Vegan Panna Cotta and Memories of Old Herzliya
Sunday evening, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), we'll drive to my parents' house in Herzliya (a city on Israel's Mediterranean coast) and sit down to a holiday dinner under the old olive tree.
Dad will switch on the string lights and complain about the heat, just like he does every year.
"There's no air," he'll say. "You can't breathe in this humidity."
Ever since enormous new houses went up all around them, the air in my parents' yard seems to have stopped moving.
Their house is small, with a red roof, built on a sandy dune in the 1930s.
It's a little house surrounded by a big garden that used to be my grandparents' farm, back when Herzliya was an isolated farming settlement and a breeze would drift through on the eve of the new year.
Today, that little house is surrounded by a big city that gets in the way of those early-fall breezes.
But whenever I walk into the yard, I still feel like I'm back in Herzliya's farming days. Any minute now, Grandpa will step through the door with his old rifle to chase off jackals and people slipping across the border onto the farm.
Okay, Enough Nostalgia. What's for Dessert?
Since this year's holiday evening is going to be hot, and the breeze no longer makes an appearance in the yard in Neve Oved (my parents' neighborhood in Herzliya), I'm making something light and delicious.
This year, I'll bring vegan panna cotta made with soy milk and a little coconut cream, topped with pomegranate seeds and chopped mint. Just the thing for the lingering heat of early fall.
If you've never made panna cotta, it's one of the easiest desserts in the world—and, in my opinion, it looks pretty darn impressive.
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How Do I Serve It?
One serving of vegan panna cotta makes a lovely, nourishing, low-calorie dessert, rich in antioxidants thanks to the pomegranate seeds.
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Nutrition information provided by Noam Bachar (an Israeli fitness coach and nutritionist):
Per serving of panna cotta (makes 4 servings)
160 calories
20 g carbohydrates
1 g protein
8 g fat (including 3 g saturated fat)
Vegan Panna Cotta
Ingredients
- 2 cups soy milk 480 ml (2 cups)
- 3 tablespoons silan (date syrup) 60 g (2.1 oz)
- 4 tablespoons pomegranate concentrate 40 g (1.4 oz)
- 4 tablespoons coconut cream, 20% fat 40 g (1.4 oz)
- 4 tablespoons pomegranate seeds 40 g (1.4 oz)
- 1 tablespoon agar-agar or a synthetic gelatin substitute
- A handful of chopped fresh mint
Instructions
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Combine the soy milk, silan, coconut cream, and 1 tablespoon agar-agar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
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Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 8 minutes.
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Pour 1 tablespoon pomegranate concentrate into the bottom of a small panna cotta mold.
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Repeat with each of the remaining panna cotta molds.
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Pour the hot soy milk mixture into the molds and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, until set.
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Once set, invert each mold onto a serving plate. The pomegranate concentrate should now be on top of the panna cotta. Garnish each serving with 1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds and chopped mint.
A Quick Note
No panna cotta molds? Make it in glasses instead and pour the pomegranate concentrate over the top.
