Coffee & Coconut Ice Cream

Coffee and coconut ice cream has so much possibility! You can Irish it up, add chocolate chips, or even add fruits like rasberries. And am happy to note that this time (third time's the charm!), the ice cream definately felt creamy and not all ice-crystally.

But first, this recipe is dedicated to Tiffany! A while ago, Tiffany commented that she uses coconut milk with her tea. I found that a bit absurd, even suggesting that she use soy milk instead. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. With coffee. Not tea. So, I brewed a strong batch of black coffee, and added a couple of dollops of coconut cream. OH MY GOD - It tastes sooo good!! Now, I've stopped having my daily tea and have coconut cream spiked coffee every day! Everyone should at least try it once - vegan or not.

You should definitely try making a small batch of coconut milk coffee before you attempt making a bigger batch of coconut and coffee icecream. If you like the taste, proceed with the below.

I wanted a bittery coffee taste to my ice cream and so have added just 6 teaspoons of sugar. Do a taste test on your coffee brew and adjust sugar accordingly.

Coffee and Coconut Icecream

Servings: About 6-8 scoops

Ingredients

• 1 cup coconut cream
• 4 cups water
• 4 teaspoons coffee
• 5-6 teaspoons brown sugar

To make:

• Brew a strong batch of black coffee using the coffee powder, sugar and water.
• Let it wittle down to two-thirds of the original batch and then turn off the gas.
• Let the coffee cool down for 10 minutes before stirring in the coconut cream.
• Stir well till the mixture is a nice mocha color and there are no coconut cream floating around undissolved.
• Transfer to a container and freeze -with the lid on -  for a couple of hours.
• After a few hours, break up the ice cream into chunks and blitz the chunks into a mushy liquid in a blender. Refreeze. Repeat this process a couple of times.
• Then let it set one final time.

Curious about Curry

Ok, I am a curry virgin! I've had plenty to eat - how can you not, in curry-heaven India. But never attempted to make it myself. It just seems like an arduous process of grinding up spices and waiting on a pot to simmer and boil.

But I had some coconut cream left over from yesterday's ice cream, and had some starting-to-wilt pak choi that I wanted to finish off. So, a spicy coconut curry it is!

The green chutney used is just coriander, a little chilli and some coconut all ground up. The chilli paste, on the other hand is just blistering hot green chillies ground up.

Coconut Curry with Pak Choi, Peppers and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coconut cream
• 1 tomato
• 1 green pepper
• 2-3 cups of pak choi
• 1/2 an onion
• 2 tablespoons chilli paste
• 2 tablespoons green chutney
• 1-2 teaspoons of sugar
• Teaspoon of coconut oil
• 1 cup water

To make:

• Chop up the tomatoes, pak choi, onion, and peppers into bite sized portions.
• In a wok, heat the oil and saute the onions.
• Add the chilli paste and green chutney paste.
• Add the coconut cream and the water after a couple of minutes and see that no lumps are formed.
• Let it simmer away for 15-20 minutes.
• Have a taste test - if its too hot, add sugar to temper it down.
• Add the chopped veggies and turn off the gas.
• Let the veggies soak in the curry for 5-10 minutes.
• Serve with plain boiled rice.

Coconut & Pomogranate Ice Cream

My last attempt at making ice cream wasn't exactly the most delish ice cream I have ever eaten. In fact, it turned out more like an icy sorbet than a creamy ice cream. Since I do not have an ice cream maker, and will not use either milk or eggs, I shouldn't really ask for any thing other than what I did end up with. Therefore, understandably, I haven't rushed in to make another batch for a long time. Don't get me wrong - It was delish, but just not as creamy as store-bought ice cream.

But then I saw this no churn pomogranate icecream recipe by Nigella Lawson. I had a pomogranate at home. And more importantly, I had a can of coconut cream, that I was dying to dig into. So I did start off with the idea of just making a pomogranate icecream. But, as I added my coconut cream to the pomogranate juice, I really liked the nutty flavor and so, probably, added more coconut cream than I should have. The result is my coconut and pomogranatae no churn, vegan ice cream. No sugar as well. I used maple syrup - which is what turned the ice cream color from a rosy pink to a soft plum color.

