Strawberry Ice-cream

Strawberries....mmmm, can't get enough of them! This summer has been great with a bounty of great tasting strawberries straight from the farm to my kitchen. I gorged on a lot of the berries, made strawberry jam with another lot and still had so much left over. I had to freeze them to keep them from going bad, it will come in handy when strawberries go out of season.

This is another ice-cream you can hand crank at home without a machine.

The mushy ones which I couldn't freeze went into making this strawberry ice-cream. After making Mango ice-cream at home I simply had to try strawberry ice-cream with fresh strawberries.

Strawberry Ice-cream

You will need: Makes about 3 quarts

1 ½ cup Milk

1 ½ tbsp Sugar

1 tbsp Strawberry Custard powder (substitute: Vanilla custard powder)

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 cup Fresh strawberry puree (fresh strawberries, washed and pureed)

1 cup Heavy whipping cream

1 tsp Strawberry extract

½ cup chopped frozen strawberries (don’t thaw)

Hand held electric beaters

Mix ½ cup of milk with 1 tbsp custard powder. Bring remaining milk and sugar to a rolling boil on medium heat. Turn down heat and then stir in the custard mix. Stir continuously for 4 minutes till the custard thickens and coats the back of your spoon. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

Meanwhile blend the sweetened condensed milk, strawberry puree, whipping cream and strawberry extract in a medium bowl (which will fit into your freezer)

The procedure to make the ice-cream is similar to the Mango ice-cream (click to see instructions) When you whip the mixture the final time, stir in the chopped frozen strawberry bits. Transfer mix to a plastic container and freeze for 6-8 hours or overnight.

The strawberry extract and the strawberry puree added a ton of flavour and I was really happy when the ice-cream smelled like strawberries :D The taste of course was undoubtedly strawberry-ey.

Jackfruit Halwa

I have been away vacationing in Vegas and sunny California, got back on Monday. But since we were gone for almost a week, it took me just about a week to get into the rigmarole of life. My customers were waiting eagerly for my return, so it was back to work for me right away. The trip was very refreshing and I will surely write more on that later.

If there is one fresh fruit that I missed incessantly here is Jackfruit…up until a few days back when I discovered (yeah, with a triumph!) that fresh jackfruit is very much available here as well. Back home, eating fresh jackfruit was almost a daily ritual when the fruit was in season. Dad would often buy the peeled, ready to eat fruit; on his way back home from morning work. We always wolved it down like there was no tomorrow!

Our local Farmers Market was selling fresh jackfruit, whole as well as halved. I bought a halved chunk, wondering all the way to the cashier, if I would be able to peel it and lay my hands on the juicy fruit within. In the end I finally decided to risk the peeling part and bought it. I must say it is a task best left to the roadside vendors who do it so effortlessly (or so it seems). After a sticky ordeal which seemed eternal, I was able to beam at my prized pieces of fresh, juicy fruit. These pieces were so sweet I can’t even begin to tell you how good they tasted.




Hubby is not a big stickler for fruit so I had almost all of it to myself…having gorged on half the pieces; I remembered Ajji (grandma) used to make a halwa out of jackfruit. It’s a simple aromatic sweet dish.

Jackfruit Halwa:


You will need:

1 tbsp Ghee
1 tsp Cashew bits
1 tsp Raisins
1 cup fresh jackfruit, cut into small bits
2 tbsp fresh grated Coconut
½ tsp Cardamom powder
1 tbsp Sugar (only if fruit is not naturally sweet)

Heat ghee in a pan and add the cashew and raisins. Fry till light brown. To this add the chopped jackfruit. Fry for 3 minutes, till jackfruit loses its colour slightly and becomes a little mushy. At this point stir in the sugar only if needed. The fruit I had on hand was very sweet on its own, so I didn’t use any sugar. Add the coconut and cardamom, fry till fragrant, another minute. This can be served hot, chilled or at room temperature.


I spoke to Ajji right before I made the halwa to make sure this is how she made it and she gave me a whole list of other dishes that could be made using Jackfruit. I am yet to try them – provided this batch of jackfruit lasts long enough.

AFAM & Fresh Produce of the Month :Grapes all the way!

This month’s Fruit is the juicy Grapes…fresh or dried its hard to resist grabbing a handful. I love grapes and always have some at home when its in season.

Green Goddess

Nah I’m not talking about any goddess, that's the name of my drink..don't ask me why :)

You will need

1 ½ cups Green grapes (seedless)
½ cup Milk
1 ½ tbsp sugar
½ tsp Cardamom powder

Place all of the above in a blender and give a good whizz. The grapes should be blended well and you should be left with a semi-thick mixture. Pour into glasses, chill and serve.

When my granny first made this she had us guessing what was in it. We’ve all tasted Black grapes juice, which is very common, but this was the first with green grapes. It tastes just as delicious and a great treat on a hot day!

Grape Chaat

Not all grapes are sweet and the sour ones just make me pucker. I really am not for tart stuff so when I come across sour grapes, I have a good way to eat them.

You will need:

1 cup Grapes (Black and Green)
1/4 tsp Red chilli powder
1/4 tsp Chaat Masala powder
1/4 tsp Salt

Half the grapes, toss them with a salt ,red chilli powder and Chaat Masala you have some great tasting Grape chaat, and the sourness…all gone!

The salt actually helps cut the sourness and you won’t have to fret on not having sweet grapes. This salad can be made with sweet grapes too, the grapes just get better!

Raisins (Onadrakshi) Gojju

In one of my previous posts I had mentioned Pineapple Gojju. Following the same recipe you can substitute Pineapples with soaked boiled Dry grapes (Raisins) and you have Raisins Gojju, a popular dish served at almost every wedding in South Karnataka..

I’m posting the recipe here again.

You will need

1 cup raisins
8-10 Byadagi dry red chillies
2 tbsps Corriander seeds
½ tsp Fenugreek seeds
1 tsp Mustard seeds
¼ tsp Hing
1 tbsp Urad dhal
1 tbsp Chana dhal (kadlebele)
4 tbsps dry coconut gratings
Salt to taste
Oil and ghee
100 gms Jaggery
100 gms Tamarind (soak in water and extract the juice)

Soak the raisins and boil them in hot water.Keep aside. Roast the red chillies, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, urad and chana dhal, and coconut gratings each separately in little ghee till fragrant. Grind the roasted ingredients with water, tamarind juice and jaggery to form a rough paste. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and hing. Now add the boiled pineapple chunks. Add the ground paste, salt, tamarind juice and jaggery, bring to a boil. Add water if required to make a gravy like consistency. Serve with hot steamed white rice and ghee.

These are my entries to "Fresh Produce of the Month:Grapes" at Martha's and A Fruit A Month (AFAM) hosted by Swapna of Swad