coconut lime ice cream

Coconut Lime Ice Cream

Old friends visiting us one summer requested me to cook them dinner. I decided to experiment with some favourites and ended up preparing this recipe. The ice cream ended up being the highlight of the evening, which I have decided to include and share with everyone. Fresh coconut and Lime ice cream topped with fresh coconut slices and lime.

Makes 2 litre/quart

2 cups whole milk

1 cup condensed milk

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk

Zest of 1 lime

4 tbsp fresh lime juice or to taste

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 1/2 cups fresh grated coconut, or flash frozen pre-packaged

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 tsp cardamom powder

2 tbsp rose water

2 cups chilled full cream

Heat all the 3 milk's' with the sugar. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the coconut and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer. Cook for an hour. It will become thick and have a creamy coloured hue. 

Cool completely. Flavour by adding the salt, cardamom, vanilla, rosewater and fresh lime juice. Add the cream. Taste to adjust the lime flavour.

Cover the pot and chill for 24 hours. Churn in the ice cream maker. Serve it while soft and fresh.

Tips

Use the frozen packets of grated fresh coconut available in Indian stores and the flesh is fairly moist. Desiccated, sweet or unsweetened coconut flakes from the baking section is not a substitute. Grinding your own fresh coconut is the only other alternate for this recipe.

The measurements for the condensed milk and evaporated milk is approximate. Both are the exact amounts available in the average sized cans available worldwide.

Ice cream makers are the best, but if you don’t have one mix it from time to time rather vigorously while it is setting in the freezer. Cover tightly to prevent crystallization. Eat it when it is not hard as ice but softly chilled like a mousse.

Serve it on a half pineapple bed for your next party!

To read about an ancient cuisine you can purchase my cookbooks called The World of Parsi Cooking; Food Across Borders and The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine.  

  For more recipes from Indo-Persian influences try my e-cookbook 
Niloufer's Kitchen: Persian Fusion