Coconut & Pomogranate Ice Cream

Serving: 2-3

Ingredients:

• 1 large pomogranate (about 2 cups of pomogranate seeds)
• 1 cup coconut cream (more if you're using coconut milk)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 lime

To make:

• Peel the pomogranate to get about 1.5 to 2 cups of pomogranate.
• In a juicer, juice the pomogranate along with the juice of half a lime. Its up to you whether you want to include the pomogranate seeds or discard them. I included them as they're very healthy.
• Tranfer the pomo-lime juice into a bowl. Stir in the maple syrup.
• Add little by little the coconut cream into the mixture, stirring all the while.
• You may also want to transfer this mixture back in a blender and just get some air in by blending for 5-10 minutes.
• Lay the mixture in a tin bowl and put it in the freezer with a lid on.
• After an hour or so of putting the mixture in the freezer, take it off and break the chunks and stir around for some time, and put back in the freezer to reset. Repeat this process a couple more times after an hour or so. Then leave it in the freezer for 4 hours to set one final time.

Coconut Rice and Carrot Sambal

Continuing with my South Indian culinary adventure, I made carrot sambal and cocunut rice for dinner last night.

Coconut rice is typically made in the south of India, where coconuts are aplenty. There, they typically add coconut milk or shards of fresh coconut to rice and cook the rice as usual. I had neither fresh coconut shavings, nor coconut milk. But I did have plenty of my coconut chutney from my morning order of dosas and wadas. Seemed like a shame to toss out the perfectly good coconut chutney that came with my order.

To make your own coconut chutney, blend together one cup fresh coconut, 2 green chillies, piece of ginger. Temper mustard seeds, chilli, and curry leaves for a minute and add that mixture to your coconut paste.

Since I did use more coconut than rice, the result was more a coconut risotto with a creamy texture and very heavy to eat.

I am especially proud of my carrot sambal, which is unbelievably easy to make and tastes great! Indian Sambals, unlike their Thai cousin, are not a sauce, but rather a dry condiment-like addition to a dish. The sweetness of the carrots, combined with the mustard and chillis in the sambal go really well with the heavy creaminess of the coconut and starchiness of the rice.

Coconut Rice

Ingredients:

• ½ cup rice
• ¾ cup coconut chutney
• Tablespoon of coconut oil
• 1 cup water

To make:

Add all the ingredients in a pot and cook for 15-20 minutes, or till the rice is done. I stopped cooking when the rice was done but there was still a little liquid left in the pot.

Carrot Sambal

Ingredients:

• 1 carrot
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 green chilli
• 5-10 curry leaves
• Teaspoon of oil

To make:

• Grate the carrot and chop the chilli finely.
• In a small pan, add a little oil.
• Once the oil is heated, add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, and the chilli.
• Temper for one minute and then add the carrot.
• Turn off the gas after a minute. Mix well and serve hot.

Som Tam Salad (Well, sort of)

Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam) is the most popular salad in Thailand. As in all things Thai, fish sauce is a must. But I excluded it because a)I don't do fish, and b) I don't have any fish sauce available! Instead, I made a dressing of honey and orange juice. For a more authentic Som Tam recipe, refer here.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 of a large raw papaya
• 1 carrot
• 1 cucumber
• Handful of spinach leaves
• The juice of one orange
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Drizzle of honey
• Handful of crushed peanuts
• Flesh of a coconut, fresh, not dried or dessicated
• Black pepper, freshly ground

To make:

• Shred or grate the peeled papaya, carrot, coconut and cucumber into long thin slivers. See here on how to shred a papaya.
• Chop up or tear a few spinach leaves.
• Mix the orange juice, olive oil, honey and black pepper to make a dressing.
• Mix all the salad ingredients.
• Add the dressing right before you are going to eat the salad.
• Garnish with the crushed peanuts.