Jasmine tea honey panna cotta with mint poached lychees

Here's the last part of using up leftover cream. The first two ideas can be found here and here.

Jasmine tea honey panna cotta with mint poached lychees

I used my favourite tea of the moment - Gryphon's Pearl of the Orient (which has a really lovely tea aroma) for the panna cottas. I didn't have my measuring teaspoons with me, so I estimated the amount of gelatin used - erring on the lesser side than more cos I didn't fancy a rubbery panna cotta. Then again, I must have erred too well and the texture was a tad too soft (think silken beancurd dessert texture).


Flavour wise, I think something must have been quite wrong with me when I thought to pair these two flavours together. Separately, I think they should taste quite nice, but put together the flavours didn't seem to mesh quite well. I would probably recommend upping the honey level in the panna cotta, or pairing it with a simple honey sauce. And the mint poached lychees would be better paired with a vanilla bean (or more neutral flavoured) panna cotta.

On a side note, these were made in the temporary lodging, so pardon the bad lighting.

Jasmine Tea and Honey Panna Cotta (adapted from at Almost Bourdain)
1/2 cup whole milk
2 jasmine tea bags
1/2 tbsp powdered gelatin
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/6 cup honey
pinch of salt

Place cream in saucepan, simmer (do not let it boil) till warm. Add tea bags and leave to infuse for at least an hour. Remove tea bags and squeeze all the concentrated liquid from the tea bags before discarding.
Pour the milk into a bowl or pot and sprinkle gelatin evenly and thinly over the milk. Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.
Pour the milk into a clean saucepan and place over medium heat on the stove. Heat this mixture until it is hot, but not boiling, about five minutes.
Next, add the infused cream, honey, sugar, and pinch of salt. Making sure the mixture doesn't boil, continue to heat and stir occasionally until the sugar and honey have dissolved 5-7 minutes.
Remove from heat, allow it to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. Then pour into the glasses or ramekins.
Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.

Mint poached lychees (adapted from here)
170g caster sugar
1 1/4 cups water
2 sprigs fresh mint
500g fresh lychees, peeled
2 tbs shredded fresh mint, extra

Place the sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the ginger and mint sprigs. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
Add the lychees and simmer, uncovered, for a further 4-5 minutes or until the lychees are tender. Remove the sprigs of mint and discard. Set aside and allow to cool for 5 minutes or longer if time permits for the flavours to develop. Stir in the shredded mint and serve.