk to the matcha / green tea base and stir to mix.
• Pour the panna cotta into serving dishes or molds. If you are going to unmold the panna cotta before serving, lightly grease the metal molds before pouring the panna cotta.
• Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• If unmolding before serving, place each panna cotta mold in warm water for a few seconds to make it easier to unmold.
• Spoon the mango and passion fruit compote over the panna cotta just before serving.

Passion Fruit Mango compote

• Place all the ingredients in a saucepan. Heat the fruit over medium heat, stirring frequently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring the fruit mixture to a simmer and stir frequently until the mango pieces have softened and you end up with a thick jam-like consistency (this takes about 30 minutes for frozen mango, less time for fresh mango). Add extra water if the the compote is too thick.

Course:Dessert

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There are plenty more delicious recipes to come on The Flavor Bender as we gear up towards the holiday season! 🙂 There’ll be quite a few that are Halloween-themed (since I LOVE Halloween!), and a few inspired by my tastings in Chicago this past weekend. I had some amazing deep dish pizza, and the best toffee brittle I’ve ever munched on in my life! I even got some balsamic vinegars and spices to experiment with. So I hope you guys stay tuned. 🙂

Do you have any ideas for what you’d like to see more of on The Flavor Bender? Let me know in the comments if you do.

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