Vanilla Bean Mousse (Egg free, gelatin free)

Chocolate and flowers have a huge role on Valentine's day. There are rose bouquets everywhere and there is chocolate on everything that is possible. You not only see fancy packaging of candies and chocolate, but a wide variety of chocolate dipped fruits, pretzels and what not. Forget about the stores and bakeries. There is chocolate everywhere on food blogs on Valentine's day.
Here I am with a vanilla bean mousse instead of a chocolate preparation on my blog. Why? because I am not a huge fan of chocolate (yes, it is true). On any day, I prefer vanilla flavor over chocolate and that made me come up with this recipe.
If you google Vanilla mousse, you will get few hits. But most of them have either egg, or gelatin. Not only do they contain egg, but they are raw too. This one is adapted from the Chocolate Mousse recipe that I made a year ago.

One year back - Ricotta Coconut Burfi
Two years back - Measuring ingredients for Baking
Ingredients:
Sugar - 1 cup
Corn starch - 2/3 cup
Water - 1/3 cup + 1/4 cup divided use
Agar agar powder - 1 TBSP
Vanilla bean - 1/2 seeds scraped
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp (optional, I like the color it gives the end product)
Cool whip - 16 Oz tub or 2 cups heavy cream whipped with 2 TBSP confectioner's sugar (You could use fat free or low fat or regular)

Method:
In a cup, take 1/4 cup of water. Add agar agar powder to it and let it sit for few minutes. In a saucepan, take remaining 1/3 cup of water. Add sugar to it and start on low flame. Add the scraped vanilla bean to it and while whisking constantly, add corn starch. Keep stirring till everything is uniform and there are no lumps of corn starch. Do this on low flame. When the sugar is dissolved, add the water agar agar mixture and keep stirring. You should bring it to a gentle boil but at the same time, the raw smell of corn starch should be gone. When it starts boiling gently at the edge of the pan, turn off the heat. But keep stirring occasionally so that the skin doesn't form on the top.
When the mixture cools down to room temperature, stir in vanilla (if using) and gently fold the cool whip to the mixture. Divide between the serving dishes and refrigerate until set (about 30 minutes or so). Serve cold.

Notes:
If using whipping cream instead of cool whip, whip the chilled cream with 2 TBSP of confectioner's sugar till stiff peaks form. Fold that to the cooled mixture.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!