A few months back, I visited the restaurant Burma Burma and loved their vegan menu with its fusion concepts. I had a hearty, soul-satisfying meal at a restaurant after a long time. It’s a vegetarian restaurant but offers vegan options. I enjoyed the steamed curried buns and the Mekong curry made with exotic spices complimented with sticky jasmine rice. But the star of the dinner for me was the Burmese dessert of vegan panna cotta with sago pearls and palm jaggery. One bite, and I knew I was in heaven.  

The creamy, buttery taste of coconut, with a slight bite of sago pearls and the mildly sweet aftertaste of palm jaggery, created a rich, textured royal dessert. It’s simple yet so divine that one bite wasn’t enough.

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Since then, this dessert has been lingering in my mind. I wanted to recreate it at home so that I could relish it anytime. I googled for the vegan recipe of coconut panna cotta and found many options.

But if you know me, then you know that I don’t like complicated recipes, just like I don’t like complicated people. Simplicity is the key for me. So, I picked a recipe that seemed simple to me.

After some procrastination, I finally gathered all the ingredients, and on a Sunday morning when I was feeling bored and craved something nice, I remembered the heavenly vegan panna cotta and decided to attempt it.

The steps were very simple for something that looked and tasted so exotic. So, at first, I was a bit apprehensive—had I done the right thing by choosing the simplest recipe? Anyway, not wanting to step back now, I put the doubts aside, gathered the ingredients in a pan, heated it on a low flame while constantly stirring it and then poured it into a bowl and refrigerated it.

Then I patiently waited for two hours. Most of the time, I like to believe that I am a patient person, but sometimes I prove myself wrong. But this was not that time. I wanted it to be perfect. So, every time my impatience crept in, urging me to open the fridge and check, I reminded myself of the heavenly taste I could devour again—only if I waited. And so I did, like a child.

After two hours, when I got the bowl out of the fridge, it had set perfectly. I garnished it with pomegranate seeds. Then I picked out a spoon, gently scooped a bite, put it into my mouth and closed my eyes. The rich, creamy coconut flavour danced delightfully in my mouth. The mild sweetness lingered for a bit like a gentle afterthought, making me crave another bite almost instinctively. After each bite, I paused briefly, savouring it, only to find my spoon diving back in for more. And before I knew it, I had scraped the bowl clean, but I was still wishing for just one more spoonful.

It tasted as divine and heavenly as the one at Burma Burma. Of course, I didn’t add the palm jaggery and sago pearls. I did my version with pomegranate. Next time I will try it with ripe mangoes.

Like I mentioned earlier, the beauty of this recipe is in its simplicity and in the richness of coconut milk as the star ingredient.

If you are tempted, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut milk

1 teaspoon agar agar (I got the Urban Platter one)

1 teaspoon sugar (Add more according to your liking, I like it mildly sweet hence I added only 1 teaspoon)

Steps:

1. Add all the ingredients in a pan and heat it over a low flame while constantly stirring.
2. When it comes to a boil, remove it from the flame.
3. Pour it into a bowl.
4. Refrigerate for two hours.
5. Prepare the garnish of your choice. It can be any fruit that compliments it. I used pomegranate.
6. Remove it from the fridge. Garnish it, and it’s ready to eat.

Enjoy this heavenly vegan panna cotta!

Click here to read more about my vegan food experiences.