Nov 17

Due to my love of the chocolate coconut ice cream recipe I got from The Nourishing Gourmet, I just couldn’t resist sharing this recipe I found with you guys.

Curried Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream

2 cans of coconut milk
2/3 cup cocoa powder
6 tbsp sugar (more if desired — taste it before putting it in the ice cream maker!)
2 tbsp hot yellow curry powder
toasted coconut (optional)

Mix all ingredients well and put in the ice cream maker.  Mmmmm.

So simple.  So yummy.  Let me know what you think.

May 30

A couple weeks ago a group of friends and I all went out to eat at a local Indian restaurant. We used to all go to the buffet at the Indian restaurant in Bangor, ME before we moved here (Portland, ME), so I have grown to like it.

They use a lot of curry in southeast Asia and it’s not surprising it has a lot of great health benefits. Most curry powders contain tumeric, which has a multitude of medicinal properties.  So, why not put curry in your desserts?

Coconut-Curry Sorbet*  (courtesy of Ulterior Epicure)

Ingredients
2 cans of coconut milk
2/3 cup sugar
4 cups light corn syrup
2 tablespoon of curry powder, or to taste, recipe follows
2 teaspoons salt

Method:

1. Heat the first three ingredients in a non-reactive pot over medium heat until sugar is fully dissolved.

2. While the mixture is still warm, stir in the curry powder in increments until it reaches the desired taste.  Make sure that the curry is evenly distributed.  Set aside to cool to room temperature.

3. Chill the base overnight (preferably) or at least 3 to 4 hours.  Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  When the ice cream is near-frozen, add in the 2 teaspoons of salt.  Transfer to a freezer-proof container and freeze for at least 1 hour before serving.

*Ulterior Epicure had a great paragraph distinguishing between ice cream and sorbet: Althought it’s a sorbet, it was the creamiest and richest of the five tastings.  Ice cream, by it’s very definition, must contain cream.  There are ice milks, and even sherbet, which is dairy + fruit.  And, then there’s sorbet - non-dairy liquid mixed with other ingredients, most commonly fruits. Coconut “milk”, although as creamy (in fact often higher in saturated fat content than cream) as dairy cream, is plant-derived.  Therefore, in frozen form, coconut “milk” cannot be ice cream, but rather “sorbet.”

—-

I’ve eaten curries from my favorite Thai restaurant, too.  But my favorite thing to get from them is thai iced tea.  It’s so delicious.  A few years ago I found a website that sold that type of tea in bulk and I snagged a few pounds so I could make it at home.  I was so happy to find a thai tea ice cream recipe the other day.  Here it is:

Thai Tea Ice Cream

Steep tea in hot milk for at least 20 minutes:

  • 1 1/2c whole milk
  • 1/2c Thai tea (the dry stuff)

Mix together:

  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1c sugar

Stir constantly over heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon:

  • 1 1/2c cream
  • Strained tea/milk from above
  • yolk and sugar from above

Strain again if necessary. Chill. Then do the ice cream thing.  (Source: pancake.org)