Paan Flavored Ice Cream

My husband and daughter are very fond of ice cream. Its summer here, and every weekend we see the ice cream van going by in our neighborhood. The moment my daughter (just 18 months old) hears the music  played by the ice cream van, she runs to the door, points outside, nods her had and says "Srishti..Ice Cream...Yes" "Srishti...Ice Cream...Yes". I can't stop the ice cream van from coming in my neighborhood, but I can make some ice cream at home, so that when she wants it, she can have homemade ice cream without added food color, artificial sweeteners or preservatives.

I usually make fruit flavored ice creams for her. One of her and my husband's favorites is my Blueberry ice cream. 

This time I was looking for some other ideas for making ice cream, and found these beetle leaves in the desi store:), so I thought of making ice cream using them.

Ingredients:

For the Ice Cream

4 Cups Low Fat Milk

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup cornflour

For the paan flavoring 

4 Beetel Leaves(paan)

1 Tablespoo Lemon Juice

6 Dried Dates (Kharek), Soaked Overnight

1 TablespoonFennel Seeds (Saunf), 

1/4 Teaspoon Cardamom (Elaichi) 

1/4 Cup Gulkand (Sweetened Rose Petals)[You can use Rose syrup if you can't find Gulkand)

4-5 Mint Leaves

Method

Wash the paan leaves. Add them to the blender along with the rest of the pan flavoring ingredients and grind them into a very fine paste.

Dissolve the cornflour in ¼ cup of cold milk. Keep aside. Place the rest of the milk in a heavy bottomed pan and bring it to a boil. Add the sugar and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the dissolved cornflour and simmer for another 5 minutes while stirring continuously, till it is of a coating consistency. Remove from the fire and allow it to cool completely. Add the paan flavouring mixture. 

Mix well and pour into a shallow dish. Freeze till slushy. Remove and beat with a whisk until smooth and creamy (or use a blender).Freeze again until firm. Scoop and serve.


Needless to say my husband and daughter loved it. My parents, brother and sister visited me about a week later, and it was a big hit among them too.

I think my husband took some pictures before he finished up the ice cream. I will get the pictures from him and post them soon.

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Patra

Patra is a Gujarati Dish. it is made spreding a thinck paste of chick peas and some spices on arbi
leaves (colocasia leaves). The leaves are then rolled into a thick log shape and steamed. This
steamed logs are cut into thick discs which looks like pin wheel because of the layers of leaves
and chickpea paste. These discs are then sauted in oil and tempering. It is a bit lengthy process,
but it doesn't require any particular skill. As far as you can find some time, you can make patra
at home.
I found some arbi leaves at a local store here. This was the first time I have ever seen arbi
leaves in a desi(Indian) store, so I grabeed 3 packets of them:), because I didn't want to miss out on
having a lot of homemade patra. Fortulanely my mom was visiting me at the same time, so she made a
big batch of patra for me.
I have scaled down the recipe here in my post so that you can make enough patra for 4.

Ingredients: 
Rolls and Stuffing:
8 Big Patra Leaves (Arbi leaves),
2 Cups Chickpea flour
Salt to taste
2 Teaspoon Red Chili Powder,
1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder,
Juice from 1 lemon
2 Teaspoon Grated Jaggery,
2 Teaspoon Oil,
Water as needed.

Tempering
5 Tablespoon Oil,
2 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds,
1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds,
1/2 Teaspoon Asafoetida
2 Teaspoon Sesame Seeds,
1/4 Cup Grated Coconut (Frozen works fine),
1/4 Cup Finley Chopped Cilantro

Method:
Wash and pat the patra leaves thoroughly.
Put a leaf face side down on a flat surface.With a sharp knife remove the veins from the back of the leaves. Be careful to not break the leaves. You would want to move the knife in hoziontal direction (parallel to the flat surface of the leaf) in order to remove the stems. Please note that you won't be able to remove the entire vein. All you are trying to do is remove the thick/bulgding part from the leaves. Repeat this process for all leaves and set them aside.

Now for the chickpea paste, combine the rest of the ingredients from the rolls/stuffing list. Add a little water at a time to make thick and smooth paste. The paste should not be too runny.

Put a patra leaf face side up on a flat surface. Take 3-4 spoon full of paste and drop it in the center of the leaf. Gently spread it on the entire leaf.

Now put another leaf on top of the paste, and apply the paste again. Repeat this until you have used up four leaves.

Apply some paste on top of the last leaf. Now, starting from the pointed (narrow) part of the leaves, start rolling the leaves inwards. Roll all the way to the top (wide) portion of the leaves. You should end up with a bid and wide roll as shown in the picture below.Repeat the same process for the rest of the patra leaves to create another big roll (log).

Boil enough water in the base vessel of a steamer. Apply some oil on the main vessel and place the logs. Cover and steam for 20-25 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

(Note: some rice cookers come with a steaming attachment. You can use rice cooker for steaming patra rolls too, but the timing may vary)

Take out of the steamer and allow the rolls to cool completley.

Steamed Patra Roll

Boil enough water in the base vessel of a steamer. Apply some oil on the main vessel and place the logs. Cover and steam for 20-25 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
(Note: some rice cookers come with a steaming attachment. You can use rice cooker for steaming patra rolls too, but the timing may vary)

Take out of the steamer and allow the rolls to cool completley.

Now with the help of a sharp knife cut  the roll into 1/2 inch thick discs.Make sure that the discs are cooled completley before following the below step.

Patra, Cut into thick disks

Heat the tempering oil in a thick bottom pan. Once hot, add the mustard seeds. Once they start to splutter, add the cumin seeds and asafoetida. Now add the sesame seeds. Turn the heat to medium and cover the pan with a splatter, or you will end up with sesame seeds all over your counter:). Cook for 10-15 seconds. Now add the patra discs. Cook on medium high heat, stirring occasionaly to make sure that they heat up evenly. Cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the patra are heat up and are turing  golden brown.
Take off the heat. Add 3/4 of the coconut and cilantro. Stir gently to mix well. Sprinkle the rest of the coconut and cilantro on top and serve.

Sorry, I do not have a final picture of the patra, so I am posting this picture from Chachi's kitchen.

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Basil and Nectarine Lemonade

As mentioned in my previous posts, I have signed up for a summer CSA (community supported agriculture program) through Tiny's organic.

My this week's bag included basil and nectarines among other fruits and vegetables. Since the weather here is still decently warm, I decided to make lemonade with fresh and crunchy nectarines and sweet Italian basil. The end product was a beautiful and refreshing lemonade, which I wish I made more of:).

The following recipe will make about 3 cups of lemonade.

Ingredients:
1 Nectarine, Chopped into Small Pieces,
1 Nectarine, Thinly Sliced,
1 Cup Large Leaf Italian (Sweet) Basil,
1/2 Cup Sugar,
3 Cups Water
3-4 Basil leaves, Thinly Sliced for garnishing (optional)
1/4 Cup Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice

Method:
Comine the water, basil, sugar and the chopped nectarine in a boiling pan. Stir until the sugar gets dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil, then let it simmer for 5 minutes. Take off the stove and let it cool completley.

Strain the mixture through a fine sieve pressing all the juice out from the pulp.

Now add the lemon juice and stir well. Transfer the mixture to the fridge and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Take it out, add the thinly sliced nectarines and basil. Serve cold with ice.

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