Home-made Mint chocolate chip ice-cream

 

Mint chocolate chip ice-cream is one of a kind. The mint flavour in every bite of it is something that will give such a freshness to your taste bud. This is my personal favourite flavour. And then the choco chips to it add the extra magic here.

I have made kulfi at home before but never tried ice-cream. My little girl has been insisting me for quite a long time. But to my fear of not having an ice-cream maker at home I had dropped the idea every time. Last time  when she asked me again I told her if she does well in her exam this time then this home-made ice-cream would be her treat from mamma. She agreed and she proudly kept her promise too. Now there was no escape for me. I had to try this. So here I am with the simple easy ice-cream recipe without  ice-cream maker. It does take time no doubt about it but the result would definitely make you feel on top of the world :).

I would recommend you to start preparing the ice-cream from the previous night to avoid that long waiting time for setting the ice-cream.

Ingredients:

Milk: 1 cup
Cream: 1 cup (I used amul fresh cream)
Sugar: 1/2 cup
Mint leaves: one handful - If you have mint extract/essence, you don't have to use fresh mint leaves
Egg yolk: 3
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
Choco Chip: as much as you want actually. I added one handful

Procedure:

In a large saucepan add the milk and add the mint leaves, crushed with hands a bit. Bring it to boil once and keep in simmer , stir in between. You need to keep checking whether the mint is releasing its flavour and aroma to the milk. Once it is done , remove from flame. Let the milk cool down and strain it. Discard the leaves.


Take egg yolks in a large bowl, add the sugar and whisk it well to get the fluffy texture.

Once again put the milk on gas in the saucepan and now add the cream & vanilla essence as well. Keep it in simmer and once it reaches the boiling point, put the flame off. Add few spoons of this mixture into the egg sugar mixture and combine well (this step needs to be followed to avoid your egg yolks getting cooked while pouring directly into the hot milk & cream mix).

Add this egg mixture to the milk cream mixture in the saucepan, and cook for about 2-3 mins or till you get a thick consistency of the custard. Put the flame off. Strain once again to avoid any lumps.
Let it cool down.

Now in another large bowl or flat rectangular glass dish (glass/steel/plastic) pour the mixture and cover it with a cling sheet touching the mixture/custard. Keep it in refrigerator for 4-5 hours or overnight. I kept it overnight. Take the bowl out, whisk the mixture (I used my balloon whisk) and add the choco chips. Mix everything well again. Cover it with an aluminium sheet now and keep it in the freezer. Now onwards the most lengthy task begins. After every 15-20 minutes you need to take out the custard, whisk it , then cover it again and back in the freezer. This you have to do for couple of times say 4-5 times. I exactly did it for 6 times and then only I got that creamy texture of the ice-cream.

If you have ice-cream scooper its well and good.  I don't have , so I used a round big spoon to take  out my ice-cream and serve it to my girl and PB. Though he did not get what the flavour was (as expected). But the little girl just got it right with one bite of it. My foodie girl she is :-) . My next experiment would be a chocolate coffee ice-cream, again her suggestion !!

Enjoy !

 

Eggless Mango Mousse

Mangoes are in season & in plenty . Could not stop myself from making mango mousse at home before they vanishes out of the market. A simple & easy to prepare dessert made of lovely ripe mangoes and fresh cream. This one is eggless but I have used gelatin in it. You can omit gelatin if you want. I had one packet at home so I thought of using it to set the mousse.  I often make mousse without gelatin as well and keep the mousse in refrigerator for some extra minutes to set, so you can avoid using it.

You can serve this no fuss dessert with minimum ingredients in parties at home with friends and family by preparing it a day before and serve chilled.


Ingredients: (Yield: 3-4 servings)

Ripe Mangoes : 2 large sized chopped
Heavy cream: 1 packet (I used Amul whipping cream of 200 ml)
Powdered Sugar: 1/3 cup (you can increase or decrease quantity as per your taste)
Gelatin: 1 tsp

Method:

In a small bowl take warm water and dissolve the gelatin.

