Mango Ice cream

Every year during summer, S and I explore different varieties of mangoes. Being in Bangalore we do get a lot of options - Mallika, Bangenapalli, Alphonso, Badami, Kesar, Dushheri, Himayat, Malgova, Sugar baby and many more. Most of these varieties were quite new us when we first moved in here and I was a little apprehensive to try them out having had only Bangenapalli and the likes before. But then, it's mango we are talking about and it's supposed to be tasty no matter what variety. And this fruit is available only through summer making us yearn for it for the rest of the year. So why have apprehensions?!

This year, I have been exploring on the different desserts I could do with mango and have been experimenting in my kitchen. After mango popsicle and mango phirni, this weekend it was mango ice cream and mango kulfi (recipe to come up soon). What started off with the preparations to make vanilla ice cream to beat the heat, turned into mango ice cream after I spotted some juiciest mangoes. Dad was super sweet to extract the mango juice while I set out to prepare the milk mixture. The actual preparation itself takes very less time but it's the in-between processes that one should take care of which gets us to the creamy ice-cream at the end. As many eggless ice cream recipes call out, I have not used fresh cream and have made this ice cream with toned milk - yet the results were amazing.

Recipe

What I used -

• Mango Pulp, 2 cups
• Milk, ½ ltr
• Sugar, ¾ cup
• Corn flour, 1.5 tsp

How I made -

1. In a thick bottomed pan, bring milk to boil. Reserve 3 tablespoon of boiled milk and let it cool.
2. Keep boiling and stirring the remaining milk on medium flame until it's reduced to ¾^th of the original quantity.
3. Meanwhile, dissolve the corn flour in the reserved milk and add it to the boiling milk. Mix well and make sure there are no lumps. The milk mixture turns thick in two mins. Remove from heat and let it cool.
4. Add sugar to the boiled, cooled down milk and mix well until dissolved. Stir in the mango pulp too.
5. Pour this mixture in an air tight freezer proof container and set it in the freezer.
6. After an hour, remove the half frozen ice cream from the freezer and mash it well with a fork or spoon. Alternatively, one can whisk or blend it too. Set it back in the freezer. Repeat the process again after an hour.
7. After 2-3hrs, remove the ice cream from the freezer and blend it smoothly in a mixer. Pop it back into the freezer and let it set for 3-4hrs.
8. For removing it, use an ice cream scooper dipped in water at room temperature. Serve with chopped nuts or choco-chips on top.

Note: Sugar levels can be personalized as per taste. In spite of not adding fresh cream, ice cream tastes creamy because of the corn flour. Ensure there are no lumps after adding it to the hot milk.  The most crucial step to creamy ice-cream is to blend the half set ice cream atleast three times before letting it set. This way, water crystals are not formed.