Vegan Coconut and Ginger Panna Cotta with Rhubarb

It’s rhubarb season…yay! I love rhubarb, I really could eat mountains of the stuff. What is not to love about this beautifully pink, tart and tangy foodstuff. Apart from the classic rhubarb crumble, I generally prefer to eat mine just gently stewed with a bit of brown sugar and served with a large lump of greek yoghurt. However after baking up my tropical hot cross buns I found I was left with quite a large amount of coconut milk so I decided to combine these two ingredients to form a slightly alternative rhubarb desert. And so the  coconut and ginger panna cotta was born, accompanied with my favourite….lightly stewed rhubarb. I also decided on making the panna cotta vegan by using my vegetarian setting agent 'Vegeset' in this recipe (although I think to be honest I slightly overdid it on the setting front and my panna cotta didn’t quite have enough of the required wobble but it was still delicious so that’s all that matters right?!?).

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE PANNA COTTA

500ml coconut milk

1 large knob of ginger, peeled and grated

2 tablespoons of caster sugar

1 level teaspoon of Vegeset (or other vegetarian friendly setting agent)

FOR THE RHUBARB

250g of rhubarb

20g soft brown sugar

The zest and juice from half a lime

Makes 4

Place the coconut milk and sugar in a large saucepan and place over a gentle heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

Once the sugar has dissolved add the grated ginger to the pan and let the mixture gently simmer for 20-30 minutes (or longer if you want a really gingery kick to your panna cotta).

Pass the coconut milk mixture through a sieve to remove the grated ginger, add the vegetarian setting agent as instructed (I allowed by mixture to cool, sprinkled my Vegeset on top and then brought the mixture to the boil until thickened).

Divide the mixture into four ramekins and allow to cool before covering with cling film and transferring to the fridge to set for a couple of hours.

Before serving slice the rhubarb into 2cm long chunks, add to a saucepan with the sugar and lime juice and zest and gently heat for 10-15 minutes until the rhubarb has begun to break down.

Remove the panna cotta from the fridge, remove the cling film and carefully turn out onto serving plates. The panna cotta should just come away from the ramekins but if you have any troubles quickly dunk the ramekins into a bowl of hot water to loosen the edges. Then serve with a generous helping of stewed rhubarb and enjoy!