The Hawa Mahal (Air Palace) in the center of the Old City of Jaipur has a beautiful facade. Originally, named as such for the intricate criss crossing of windows that enahanced cross ventilation, most of the windows are now sealed. Yet, the face is still an arresting beauty!
Before the season runs away let me rush in some ice cream recipes...!! I am in India at the moment and I think Mango Ice Cream is appropriate to share now. It is the first ice creams I shared on this blog and it came with a lot of baggage but tasted divine, perhaps for that baggage?! Until recently I hand churned my ice creams, first making the custard and then cooling, freezing and churning every hour or so. It took nearly half a day to make a pint of ice cream ready to set! And, then another half of hot footed impatience for it to freeze and be ready for scooping. Wait! Then another a couple of hours before I actually got to taste it, because, well, all the photography... It was quite a production as you can imagine!
But, recently, a thoughtful soul gifted me a wonderful little magic maker - an ice cream machine! What?! Woow! Woot! Now, I have ice cream whenever my mind bends in fancy. It really takes about 30 minutes to get a soft serve textured one, or a couple of hours if you want it set more. But, the important difference beyond time is what goes in..
The dominant structure of the history of the city, Amer Fort/Amber Palace is a adjoined to Jaigarh Fort, both built on the hills around Jaipur and providing a panoramic view of the city and any one coming in. This then was the military seat of the Maharaja of Rajasthan.
The seat of the Maharaja, Rambagh Palace is now converted into a Luxury Hotel run by the Taj Group. Within is an oasis and absolute serenity, a cocoon away from the burgeoning city outside!
Hand churning is not a very efficient form of making ice cream because with the constant to and fro from the freezer, it is near impossible to get a perfect creamy texture and not have some icy crystallization. So, to mitigate that as much as possible, the ice cream mix has to be as fatty as possible. That means custard, made with egg yolks and cream. It tastes divine indeed. Yet there is now a way to make it lighter and, hey, more spontaneous!
The ice cream machine uses a power of electric and a freezer cooled coolant bowl to semi freeze and build volume all at the same time. So, all you really need is flavor, milk and cream. Voila!
So, this mango ice cream had just that - fresh mangoes, cream, milk. No sugar needed coz the fruit was really ripe and so sweet! I had the ice cream neat, I had it as a sandwich, I had straight from the pint bowl, I had it on the sofa, I had it on the table, I had it while dreaming of my tomorrow, I had it while needing a break from today... Yes, it's that good!
ENJOY!
MANGO ICE CREAM
2 ripe mangoes (I prefer the Indian alphonso or Mexican ones with the thin yellow skin), ripe and juicy
1 cup milk
1-1/2 cups cream
honey (optional, depending on sweetness of mangoes)
Peel and slice the mangoes, scraping as much of the pulp from the seed as possible. What is left and sticking simply squeeze with your hands into a bowl.
In a blender, puree the mangoes with the milk. Taste the mix, if you like it sweeter, add honey as needed.
Pour back into a bowl and stir in the cream.
Pour this mix into the bowl of the ice cream machine and set it churn for 20 minutes.
If you can resist eating it, transfer to a pint bowl, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for a couple of hours.
Thaw for 10 minutes before serving!
