Passion-fruit Mousse Recipe.

Regular readers will already know of our luck in having the renowned gourmet and travelling chef known as "Crazy Buda" on our barge from Porto Velho to Manaus.

After the success of his creme caramel recipe, Mr. Buda offered us a master-class in truck cookery featuring his rightly famous passion-fruit mousse.

Note that because Mr. Buda spends a lot of his time cruising on the Amazon, many of his recipes have been slightly adapted to accommodate the more primitive facilities afforded by his mobile under-chassis kitchen box.

Buda's Passion-fruit Mousse.

Ingredients:

• 1 tin sweetened condensed milk (Buda says "Nestlé is best".)
• 1 tin of cream (again Nestlé if possible).
• 1 tin of whole milk (use the condensed milk tin to measure) UHT milk is fine.
• 15 tablespoons of hot water (125 ml)
• 1 small packet of gelatin (Buda says "Dr. Oetker is best".)
• 1 large passion-fruit (Passiflora quadrangularis).

Utensils and Equipment.

In addition to the cooking equipment found on most 40 tonne trucks, this recipe calls for the use of a blender.

Since the publication of Buda's creme caramel recipe, some scepticism has been expressed about the availability of 12/24 volt kitchen equipment for truckers. The photograph to the right shows the label on the base of Buda's blender.

A refrigerated truck is also essential for this recipe.

Method:

1. Add the first three ingredients to the blender.
2. Dissolve the gelatin in the hot water for 5 minutes. (Buda says "if the gelatin is gummy add a little more hot water".)
3. Whilst the gelatin is dissolving, cut the passion-fruit in half, put the contents into a sieve, and using the back of a spoon separate the seeds from the pulp.
4. Add the pulp to the blender.
5. Blend until frothy.
6. Pour the blender contents into a small (clean!) washing up bowl .
7. Gently sprinkle the seeds on the top.
8. Wrap the bowl in a plastic carrier bag.
9. Refrigerate until set (in the back of your truck).

We would particularly like to thank sous-chef "Junior" and interpreter "Hugo" for assisting "Crazy Buda" during this master class. A video of part of this master class is available here.

Bom apetite!