Make a nice puree of the chopped mangoes in a grinder.

In a clean chilled steel bowl take out the cream, add sugar and whisk until it becomes fluffy and reaches soft peaks. Keep aside.  I used the electric beater. You can do it with the balloon whisk also. Keep aside some amount of whipped cream for garnishing.

Now fold this cream into the mango puree, add the gelatin and combine all with the beater in low speed till everything is incorporated.

Now transfer the mousse to glasses/dessert bowls, cover with foil and keep in refrigerator to set for at least half an hour. Before serving , garnish the mousse with whipped cream that was kept aside in the beginning on it and optionally a few mint leaves. Enjoy this chilled dessert.

 

Yummilicious Chocolate mousse

The first time I had this divine dessert was some 4-5 years back in the restaurant Kobe in Kolkata. And from the very fist time I was totally in love with this sinful chocolaty dessert. Mousse is a sweet or savoury dish made as a smooth, light mass in which the main ingredient is whipped with cream and egg white, it can be light and fluffy to creamy and thick, depending on preparation techniques.

However I was never keen to make it at home until yesterday when we had guests coming over for dinner. Few are such dishes that I only want to sit and enjoy at a restaurant other than making at home. But yesterday when I was thinking and thinking on what to make for dessert for guests I went through many such recipes and finally thought to give it a try! Checked out many recipes of chocolate mousse and then with some mix and matches, few variations I finally got the final product . My little girl always gets  the first chance to taste anything that I cook at home. She instantly said "yummy" & her usual line "mamma you are such a great cooker". And yeah then I knew it this mousse has definitely come out yummy. MY guest from Assam liked it too. So here is the recipe for you all .


Ingredients: (Yield: 6-7 servings)

Dark Chocolate : 2 packets (I used Amul dark chocolate of 40gms)
Heavy cream: 1 packet (I used Amul whipping cream of 200 ml)
2 egg whites
Sugar: 4 tbsp. (you can increase or decrease quantity as per your taste)
Coffee powder: 1 tsp
Some more grated/shaved dark chocolate for garnishing
Cocoa powder for garnishing


Method:

Chop the chocolate and take in a large glass bowl and melt through double boiler method. Stir continuously until it melts completely. Put the flame off and keep it aside.

In a clean chilled steel bowl take out the cream and whisk until it reaches soft peaks. Keep aside. Now take the egg whites in another bowl and whisk it from medium to high. Add sugar and again whisk to soft peaks. I used the electric beater only to whisk both cream and egg whites.

Now fold this whisked egg whites into the melted chocolate, add coffee powder and combine all with the beater in low speed. Once everything incorporated, fold in the whipped cream and give a low whisk to it.

Now transfer the mousse to glasses/dessert bowls, cover with foil and keep in refrigerator to set for at least an hour. Before serving , top the mousse with grated/shaved dark chocolate and dust cocoa powder on it with the help of strainer. Enjoy this chilled chocolaty heaven.

 

Eggless & Yeast-free doughnuts

 It was an Eureka moment for me!! Tried my hands to prepare doughnuts at home for the very first time. That too on a Thursday when we people do not eat non-veg so I could not even use eggs which made me a little scared. And also I did not want to go through the yeast fermentation process etc today out of excitement & curiosity.

So this is an Eggless, yeast-free, doughnut shape cutterless fresh DOUGHNUTS from my kitchen. I have always been wanting to make doughnuts at home. Somehow I got the courage today to try my hands for the very first time. Soft from inside and crusty upper just perfect. The little had one full even after she finished her dinner. Also asking to pack in her tiffin box tomorrow . And I know if my daughter is asking for more it has to be the tasty one.

Doughnut is a type of fried dough confectionary or dessert food, is popular in many countries as breakfast or sweet snack. They are usually deep-fried from a flour dough, and typically either ring-shaped or without a hole and often filled. You can give many variations to your doughnut glaze with maple syrup, milkmaid, honey glaze, chocolate  sauce/or by using different food colours.


