Monday, May 21, 2007

I Screammmm for Mangoes

Dear Foodies,

Do you want to scream too ??
Summer is here finally, atleast I hope so !! The weather here has been marching all over the place bringing rain and chilly weather just about any time of the day :-( The last few days have been good though with the Sun visiting us and my kitchen has a new entrant too...a neat little gadget I have been waiting to own. I got finally got a hand blender, and it was gifted to me by my buddy who plainly got tired of me asking for it every single time we went out shopping !! :-) I have been searching my brain for recipes that I could use it in :D. I made my best cake ever, a pineapple-upside down vanilla cake over the weekend. Yesterday I set out making my first Ice Cream :-) Yayyy !! Being a true Indian, whose heart starts to ache for Mangoes just as soon as the Sun peeps out in the summer, the flavor of the ice cream was decided ! I cannot find any fresh ripe mangoes at the stores here and so resorted to the Mango pulp I get from the Indian stores. The Ice-cream was so utterly simple to put together.

I had googled for recipes before starting out and found that there are version with and without eggs. The one's with eggs needed the milk, cream and egg mixture to be cooked a little by simmering them together. All this is then cooled and put into a ice-cream maker. For the egg-less version you just need to bring all your ingredients together in a bowl and then continue to make your ice-cream.Ingredients:
  • 2 1/2 cups - Whole milk
  • 2 1/2 cups - Heavy cream
  • 1 tin - Mango pulp (~ 30 oz)
  • 2 tsp - Vanilla essence
  • 10 spoons of sugar or adjust as per your preference
  • 1 tsp - Salt
  • 2 tsp - Lemon juice
Blend all of this together in a bowl. If you have a Ice-cream maker, then I guess you can just follow the manufacturer's instructions. I used a huge plastic container and blended all the ingredients for a few minutes and placed the box in the freezer. I got it out every hour or so and blended it again for a few minutes before sending it back into the freezer. I did this about 3 times before I left it to set one last time. How much more difficult could the instructions get !! :-)
I tore the mint used for garnish and had it with the Ice-cream and loved the mix of flavors
The Ice-cream was delicious, and perfect for every single 'back from the Sun' trip to the freezer. The ice-cream did not have the creamy texture, but tasted more like a sorbet, with a light crunch from the ice that had formed. If any you guys have tips to get the creamy texture of ice-cream it would really help me in my future attempts. Is there something else I can do or is it the eggs that lend the creaminess to the ice-creams ??

This is the last picture, I promise :D
This bowl is off to Deepa of Recipes n More for the AFAM-Mango event , I hope she excuses me for delaying it by a day, and another scoop is off to Padmaja for the WBB-Summer fruits event. Aaah ! feels so good to be sending entries to events after a loooong time :D

18 thoughts:

Anonymous said...

Great pics and great icecream priya. Im inspired to make icecream too :)

Anonymous said...

thank you for the recipe. i got the icecream maker yesterday from costco and was so excited to see your recipe . i screammm for mango icecream. so will try to make it today. thanks

Roopa said...

yummy...! Awesome photos and a weonderfull icecream, Hopw to buy icreacream maker but no place in my kitchen :0

bee said...

eggs spoil the taste. we recently made suganya's kulfis. we used 50% sweetened condensed milk and 50% canned mango pulp, just added some saffron and poured it into popsicle moulds (3 bucks at bed bath and beyond or you can get good silicone ones online). try that. they were very creamy, and no blending jhanjhats. ready in 3 hours and very creamy. your looks yummiliciious.

Suganya said...

Thanks bee for that compliment on my recipe.
Priya, I believe it is due to the absence of eggs in the recipe. That is the difference b/w ice cream and sorbet. If you are not comfortable with raw/partially cooked eggs, try semifreddo. I think they will be creamy as u expect.

Nabeela said...

There's a delicate balance of sugar and cream which decides the icy-ness of the ice-cream(or that's what I learnt from the ice cream book, perfect scoop)...so that might have been the cause for the sorbet like ice cream. Also, using an ice cream maker might help since it keeps stirring out the crystals till it sets.
As for eggs, they aren't necessary although they do make the ice cream more creamy...but you can get almost the same result with heavy cream

Meeta K. Wolff said...

congrats on your first ice cream!! I too have the Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz and there are many great and helpful tips to perfect ice-cream making. Ice cream makers really help to make it creamier. If not a hand held blender is you best substitute. Take out of the freezer every 30 minutes and blend using the electric blender. Eggs and cream also help making it creamier. But you know this looks so WOW!

marriedtoadesi.com said...

Priya,

Looks good, have already sent to my mom as this is her favourite food. I believe that the mixing (with a blender or ice cream maker) is what aerates the cream. This is what adds to the creamy fluffy texture, and also prevents the ice crystals from forming. (you don't mix the sorbets as much). My guess, not expert by any means. So next time, keep mixing it more often. There are lots of brand name creamy ice creams that do not have eggs.

Shruti said...

Hmm, yummy ..hee in delhi its to hot and and i am wondering , what if i got this icecream in real..
Take care..

Priya said...

Thank you all soo much for the comments !

Dee, don't delay anymore !

