Vegan Panna Cotta

Wondering if anyone has had luck making a good vegan panna cotta. There's a million recipes out there, but all from websites I wouldn't exactly call "reputable". Thought I'd see if anyone here had suggestions before I start testing.

I'm trying to make a vegan Bourbon & Corn Panna Cotta. Thinking I'll use coconut milk as the base, infuse it with freeze-dried corn, use agar to set it, and just add a splash of Bourbon. Maybe maple syrup to sweeten? I plan to unmold, rather than serving from the container they set in.

I'd love suggestions on ratios of milk::agar, different sweeteners, and any other pointers / red flags I should look out for.

Thanks in advance!

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michaelnatkin

Here's a recipe I can vouch for: http://herbivoracious.com/2012/10/caramelized-banana-and-buttermilk-panna-cotta-vegetarian-panna-cotta-recipe.html. It is using about 0.15% agar, which is low enough to keep the panna cotta from being brittle. But do note that it is relying on the bananas, cream, and buttermilk to create some of the thickness. Corn will likely provide some of that same effect, and if you use full fat coconut milk that will help. But you might have to bump the agar up a bit and/or add a small amount of xanthan. Basically you want the agar to do the last little bit of taking you across the finish line from a fairly thick liquid to a light gel. If you make the agar do too much of the work, it will be brittle, crumbly, and not very nice to eat.

Elizabeth_3941

Michael: Thanks so much! (Your site is awesome, by the way.)

That looks very promising. Do you think very finely ground freeze-dried corn would thicken things enough without using the banana? And do you have a suggestion for how much xanthan to use (how much is "a small amount")?

michaelnatkin

WHOOPS misspoke - edited down to 0.1%

My suspicion is that the freeze dried corn will thicken comparably to the banana. For the xanthan, I'd start with 0.1% of the total weight of liquid and corn. So e.g. if you have 1000g of coconut milk and corn, use 1 g of xanthan. Naturally you'll have to give this a trial run and then adjust it up or down.

reck.harm

you could also try adding locust bean gum with agar to make a more elastic gel, never tried it so no idea on the ratios. Or maybe use a different gelling agent alltogether. Maybe high acyl gellan? It seems to be quite similiar to gelatin in terms of the gel structure. It won't melt in you mouth like gelatin does, but neither will an agar gel...