Coconut Curry Ice Cream

For dinner one night this week, my husband and I took a trip out to Jackson Heights and ate at Tawa. Tawa is a traditional Nepalese "restaurant." I put restaurant in quotations because it is more like a shack with folding tables and three different vendors selling you things. The food is delicious, however. We both ordered thali, which is a plate of rice with lots of little dishes of lentils, curries, pickles, veggies and other things surrounding it.  As you eat, you can watch these old women in the back making roti and chaptai by hand. The roti and chaptai is so delicious that we may be going back this weekend just to buy some more. If you are in New York, I definitely recommend going to Tawa now!

I give all this back story, as a way of explaining the flavor of the week:

Coconut Curry

Ingredients:

4 cups unsweetened coconut milk

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes

Preparation:

Bring the coconut milk, sugar and curry powder to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and allow the mixture to simmer for 10 minutes. Cover and chill overnight.

Churn mixture in your ice cream mixture. Add the coconut flakes 1 minute before the ice cream is done.

This ice cream was definitely interesting, as its name promises it will be. It is not that the ice cream was bad, in fact, I would say it is pretty tasty. It just does not taste exactly the way you would expect ice cream to taste. Coconut Curry ice cream is more savory than sweet. It tastes like a mild curry sauce that you may use as a dip for bread. In fact, it reminds me of a recipe I used to make back in the day before I was a vegetarian. In this recipe, I smothered chicken in a curry sauce made of vanilla yogurt and curry powder. Tasty, but not what you expect when you bite into an ice cream cone. Nonetheless, if you are in the mood for a non-sweet dessert, this ice cream may be right up your alley. I think I will try making it next week with just the coconut milk, and no curry, for a nice coconut ice cream.

Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on.