Ingredients:

Plain Flour/maida: 1 1/2 cups
Sugar: 4 tbs superfine (you can increase the amount of sugar as per your taste)
Milk: 1/2 cup
Butter: 50 gms.
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
Cinnamon powder: 1/2 tsp
Baking soda: 1tsp
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Refined oil: for deep frying


For the glaze

Milk: 1 cup
Condensed milk: 1/2 cup
Cocoa powder: 3-4 tbsp. for chocolate sauce
Store bought Chocolate sauce: 1-2 tbsp. for chocolate sauce
Green food colour: 1 pinch is enough to get the colour
Castor sugar: 1 tbsp. or as required to sprinkle over the doughnuts

Method:

In a bowl, add the melted butter and sugar and beat well until they combine well. Add the milk and mix them well and keep aside.

In another bowl, sieve the flour, baking soda, baking powder. Now pour in the above mixture slowly to this dry mixture. Combine all well and knead until you get a dough like consistency. In case the dough is sticky and very moist, you can add some dry flour also. Keep the dough covered to rest for about half an hour.

Divide equal medium sized portions from the dough and make balls, flatten it with palm of your hand You can roll out the balls with a rolling pin also (while flattening the balls or rolling out dust some dry flour). I kept the balls size medium as this would double up while frying. Now with the help of a doughnut cutter (if you have), cut out approx. 3-inch-diameter rounds with 1-inch-diameter holes. I do not have doughnut cutter ,so I used the cap of my mustard oil bottle (little weird, but no other options available with me. But that worked just perfect for me). Repeat the same process for the rest and arrange them in a dish.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan/kadhai.  Deep fry the doughnuts one or two at a time for about 1-2 minutes or till golden brown on both sides and keep aside.

For the sauce:

Make the glaze by heating a pan , add the milk, condensed milk and stir continuously till it gets thicken. At this point I divided this sauce into two portions. In one portion, I added the cocoa powder and the chocolate sauce. Mix them well till everything combines well. In the remaining portion, I added the green food colour and combine all well. You can use any food colour of your choice or you can make only chocolate sauce dipped doughnut.

Place all the fried doughnuts on a cooling /wire rack and let them cool for a minute or two. Do not forget to keep a dish under the rack. Now pour in the chocolate & green coloured sauce on the doughnuts and let it set for about 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the castor sugar on the doughnuts with the help of a tea strainer.

Now enjoy your soft doughnuts with your cuppa.

You can make this doughnut healthier by baking it instead of deep frying.
 

I scream you scream we all love ice-cream ...fried ice-cream

Well..sometimes I just don't want to think about healthy eating, calories, my blood sugar level and bla bla blaaa..So I decided to indulge myself and cheat my diet on last weekend and made fried ice-cream with lots of chocolate syrup on it. Though the little girl did not like much and the husband did say that it tasted so different and crunchy, I have enjoyed eating this to the fullest. And the next day I was on full roti and dahi diet :-(
Really wanted to share this with you for your likes and feedback. Easy to make easy to dig in and finish off in no time :-)

Ingredients:

Vanilla ice-cream - 2 scoops or (no.of scoops as per ur requirement)..
Flour - 3 tbsp.
Cornflakes - 1 small bowl crushed
Vegetable oil  to fry - 1medium bowl
Chocolate syrup for garnishing

Method:

Take two scoops of ice cream and keep in the freezer for half an hour/45 minutes. Mix flour with sufficient amount of water to make a thick batter. Now take out the  scoops and then dip them in the batter nicely and then roll in crushed cornflakes on a dish. Once the scoops are covered properly with the crushed cornflakes again keep them in freezer for atleast another 2 hours.

The longer you keep the scoops in the freezer the better they are gonna bind and hard. Take them out from freezer and deep fry in vegetable oil in a deep pan till golden brown but very  and carefully. Strain extra oil by keeping them on a tissue paper.

Serve immediately these hot crunchy fried ice-creams with chocolate sauce/syrup