Lakshmi, lucky you ! Let me know how u like it. And would surely love to hear from you about the texture of the ice-cream made with the maker.

Roopa, I did not use a ice-cream maker for this one, just a hand blender, do give it a shot.

Bee, will surely try the second one with condensed milk instead of sugar. I was planning on trying out Dulce de leche. I just loveee that flavor, we have been emptying so many cans of it !! I went to Bed,Bath n Beyond last weekend and was tempted to pick up a set of popsicle moulds, but the look on my roomies eyes told me otherwise :D

Suganya,Semifreddo,hmm... I have no clue what it is. Google says it is semi-frozen dessert. Where can I find them and how do I put them to use ??

Nabeela, will experiment with that, any suggestions in a ratio would be helpful.

Meeta, I absolutely loved this one, it tasted just like the ones I used have in India. But I do want to try and get the creamy texture. More blending will be my mantra next time. And I need to see if my library here has the David Lebovitz book.

Kanchana, even I feel the same. Will do more blending next time. Let me know how your mom likes it :) Will keep a watch on Savithri's blog !

Shruti, don't wait for the technology to get it to you. Run down to the local bakery and get some yummy ice cream :D. I soo wish I were in India :) Welcome to my blog :)

Nabeela said...

Priya, unfortunately I don't have a ratio for the cream and sugar...david just suggested that there was a particular proportion of both that made the ice cream creamy. He didn't exactly give any ratio...but he did give out a lot of recipes..unfortunately no mango ice cream recipe. There's a mango sorbet recipe if you want...

Sharmi said...

lovely and tempting picture. loved your dal mussalam recipe too. nice color.

Anonymous said...

Hi priya,
I have made mango ice cream without egg a long time ago i recall boling the milk mixing it with the mango pulp & sugar then folding it whipped cream. It was very creamy and delicious hope that helps no recipe as it was all andaz se.Well u have inspired to me to try so will try again and let you know. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes and will stop rambling...

Jaya said...

Oh wow... Mango ice cream!! Absolutely love it!! And it looks sooooooooo delectable

Savithri said...

Hi Priya,

I was thinking of making this with my mom because she loved mango!

I've heard that undissolved sugar can cause ice crystals. Perhaps you should try using superfine sugar?

Thanks for the recipe! Always a fan of the eggless ones:)

~Savithri

Satyasurabhi said...

Dear Priya,

This is a recipe which my aunt would use to make icecream and as you have rightly pointed this one does not give the creamy texture, which is probably only achieved with the addition of eggs. This is the mango season and hence we can stalk this icecream in plenty. Taking the half frozen icecream out once or twice and beating it up in the mixie before putting it back in the freezer gives the creamy texture by dissolving the ice crystals. Glad to see this favourite dish of mine in your blog. Time I revisited it again.

kim said...

I LOVE i screem! I make it often, and have found that the following porportions to give a very good creamy texture:

2 cups milk ( I use raw goat's milk)
1 c heavy whipping cream
2/3 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla

options:
1/2 tsp peppermint flavor

1 tsp coconut flavor + grated coconut to taste

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg + 1 tsp rum

1/4 c cocoa

1 TBS instant coffee granules ( I use decaf)

Those are just a few of the flavors that I make, and I always add fresh fruit or some sort of goody to give it texture. Nuts, chunky bits of peppermint candy, etc.
I use a Rival Ice Cream maker-the style I have is the one where the canister goes into the freezer, then when ready to use it, you click the motor/paddle into place on top, pour in your batter and turn it on. VERY easy! You do need to plan ahead slightly: I make the batter ahead of time in a mason jar with a screw on lid so that I can shake all ingredients together, then refrigerate the jar to make it as cold as possible. It also allows the flavors to blend. Now this type of ice cream amker makes a softer product that I put into a container and freeze for a couple of hours for a firmer texture. ALSO: the amount of heavy cream helps determine the amount of time that the motor runs (I find that 20-25 is max before tiny butter globules start to form when I use the basic formula above) and the creaminess of the end result. For an icier texture, I use more milk/less cream. I'm certain that using fruit juices and less/no milk would be delicious for a really hot summer day's treat!
Hope this is helpful..

Dan said...

from my extensive experience of making ice-cream exactly twice, that's what I can tell you: without an ice-cream maker you can't make creamy icecream at home; even if you mix it while freezing, large ice crystals still form. That is if you make it with milk. From your recipe, the final fat content is about 15% (2 cups milk +2 cups heavy cream) If you use only cream you don't even have to mix it too much. Just make a slosh from whatever fruit you like plus sugar, chill it in the fridge, add cream, mix it well, leave in the fridge for a few more hours then put it in the freezer. it also helps if you get the freezer as cold as possible; mine can go down to -32C and I keep everything in the fridge until the freezer reaches the minimum. Then the ice-cream is ready to eat in about 3 more hours. I made raspberry icecream using this method and people wouldn't beleive me it was home made. I wouldn't believe myself if I didn't know. This is what I used: two cups raspberry, 2 cups heavy cream (32% fat) 6 tablespoons sugar (could have used less, maybe 5). If you're looking for low fat, I guess the ice-cream maker may be the solution. But low fat, made in the freezer, I don't know how to do that.

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