Vanilla custard ice cream | Ice cream with custard powder

Vanilla custard ice cream | Ice cream with custard powder is an easy way to prepare ice cream at home without using ice cream machine. It had been years since I made ice cream at home. When Sid was a little kid and exposed to only homemade food stuff, I used to make ice cream, cake, snack, etc at home.  Those were the days, whenever I saw him tickling his tongue for any dish, I wanted to try the dish next day. Once he started eating bought out stuff, I stopped making these at home as I didn't want to add more calories!! Last week, he accompanied me for shopping. On seeing the WeiKFiELD custard powder on the shelf,  I told him I used to make ice cream for him with this custard powder when he was a little boy. He insisted me to try again as he couldn't recollect the taste. So I bought the custard powder with vanilla flavour.

The procedure of making ice cream using custard powder is so simple but involves a lengthy process. You need some patience as the ice cream mix is to be churned in a blender or using a hand mixer for about 2-3 times to make it smoother. The more you blend, creamier will be your ice cream. Your job will be easier if you have a hand mixer.

The process seems to be much simpler while comparing the task of taking photographs of the ice cream, that too in this hot summer. I could hardly take any clicks before it melted. I’m posting them here.

Here is the recipe for making Ice cream with vanilla custard powder without using ice cream maker. Enjoy making this at home and treat your kids with the home made stuff during this summer holidays.

Ingredients:

• Milk – 2 cups + ¼ cup
• Vanilla custard powder – 2 tbsp (heaped)
• Condensed milk – 2 tbsp
• Sugar – 3 tbsp
• Butter – 1 tsp

Method:

1. Mix vanilla custard powder in ¼ cup of warm milk without any lumps and keep aside.
2. Heat 2 cups of milk and bring to boil. Add sugar and stir till the sugar dissolves completely.
3. Add the custard + milk mix to the boiled milk and stir continuously in simmer without forming lumps.
4. Once the milk gets thickened forming a glossy appearance, switch off. This will take about 5 minutes. By this time, the mix would be in thick dosa  batter consistency.
5. To this add the condensed milk & butter and mix everything well. Allow it to cool completely.
6. Transfer the contents to a freezer safe bowl and freeze it for about 4 hours.
7. After 4 hours, scoop out the ice cream in a mixer and blend it nicely. Transfer the contents to a bowl and again freeze it for 3 hours.
8. Repeat the churning process for about 2 -3 times in a gap of 3 hours.
9. Finally freeze the ice cream for about 8 hours or overnight.
10. Take out the box from the freezer and keep in room temperature for about 5 minutes. Scoop out the ice cream in a serving bowl.

Enjoy every scoop of vanilla custard ice cream topped with your favourite toppings.

Note:

• If you have a hand mixer, take out the frozen bowl and blend with the mixer in medium speed until the mixer becomes creamy & freeze it again. Repeat for 3 -4 times in a gap of 3 hours.
• Don’t increase the quantity of custard powder as it hardens the ice cream.
• You can increase or decrease the quantity of sugar as per your preference.
• If you don’t have condensed milk, skip and add some extra sugar to compensate the sweetness.
• You can also use fresh cream to give extra creaminess.
• You can use chopped nuts, tutty fruity, cherries, choco syrup, etc as toppings.
• Ice cream can be frozen for a week.

Tags: How to make ice cream with custard powder? How to make ice cream without ice cream maker?, Ice cream using custard powder, Vanilla custard powder ice cream, Ice cream without ice cream maker, How to make ice cream at home without ice cream maker? Creamy ice cream recipe, Ice cream with vanilla custard powder 

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Rasagulla (Bengali Sweet)

Rasagulla is a famous  Bengali sweet/desert and the method is very simple but I can’t guarantee the output. Because we need to follow the procedure carefully so that the correct texture of rasagullas  can be obtained. I heard lot of stories  from my friends about making rasagullas at home. I have tried it long before but I got the exact texture at the very first attempt. Today, being a special day, my husband’s birthday, I wanted to try it again to surprise my hubby. I recollected the recipe and started this venture with a little doubt but ended up with great result. This time also I got it right!. I thought of sharing this recipe immediately, so that it will be useful for our forthcoming festivals , especially for Diwali. My husband will also  have a look at this special sweet I have made on his B’day!

Ingredients:

• Milk (full fat) – 500  ml
• Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
• Sugar – 100 ml
• Water – 300 ml
• Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
• Ice cubes – few
• Pistachio for decoration 

Method:

1. .Boil milk and add lemon juice, stir the contents so that the milk curdles totally and the whey water gets separated.
2. Swich off and add the ice cubes and stir.
3. Drain the whey water using a clean muslin cloth  and rinse it under running water .
4. Gently press to remove the excess water from the paneer and hang it for 10 minutes.
5. Transfer the contents from the muslin cloth in a bowl and knead it gently for about 5 minutes.
6. Make it like a small ball. I got around 12 small balls out of ½ litre milk.
7. Place a kadai on stove, pour water, sugar and cardamom powder. When the sugar gets dissolved completely, strain the syrup using metal strainer.
8. Again heat the sugar syrup in a kadai/vessel, when it boils, gently drop the balls into the sugar syrup and boil in medium heat for about  2 minutes. Then simmer and close it with a lid , cook the balls for about 10 minutes, opening the lid now and then.
9. Now you will find the rasagullas become double in size. At this stage, switch off and refrigerate and serve the yummy rasagullas.

Note:

1. Kneading part plays an important role in getting porous rasagullas, so do this with enough patience.
2. Don’t overheat the sugar syrup, if you find that it is thick while straining you can add some water.
3. We can use whey water for curdling the milk which is the way the Bengalis use to curdle. This will also give soft rasagullas.

