Praline Chocolate Ice Cream

After my first attempt on chocolate tofu mousse recipe, I'm quite curious about tofu desserts recently. This time I'm going to make ice cream which is without cream but tofu, again :P

Well, I've got this recipe through chocolate peanut butter ice cream, I changed the recipe to praline chocolate ice cream.

I've made a cup of praline paste using hazelnut with caramel sugar. I feel that Hazalnut and chocoalte always go very well. You'll hardly get the beany taste from the ice cream as I added vanilla extract and the praline already won over the beany taste.

This ice cream couldn't compare with those Häagen-Dazs ice cream as it didn't contains egg yolks and cream, so it's definately not as rich as Häagen-Dazs. But, it's no different compare to those ice cream box selling in the supermarket with the smooth and creamy texture, and nutty flavour. This is something good for those who afraid of fatness but craving for ice cream.

Recipe for praline paste:

1. Heat the 150g sugar in a pan (non-stick pan would be good). Make sure the sugar dissolves and the colour is a nice caramel (the praline can taste bitter if it colours too much). Pour the 100g hazelnut (halves) into the caramel and stir quickly.


2. Pour the mixture onto a non-stick mat or onto a sheet of greaseproof paper on a baking tray to cool. Spread the praline out to a thickness of about 1cm.


3. When the praline has set, lightly crush with a rolling pin then place into a bag. Using the rolling pin to punch until praline become the size of rock salt.


4. Place it into a food processor and blend until it become a thick paste.

Recipe for the ice cream:

1. Blend all these ingredients in a food processor (12oz silken tofu, 1 cup praline paste, 3/4 cup pure maple syrup, 1 cup soy milk, 2 tsp vanilla extract)


2. Melt 1 cup of dark chocolate in a double boiler. Add the melted chocolate to the tofu mixture (1).


3. Chill the mixture in the fridge for 2 hours then process in the ice cream machine.


4. Freeze in the freezer for couple of hour. Enjoy!

Pineapple Jam in Microwave

Ingredients
Pineapple puree- 1 cup
white sugar -1/2 cup
brown sugar - 1/2 cup
cloves - 4 nos
citric acid - 1 tspn
water to prepare the puree

Method

For pineapple puree, blend pineapple pieces with little water. Take a microwave safe bowl. Mix the puree with sugar. You can adjust the quantity of sugar according to the sweetness of the fruit. If you are using only white sugar increase the quantity by 1/4 cup. Microwave high for 15 minutes. Give a stir every 5 minutes.

Add the cloves coarsely crushed. If you wish , you can powder it finely. Mix in the crushed cloves and a teaspoon of citric acid. Microwave for 10 minutes. Check the consistency. It should be flaky. After five minutes, keep checking for every two minutes. This can be done on stove top too. But making in microwave doesn't call for constant attention.

Enjoy home made jam bursting with natural flavor of pineapple.

Kummayam - a lentil and jaggery sweet dish

Kummayam

Azhwars (literally meaning immersed in God), are Tamil poet saints and ardent devotees of Lord Vishnu who lived between 6th and 8th centuries. There were 12 such Azhwars who showed their devotion through their emotion filled poems and hymns. All the Vishnu temples, where the azhwars sang their hymns are called the 108 Divya Desams (divine places - 106 in our physical world, and 2 more elsewhere!). These verses were later collected and codified by a Vaishnava scholar, Nadamuni, and are called Naalayira Divya Prabhandam (4000 divine compositions!)

The great azhwar, Vishu Chittar, also known as Periya Azhwar lived in th 6th century in Srivilliputhur. His love for the Lord was such that, in his hymns (known as Thiru Mozhi) he imagined himself to be mother Yashoda, nurturing Baby Krishna as a mother would do, by feeding, bathing, decorating and also reprimanding him for pestering the gopis. In one of his hymns, “Innamudhandri Ammantharen”, the sweet dish Kummayam finds a mention! The beautiful verse roughly transalates to “…after having devoured kummayam with butter, and having emptied the curd pot, and also having destroyed the asuras – demons – you pose like an innocent baby in front of me. I doubt if you are my son and I am terrified to even feed you!”

Now coming to the dish, kummayam is a very simple dish prepared with only two ingredients – green gram dal and jaggery. Both are power houses of nutrients even on their own!

Green gram dal is next to soya, in protein content. It is a very easily digestible lentil and does not cause flatulence like other lentils. It is also rich in calcium and Vitamins B and C. Cooking does not destroy its protein content. Convalescents can easily digest and benefit from this dal. Banantis – women who have just given birth to babies – are served with a special diet, which contains green gram dal, for at least 40 days after the delivery.

Jaggery is a natural sweetener prepared from sugar cane without any additives. It contains iron, minerals and some vitamins. It is supposed to be a general health tonic and I have often heard that it purifies blood as well.

Kummayam, food good enough for even Baby Krishna, is therefore is truely a very healthy dish for a baby above one year,..... and up to hundred years!

Ingredients:
Split green gram dal (mung dal) – 1 cup
Jaggery (powdered) – 1 ½ cups
Method:
1. Dry roast green gram dal till it becomes reddish in colour.
2. Allow to cool, and grind it into a very fine powder and set aside.
3. Dissolve jaggery in warm water and strain, to filter out impurities if any.
4. Add more water to the jaggery water to make 4 cups.
5. Mix the prepared flour in the cooled jaggery water in a heavy bottomed pan.
6. Cook on medium flame stirring all the time to prevent lumps.
7. When the cooked flour acquires a glazed look and starts leaving the sides of the pan, remove from fire.

Serve the kummayam with a drop of ghee to your kids as well as adults!
This dish goes to Padmajha’s Tasty Bites for Toddlers event.