Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream - Low fat and Guilt free

It’s a sultry summer afternoon. The lane is almost empty. A watermelon seller dozes off by the piles of watermelon…..some sculpted  open like a flower to reveal the rich juicy pulp inside, assuring the buyer of the sweetness of the fruit. Some rickshaws parked under a huge Peepal tree have their owners sleeping in them with the bodies curled and twisted to fit into the small seat with just the turbaned heads projecting out from one end. It is no business time for them. The burning tar road throws up mirages, distorting the approaching traffic beyond comprehension. A strange figure turns out to a milk man tottering in his bike. With a towel around his head and balancing a multitude of milk cans some full some empty, he is the only person on business in an otherwise lassitude filled afternoon.  The silence is shredded by a bunch of boisterous boys seemingly school going and returning from their coaching classes. The heat fails to trouble them as they laugh and talk in high decibels. They collect around an ice cream cart. The boys huddle around the vendor and crane their neck as he opens the lid of his freezer more to get some reprieve from heat than choosing their flavours.  My tongue clicks and then I arrest my temptation for ice cream. Loads of fat and calories I tell myself.

Back home I decided to make my own ice cream- A vegan ice cream.

Fat in the cream and milk gives ice cream the right creamy texture. Coconut milk is a perfect non diary substitute for cream and milk.  Its flavor is so subtle that the added fruit or flavor easily covers it. Making ice cream without ice cream maker requires freezing and churning two three times so that the ice cream is smooth and creamy without ice crystals. Check out some tips on making ice cream without ice cream maker at davidlebovitz.com and thekitchn.com

This is how I made Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream

Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream – Low Fat and  Guilt Free

Ingredients

400 ml Coconut milk (2 packs of 200ml each)

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ cup mineral sugar or any sugar that is available (¾ to 1 cup depending on your taste)

Method

Empty the coconut milk in a thick bottom steel wok. Add sugar. Measure cocoa powder and pass it through a strainer so that there are no lumps. Mix well

Cook the mixture on medium heat. Bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes. Stir continuously. The mixture will thicken. Leave it to cool.

Empty the cool mixture in a steel bowl. Fill another bowl (bigger than the one with mixture) with ice cubes. Let the mixture bowl sit on it. Once the mixture becomes chilled, cover it with a lid and keep it in the freezer. Check after 2 to 3 hours. It should have set in the sides with the center being soft. Churn it in the blender or with hands using a ladle or a whisk. Pour the mixture back into the bowl. Repeat after 2 to 3 hours.  Let it set finally for 2 to 3 hours or till you serve.

Enjoy healthy, low fat, guilt free, homemade creamy dreamy vegan ice cream.

Linking to Vegan Thursdays