Tag: Bengali sweet, Bengali desert, Indian sweet, Indian desert, Diwali recipes, milk based sweet recipe, sugar syrup recipe.

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Red Aval Payasam (Red Poha Kheer)

Happy Krishna Jayanthi to all!

Krishna …. A character liked by all age groups, adorned worldwide and  linked with everybody’s life. Krishna is the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu and  his birth is celebrated as Krishna Jayanthi/ Gokulashtami/ Janmashtami .

We all know Krishna is fond of butter, milk, sweets , aval and snacks like seedai, murukku etc. So it is a practice to offer these things  as “Nivedyam” on Krishna Jayanthi.

Today I prepared Red Aval Payasam as Gokulashtami Special. Very simple but delicious, healthy desert made with minimum ingredients.

Ingredinets:

• Red aval – 1/2 cup
• Milk – ½ litre
• Jaggery              - ¾ cup
• Grated Coconut – 2 tbsp
• Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
• Ghee – 1 to 2 tsp
• Cashews -few

Method:

First roast cashews with few drops of ghee  until golden brown colour and keep it aside. In the same pan, roast  aval till you get a nice aroma, cool it and grind coarsely. Boil milk in a sauce pan, add the ground aval and cook for 5 minutes. In the mean time,  powder the jaggery, add a cup of water and melt it and filter the impurities. Add this jiggery syrup to the aval-milk mixture, bring it to a boil . then add coconut, cardamom powder , add the balance ghee and give a nice stir and switch off.

Aval payasam is ready to offer to Lord Krishna!

Note:

1. You can use  raisins and other nuts as you wish.
2. I used thick aval for this recipe. If you use thin aval (Silky Aval), then you need not even grind.

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Independence Day Special: Tri-colour Smoothie

August 15^th – the Independence Day… A day that has to be remembered by everyone but is now just a mere holiday - a holiday on which most people seem to stick to their couches watching telecasts of newly released films. This is a sad turn of events. Even schools don’t seem to be functioning on this day – there is no flag hoisting. The sad part is, many schools don’t even have a flag pole for flag hoisting.

Back in the days, the Independence Day was not a mere holiday. It was a day of national pride. We used to go to the school early in the morning for flag hoisting. For this one-day event, we would start preparing at least a month before. Our PT teacher was the leading lady of the day and she would organize everything, from the march past to the bands and drills. We had practice sessions every day, with two periods in the evening being exclusively allotted for this practice. The day before, our PT teacher would instruct everybody to come in neat uniform and on time. She would end it with a warning telling us that if we were absent that day, we had to bring 20 rupees as fine the next day ("எல்லாரும் நீட்டா யுனிபார்ம்ல கரெக்ட் டைமுக்கு வரணும். நாளைக்கு  எவள் எல்லாம் வரலையோ 20 ரூபாய் பைன் கொண்டு வரணும்"). This warning always had its intended effect and thus, on the Independence Day, one could expect 100% attendance.

Some of us on the student council team (scouts, guides and council members) who were given extra responsibilities like tethering the flag, flower arrangement, distribution of chocolates, etc., had to arrive earlier at the school than others. The tasks these volunteers had to perform sound simple on paper. You may even ask what is so great about tethering the flag to the pole. Well then, listen closely… there is a secret to tying knots so that when the rope is pulled, the flag gets released in the right position. This we knew, thanks to Guides training. I did not appreciate this ‘secret’ until I saw the flag hoisted upside-down on TV.

Once all the students had assembled neatly in straight files, we would be given a small flag to pin onto our uniform. We would then await the arrival of the Chief Guest with time dragging much more slowly due to our excitement. After this long wait came the main events - the March-past, and the flag hoisting event. Following the cry of ‘Flag Salute!’ we would look up to the flag and salute it with reverence. Then came the Chief Guest’s speech and my most favorite part of the day - chocolate distribution. The one single chocolate we received was something we treasured.

After returning home, we would watch the parade at Red Fort on DD Channel along with our dad. Viewing this enthused us and created in us a fire to make the next year’s celebration even better. We also came to know about the importance of independence. The Channel would then telecast the movie ‘Gandhi’.  I cannot count the many times I’ve watched that movie.

 I’m sure reading all this brought back memories for many of you, of the times when the Independence Day was celebrated in full glory. That said, it is sad to see that the importance of the Independence Day has been dethroned. I feel that it is our job to educate our kids about the importance of Independence and raise them with a spirit of patriotism.

Happy Independence Day!!!

Being a food blogger , I wanted to share a recipe on this special day. For morning breakfast , I wanted to make something simple with the ingredients available at home, so I made a healthy drink which I dubbed the 'Tri-colour smoothie'. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Banana      - 1 No.
• Spinach            - 5 leaves
• Vanilla Ice cream -  2 scoops
• Carrot              - 2 Nos.
• Honey              - 1 tsp
• Milk as required

Method:

            Cut the banana and put it in a blender along with spinach and  whip it until both gets blended well by adding few drops of  milk. Peel the carrot and grate it in a fine grater. Mix the carrot gratings with honey. Take a glass, fill the bottom layer with green banana smoothie, middle layer with Vanilla ice cream and the top most layer with carrot.

            This tri colour smoothie will give you all the energy you want for the whole day. So this is an ideal breakfast for lazy holidays. Spinach when eaten raw gives all nutritional benefits from the greens.  Kids will love it because of this colourful combo , they won't identify that you have added greens in this smoothie. But this smoothie is big 'No… No….' for diabetics and those who are on diet.

Enjoy Independence Day with this Tri-colour Smoothie!!

Note:
            The sweetness of banana itself is enough for this, so i didn't add any extra sugar. If you want you can add little sugar while grinding banana and spinach.

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