Cocoa Mango recipes Sanjana Patel so good #33 yogurt

Fermentation dessert with fermented cacao, tropical sorbet, and citrus coulis by Sanjana Patel

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Sanjana Patel, one of the featured chefs in so good..magazine 33 and founder of La Folie in Mumbai, explores cacao from its origin and throughout the process, working directly with the plantations and participating in the fermentation, drying, and post-harvest phases that define the character of chocolate.

At 22:00 Hours, Mumbai’s first evening dessert tasting service, the pastry chef presents Journey of Cacao, a trilogy of desserts that traces the cacao’s journey from harvest to its transformation into chocolate. Each course interprets a key stage of the process: harvesting, fermentation, and roasting and grinding.

On this occasion, we focus on the second course, Fermentation, which captures the essence of the first 24 hours of the cacao bean’s fermentation. A dessert inspired by the work Sanjana Patel developed at Varanasi Farms (Mangalore), a 100-acre farm that has been naturally regenerated and features cacao trees over 80 years old. There, she defined fermentation protocols designed to enhance the tropical fruit notes of single-plantation cacao.

Beneath a layer of fermented cacao juice, the dish comprises tropical mango and passion fruit sorbet, fermented exotic fruits, lavender-smoked kefir panna cotta, cacao and green banana crèmeux, and a citrus coulis, paying homage to the farm’s vibrant flavors. The recipe is exclusively available on our website.

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Fermentation

65% Pabana cremeux

3 g gelatine
10 g honey
150 g cream
54 g green banana purée
102 g pabana purée
125 g 70% India-origin chocolate

Warm the cream, honey, and purées to 60ºC. Add the bloomed gelatine and mix well. Create a ganache emulsion with the chocolate.

Kefir–lavender panna cotta

150 g 35.5% cream
1200 g kefir
300 g milk
1 g lavender
22 g gelatine
225 g floral farm honey
105 g cacao wine liqueur

Heat and infuse the cream and milk with lavender and honey. Add the gelatine, followed by the kefir and cacao wine liqueur.

Smoke the panna cotta base for at least 2 hours. Pour into a plated dessert bowl and allow to set.

Mango and passion fruit sorbet

400 g mango purée
250 g passion fruit purée
25 g lemon purée
200 g water
12 g sugar
40 g glucose
20 g glycerine
3 g sorbet stabiliser

Prepare the sorbet base with water, sugars, and stabiliser, heating to 82ºC. Cool the base, then add the purées and blend well. Churn and emulsify in a Pacojet after resting overnight.

Fermented pickled mangosteen, custard apple, and pear

Infused pickling syrup

170 g soursop liqueur
50 g pickling brine
120 g lychee purée

Prepare the pickling syrup and rest for 24 hours.

Pickling

170 g infused pickling syrup
150 g mangosteen
150 g custard apple
75 g pear
1 g grated black Kerala pepper

The following day, combine the fruits with the measured pickling syrup in a vacuum bag and seal. Ferment for at least 48 hours.

Pickled cacao juice jelly sheet

150 g fermented cacao juice
100 g simple syrup
250 g water
4 g agar-agar
1.3 g gellan

Heat the simple syrup with the fermented cacao juice to 80ºC. Add the gelling agents and bring gently to a boil until thickened. Emulsify well. Spread into a 2 mm frame to form a gel sheet. Allow to cool completely and cut into discs.

Yogurt crumble

56 g butter
56 g unrefined cane sugar
1 g salt
37 g T55 flour
70 g almond powder
20 g dried yogurt powder
1 g vanilla

Cream the butter with the cane sugar, then add the dry ingredients. Mix to form a crumble. Bake at 160ºC for 10 minutes.

Assembly

Use a soup bowl plate. Pour in the smoked panna cotta and allow it to set. Add a disc of cremeux and top with the fermented pickled fruits and yogurt crumble. Finish with a quenelle of mango and passion fruit sorbet and a cacao juice gel sheet.