Summer popped up in the UK for a short while, it appears to have disappeared as quickly as it arrived though. We had a weekend of scorching sunshine, in which I turned into a tomato after 10 minutes (rookie), and then went inside to spend the rest of the day experimenting with my ice-cream flavours. My boyfriend gave me an ice cream machine for my birthday back in April and I haven’t been at home much since then. I’ve traveled to Minnesota to photograph the beautiful wedding of some good friends, to Philadelphia to see a friend from university and then to Boston for some work conferences. I came home via a weekend in Iceland and had a couple of days before I set off to Italy for some Art History tutoring (and gelato sampling of course) and then another two days at home before flying to Amsterdam for my boyfriend’s birthday. Phew! Now I’m finally home and determined to do some serious ice cream flavour experimenting. Sorry it’s taken me half a year to actually get another recipe on here…
Ice Cream
1 can coconut milk (400ml)
1 carton coconut cream (250ml)
1/2 cup of coconut sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp arrowroot starch
1 vanilla pod
5 cardamom pods
Mango Puree
300g chopped mango (I used frozen because I had it in the freezer)
1/2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp coconut sugar
The day or night before you want to make the ice-cream, chill your ice cream churning bowl in the freezer.
To Make the mango puree: blend the chopped mango on a high speed until it’s smooth. Add it to a saucepan with the coconut sugar and coconut oil. Mix them all together until the sugar has dissolved and the mango has reduced. About 15 minutes on medium heat. Remove the mixture from the pan into a small jug, cover and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours.
For the coconut ice cream: add the milk, cream, sugar, salt and arrowroot starch to a saucepan and whisk well on a low heat. Bring the heat up and once the mixture reaches boiling point take it off the heat. Cut the vanilla pod down the centre and scrape out the seeds, add these to the mixture. Smash open the cardamom pods and remove the seeds inside. Grind these seeds down to a fine powder in a pestle and mortar and then add these to the coconut mixture too. Mix well and then pour the liquid into a jug or bowl, cover and leave in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
Once the machine is all set up, add the coconut mixture to the chilled churning bowl and let it do its thing! After about 25 minutes it should be well churned and creamy. Move it into a cold container, a loaf tin or tupperware works well. Just before putting into the freezer pour half the mango puree into the ice-cream and using a knife or spatula swirl it as artistically as you can manage and then put it in the freezer. The rest of the mango puree makes a delicious topping for the ice-cream.
H o l l y 's a H e r b i v o r e 