This vegan “panna cotta” was inspired by a recent dinner at Kajitsu, a Japanese restaurant in NYC that specializes in shojin ryori. It’s a style of cooking developed by buddhist monks that uses no meat or fish.
As you step down into the restaurant, the pace of life seems to slow down before your very eyes. The pleasantly lit interior reveals a long solid timber bar along with a dining room furnished and trimmed in traditional Japanese woods. Everything from the understated decor to the cedar-like smell in the air will convince you that you’re in an old home in Kyoto, rather than a basement level East Village eatery.
Each course is a perfect balance of subtle flavours and colors allowing you to taste the quality of each ingredient without being too austere or simplistic. Watching Chef Nishihara behind the bar is like watching a sculptor working with clay. The attention to detail even carries over to the carefully selected dishes that the food is presented on, some of which are over two hundred years old!
For dessert we had a blueberry kinton filled with red bean paste. Kinton is a dense dumpling, traditionally made from sweetened chestnuts, sweet potato or beans. In this case, Chef Nishihara added blueberries, an unexpected combination that worked remarkably well. The whole meal was great, but I found myself contemplating the juxtaposition between the tart floral blueberries and the creamy bean paste during the entire walk home. This contemplation soon turned into a craving which is how I came up with this red bean “panna cotta” with blueberry sauce.
I put panna cotta in quotes because it has no cream in it and the texture is quite different due to the red bean and use of kanten instead of gelatin. If you’re looking for a satiny smooth traditional panna cotta, you may prefer this one, or this one (although neither are vegetarian)
Kanten_ (agar agar) is a gelling agent common in Asian cooking that’s derived from seaweed, which makes it vegan friendly. The resulting gel isn’t the same as gelatin though, with a firmer more delicate gel that’s less resilient under pressure. If you can live with the slightly different texture, it’s a great substitute for gelatin in desserts ranging from marshmallows to fruit jellos.
Units
Ingredients
for pudding
- 1 can coconut milk (400 gram)
- ½ cup red bean paste (a.k.a. anko, adzuki bean paste)
- 3 grams kona kanten (agar agar powder)
for blueberry sauce
- 280 grams blueberries frozen wild packages
- agave nectar (to taste)
Instructions
- Put the coconut milk, red bean puree and kona kanten in a blender, and blitz until completely smooth. Pour this mixture through a double mesh seive into a small saucepan, discarding any remaining solids.
- Heat the saucepan over medium low heat, stirring constantly until it starts steaming (but not until it boils). Pour the mixture into individual ramekins and allow them to come to room temperature before putting in the refrigerator to set.
- To make the blueberry sauce, just add the thawed blueberries to the blender and blend until smooth. Taste, then add agave nectar as needed to sweeten.
- To serve, just unmold the ramekins and pour the blueberry sauce on top.
Marc Matsumoto says
Great question. Buddhist monks are not allowed to eat eggs, but I’m not sure about milk.
colloquial cook says
Another blogger suggested Clément Faugier crème de marron as a base, and guess what I have two boxes of those on my bedroom table (you never know when the craving is going to kick in). One of them is yours if you want to do something creative with sweet chestnut purée 🙂
Culinary Wannabe says
Hi Marc – It was so nice meeting you the other night at the foodbuzz event. Your site has been a real treat to read through, and I’ve already set aside your salmon miso soup recipe to make (and impress!) my Japanese mother-in-law.
Jessie says
really beautiful looking dessert! I love looking at your photos too because you capture food so well 🙂
Jessie says
really beautiful looking dessert! I love looking at your photos too because you capture food so well 🙂
Jan says
Oooh yum! I don’t really like desserts but that looks GOOD! Love blueberries. Fantastic photos too!
Jan says
Oooh yum! I don’t really like desserts but that looks GOOD! Love blueberries. Fantastic photos too!
Julia @ Mélanger says
Marc, these look amazing. I only recently had an experience with red bean ice-cream. It was delicious. I had never tasted anything like this before. In remembering that beautiful flavour, I am trying to pair it with blueberry. I think I can almost taste it. Amazing. Your photos and recipes are wonderful.
Julia @ Mélanger says
Marc, these look amazing. I only recently had an experience with red bean ice-cream. It was delicious. I had never tasted anything like this before. In remembering that beautiful flavour, I am trying to pair it with blueberry. I think I can almost taste it. Amazing. Your photos and recipes are wonderful.
Kevin (Closet Cooking) says
I like the sound of the red bean and blueberry combo!
Kevin (Closet Cooking) says
I like the sound of the red bean and blueberry combo!
marie says
This looks great! I really want to try Kajitsu soon.
marie says
This looks great! I really want to try Kajitsu soon.
Judy says
This dessert was awesome and got rave reviews at a dinner party! I changed it by making red bean paste from scratch (cooked the beans and then processed it). I used lite coconut milk, about 1 tbsp of honey and 1-2 tbsp of sugar, and 1/2 a packet of gelatin. I left it in the fridge for 24 hours and served it with fresh blueberries. Thanks for the recipe. Red beans and blueberries are a great combo!
Judy says
This dessert was awesome and got rave reviews at a dinner party! I changed it by making red bean paste from scratch (cooked the beans and then processed it). I used lite coconut milk, about 1 tbsp of honey and 1-2 tbsp of sugar, and 1/2 a packet of gelatin. I left it in the fridge for 24 hours and served it with fresh blueberries. Thanks for the recipe. Red beans and blueberries are a great combo!