Strawberry Mousse

I don't know what is with me and fancy words. I like to learn to make them just because their names sound fancy to me.  If you are not from India, you probably will think 'what is so fancy about 'Mousse'?'. It is to me since I had no idea what it was a decade back. Then when we went to 'hotbreads' ( a bakery), my husband fell in love with sponge cake layered with 'Mango Mousse'. That is when I first tried to make 'Mango Mousse' and it came out very good. I wanted to use up some strawberries some time back, and I came up with a mousse using strawberries. It has become a favorite frozen treat for my kids now. I wasn't blogging then, but since I am now, I thought it makes sense to shared this recipe with all of you. It is actually a very good way of making your kids eat fruit too.

So, what is mousse? Mousse is a sweetened dessert with whipped cream as a base, often stabilized with gelatin and chilled in a mold. Example: chocolate mousse (From Dictionary.com).

Ingredients:

• Strawberries - 1 pound (cleaned and cut into big chunks) You can use fresh or frozen strawberries.
• Sugar - 3/4 - 1 cup (Strawberries I used weren't very sweet so I used 1 cup)
• Strawberry Jelly crystals - 1 Pack from the Indian store. If you are alright with gelatin, use one envelop of knox gelatin. Or you could use a box of Strawberry jello.
• Heavy whipping cream - 1 cup (If you want the easy way, you could use a tub of 8 oz cool whip)
• Water - 1/2 cup

Method:
Place strawberries in a bowl and pour sugar on the top and mix well. Let it macerate for about an hour. In a sauce pan, heat water. When it starts boiling, turn the heat low to simmer and add the jelly crystals. Stir and let it dissolve. Turn off the heat. Let it cool down to room temperature. Place all the strawberries with sugar in a blender or food processor and puree them. Slowly add the water, jelly mixture and combine. Remove and set aside in a bowl. In another bowl, take chilled whipping cream and whip till soft peaks form. Gently fold in the whipped cream to the fruit mixture. Don't deflate the cream. Pour into molds and refrigerate until set at least for an hour. I usually pour into individual cups and freeze for later use.

Serve cold with additional strawberries as garnish if desired.


I am sending this to Srivalli's 'Thanda Mela'.
Happy Cooking!!