Recipe: Easy Mango Kulfi (Indian style ice cream)

Here in NYC mangoes are in the markets and the fragrant fruit is quite often on sale now that it is Summer. In the supermarkets here, the Indian green mango is often sold. Sometimes it has a reddish pink blush to it. You can also find smaller yellow mangoes at fruit stands and in Asian markets. These tend to be sweeter.

I decided to pull out the ice cream machine to celebrate the first weekend of Summer and make mango kulfi, an Indian style ice cream that is rather simple to make. I was inspired by watching an Indian cooking show and wanted to try making the dessert. I've seen kulfi sold in Little India here in NYC and it can be pretty pricey for a small container so really, you save money making a batch yourself. Scouring the internet came of with quite a few recipes but I spied one that used frozen yogurt.

Yogurt tends to go on sale at 32 oz. (907 g) for about $2 or so and I always stock up on a couple containers to make smoothies (you can find a recipe for that here too). I decided to use the yogurt in place of the frozen yogurt (it's going to be frozen anyway) and add honey to sweeten and further enhance the mango taste. The base mixture can be considered mango lassi and you can enjoy it as a refreshing drink as well.

You'll need a food processor and an ice cream machine to make this.

Here is my version on the classic Indian dessert. Recipe makes about 1 1/2 quarts.

Ingredients

• 3 ripe yellow mangoes
• 2 cups mango nectar (you can find this in the Latin aisle of your supermarket)
• 2 cups low fat vanilla yogurt
• 1 tablespoon honey (or more to taste depending on the sweetness of the mango)

Directions

1. Follow the instructions on pre chilling your ice cream maker's tub.
2. Stand the mango up on it's stem end. There is a large pit that run down the middle of the fruit. Carefully cut the mango down both sides of the pit with a Chef's Knife. The meat that surrounds the pit you can nibble on and see how sweet it is.
3. With the knife, score the mango meat and using a spoon, scoop out the meat from the skin and put into a food processor fitted with the blade.
4. Add the mango nectar and process until smooth.
5. Add the yogurt and honey. Process again until fully mixed.
6. Pour the ice cream mixture into your ice cream machine and follow manufacturer's instruction.
7. About 20-25 minutes it should be ready. With a rubber spatula, transfer the kulfi into a plastic container (it will be soft serve at this point) and allow to set up in the freezer for a few hours.

Kulfi is pretty dense since it has low fat content and this recipe is no exception. You may want to allow the container to thaw a bit to make serving the kulfi easier or pour the mixture into disposable paper cups and then freeze to make individual servings. To unmold from the cups, dip them in warm water then slide out onto a serving plate.

Recipe: Banana Bread

I always buy a large bunch of bananas for my smoothies but when they start to ripen faster than I can use them, I make banana bread. Here is a simple and fast recipe. If you have a stand mixer, it makes it all the faster to prepare.





Ingredients

* 2 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup sugar
* 4 very ripe bananas (the blacker they are the sweeter)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl cream together eggs and sugar then stir in mashed bananas, vanilla, oil and cinnamon.

Carefully add and stir in the flour mixture, a third at a time, until just combined.

Pour batter into a 9x5 loaf pan.

Bake for about 1 hour.


Use can serve this as a nice dessert. A toasted slice of banana bread with a scoop of vanilla or butter pecan ice cream on top. Add a drizzle of maple syrup for decadence!