Pina Colada Mousse And The Thrill Of Innovation

I love this recipe simply because it was something I invented by myself. I was so thrilled the first time I made it and it came out well. I used to have Pina Coladas in Bangalore at Pub World. The consistency of the drink lent itself very well to conversion to a dessert.

The secret to a good cook, in my opinion, is the constant experimentation in the kitchen. The more you try out you know what works and what does not. I agree it means a lot of hits and misses and the misses end up being a real pain. But then a super hit recipe along the way makes it all worthwhile. This is one such recipe.

But the story of this mousse does not end there. After I made this, I gave the recipe to my sister in law. Now she is a very good cook. But she loves to say that she is just a so so cook. Which is so not true.

Now she started making the dessert and I had just given her the basic recipe and left it at that. I thought my instructions were pretty clear. But I had omitted to tell her that once the gelatin had melted, it needs to cool before adding to the cream mixture. So she went ahead very happily adding the hot gelatin to cold cream mixture. You can guess what the result was. She had this liquid with strings of gelatin running through it. No hope of it setting as it had already set into strings. Too late to set as dessert for the dinner that night. She just strained it and served a drink/dessert...

My lesson learnt? Never give half baked instructions while giving recipes. Now that I have a blog, I hope that I have learnt my lesson well.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tin Condensed Milk

200 ml Thick Coconut Milk

1 litre Pineapple Juice

2 heaped tablespoons Gelatin

200 ml Cream, whipped

30 ml Coconut Flavored Rum (Optional)

For the glaze:

5-6 tinned Pineapple Slices

1 tablespoon Cornflour

3 tablespoons Sugar

METHOD:

For the Glaze:

Puree the pineapple slices in the mixie.

Add the sugar.

Mix the cornflour in a couple to tablespoons of water and mix into the pureed pineapple.

Cook on a medium to low flame till it gets thick and translucent.

Take off the flame and leave to cool.

For the Mousse:

Mix the condensed milk, coconut milk and pineapple juice in a bowl. Also add in the coconut flavored rum if using.

In a small bowl pour about 1/2 cup of water. Sprinkle the gelatin on top and leave it to soak for about 20 minutes. After this heat on a very very low flame till the gelatin dissolves.

Cool the gelatin till it is room temperature.

Whip the cream till it has soft peaks.

Mix the gelatin liquid into the coconut milk/pineapple mixture. Let it set for a few minutes in the refrigerator.

Gently fold in the whipped cream into it and leave to set for about 4-6 hours.

Once set fully, pour the glaze on top and garnish as you wish.

Enjoy!!!!!!