Coconut milk date ice cream is a great summer dessert. It is dairy free, sugar free and preservative free, and filled with the goodness of healthful ingredients like coconut and dates – a must try this summer!
Ingredients: (make around 8 medium sized servings)
- Grated coconut (4 heaped tablespoons)
- Dates (12-15)
- Vanilla essence (1 tsp)
- Cocoa powder (optional) (2 tsp)
- Instant coffee powder (optional) (1 tsp)
- Water (4.5 cups)
Method:
- Soak dates in warm water for 10-15 minutes or more.
- Extract coconut milk from freshly grated coconut.
- Blend grated coconut with a little water until the coconut is well ground. Strain the blended mixture using a strainer to collect the liquid portion. Place the coconut pulp inside a muslin cloth and strain well using your palms to extract the liquid portions from it. Open the cloth and place the remaining pulp inside the blender once more. The first extract of coconut milk has been collected.
- Add a little more water into the blender along with the coconut pulp and blend again. Repeat the above process to collect the second extract of coconut milk.
- Depending on how your pulp looks, you can decide if you want to repeat the process for getting the third extract of coconut milk.
- In the end, strain the collected liquid from all extracts to remove any coconut particles that may have escaped from the muslin cloth or strainer.
- Blend the coconut milk with soaked dates (remove the pits), and optionally whatever other ingredients you are using like vanilla essence, cocoa powder, coffee powder etc. Blend till you get a nice smooth texture.
- Pour this liquid into a container and freeze overnight.
- When the mixture has had the chance to freeze completely, remove from the freezer. Add the frozen mixture into the blender and beat until smooth. The ice crystals will get beaten up to form a soft and smooth consistency.
- Freeze again for a few hours until the ice-cream has completely set i.e. is no longer a liquid consistency.
Tips:
- While extracting coconut milk, using a tea strainer and muslin cloth combination expedited the process for me. You may use store-bought coconut milk also for this recipe.
- I had some difficulties thawing the frozen mixture before blending it. Placing the container in hot water did the trick of thawing the outer layers.
Tastes (Rasa):
Sweet (coconut, dates), sour (none), salty (none), bitter (vanilla, coffee), pungent (none), astringent (none).
Doshic Influence:
Ayurveda recommends eating warm or room temperature foods since they are easier on the digestion. Cold foods, on the other hand, weaken the digestive fire. But I indulge my kids with this home-made ice cream during the hot summer months once in a while. Coconut is nourishing, cooling and great for vatas and pittas. For kaphas too, coconut is good in moderation. Soaked dates are a great addition to the diet of pittas and vatas. Like coconut, kaphas can also enjoy dates in moderation. They are a great substitute for sugar in desserts. Both coconut and dates are great for summer. People who are avoiding dairy and sugar can indulge in this coconut milk date ice cream, guilt-free. Diabetics can get their sweet fix with this dessert, in moderation! Overall, this ice cream is kapha aggravating, due to its cold, sweet and nourishing qualities. If consumed in moderation and during the hot summer days, instead of nights, it should be okay for all doshas. This ice cream is a great dairy-free and sugar-free substitute for store-bought ice creams for the hot summer months!
Effects on the Mind (Gunas):
The sweet, mild, natural, preservative-free qualities of this ice-cream make it closer to sattva. But the cold, slightly heavy qualities make it slightly tamasic.