Creamless Ice Cream?

I like ice-cream. To me, beside from being sweet, it's a healthy snack. Don't kill me yet. The main ingredient is milk. Milk is a good source of calcium. The only downside of ice cream is the sugar. Customized ice cream can be expensive. One can adjust the sugar level but it is still expensive. Why not make your own ice cream? No ice cream maker? No problem. Look for some recipes in the internet. Most don't use ice cream maker.

I love ice cream so much that I could argue about how healthy it really is. Once, my friend Cherri told me her parents never give her ice cream as a child. Unhealthy they said. Well, I grew up eating freshly made ice cream. Frosty Boy to name one. Another fresh ice cream vendor that I know of is our church. Ice cream is good for bone. I would give my children limitless ice cream. They're gonna grow up spoilt. Well, if this method that I'm going to share succeed, I'm gonna make low sugar ice cream. Let's see tomorrow.

I have a lot of leftover milk. Actually, it's my mother's Omega 3 fortified milk powder. So, an idea came to me. Making ice cream.

First, I prepare the milk. Mixing a heap into some water. Cool water. This makes blending the powdered milk easier. Something that I learnt from a nurse while preparing milk for diabetic patients. Leave aside some milk to dilute with cornstarch.

Heat the rest of the milk until boiling, then simmer. I've burnt a lot of milk before, so be careful when heating milk. It's recommended to use bain marie/double boiler or simmering plate. I use a heave bottom pan. It heats slower than aluminium pan but constantly. One may use copper simmering plate to separate open flame from the pan. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer.

While heating, I also add some condensed milk, vanilla essence and sugar. I even add some butter hoping that it would make the ice cream creamier. In this island, cream is expensive. And because I am a frugal Asian, I don't use any cream. The cornstarch help stabilize the milk fats. Adding butter to milk is just an idea. I saw it once on frugal living website. I'll add the link later below.

Once the milk reduced to two third, or until it thicken, I add the cornstarch mixture into the simmering milk. Make sure to mix the cornstarch completely to prevent lumps from forming.

Heat until it thickens. Custard thick. Maybe a bit runny.

Then put the milk mixture into a bowl and immerse the bowl into an ice bath, stirring. This helps reducing more water from the mixture. Mix until the mixture is lower than room temperature. Keep mixing. But in the hot tropical sun, just pop it inside the freezer.

After 2 hours, scrape the ice and blend the ice cold mixture. It should be flurry like consistency. Mix again and leave for 8 hours or overnight. I can't say anything beyond this point. I'll update tomorrow.

Next time, I'll use egg yolks. Or maybe coconut cream to make it creamier. Coconut and pineapple perhaps. Pina colada. See if the ice cream is a success tomorrow.

And I apologise for not mentioning the measurement. That's how Asian cooks. Not that I am keeping them a secret. If in doubt, follow your heart. Cooking is from the heart. Secret ingredient is always love.


Frugal living
http://frugalliving.about.com/

There's a lot of ice cream making videos in YouTube. I like those demonstrated by CHOW and masak.tv. The latter is in Indonesian, but the method is practical to Asian kitchen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y265GcqB_4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkCl8IOf_1Q

Crossing fingers for the outcome

____________________________________

My ice cream is ready! It's a hybrid of gelato and sorbet. Yum!

Successfully made a cottage pie.

A cottage pie is a shepherd's pie with beef. To make one, one need minced beef and mashed potatoes. Don't bother to ask for measurement. I never measure. I never bothered to give measurement when I share my recipe. Once, I prepared macaroni soup with my roommate, well actually by myself, while my roommate was busy with his stuffs. He is a good cook to, but he's more into baking. He baked some cakes for me. Assuming he knows how to cook, I didn't bother to put measurements when sharing my recipe. He loves the macaroni soup which is a modified recipe I got from my Filipina aunt.

"May I have the recipe?'
"Sure, why not!"

A moment later.

"Hey, where are the measurements?"
"Huh?? I thought you were watching me cooking. I don't really measure the ingredients. I reckon that you saw how much I put in the ingredients"

The thought of him baking makes me realized, bakers always measure their ingredients, while cook just measure by eye... and tongue.

And back to the cottage pie.

I sauteed some diced onion and crushed garlic. My aunt always reminds us to all the garlic later as overcooked garlics are bitter. Saute' until fragrant. Then I added some minced beef. And some yoghurt later. I let them simmer until reduced. Then I add some carrot wedges and continue simmering. Don't overcook the carrots. It will get mushy. Remember you still need to bake them.

As for the mashed potatoes, I'll just scrub the potatoes and boil until tender. I don't peel, they can get soggy if peeled before boiling. After they are tender, mash them in the ricer, add some butter and salts. Mix.

In the pie pan, put the minced beef filling and cover with the mash potatoes. Pop it in the oven until done. It's done when the mash potatoes are golden brown. Et voila!

See, I didn't mention any cups, pinch or grams. No time mentioned too. Well, nobody measures their ingredients in this region. Recipes are handed down by mentoring. Probably, in the past, nobody had measuring cups or doesn't know how to read and write. Even if they can read and write, it's better to supervise and teach at the same time. First hand experience, hands on learning.

(Well, if you're an agak-agak* cook like myself, you'll figure the measurements yourself, don't bother ask as I really don't measure my ingredients)

*literally means guessing. the term agak agak is best described in this article http://articles.latimes.com/1994-11-25/food/fo-1263_1_malay-cooking or this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UjzXJcxr8k

Ricer is a contraption to rice potatoes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_ricer

Baking nad chatting.

Now I realize that I spelled and as nad... damn dyslexia!

After sending my mother to the airport, realizing that I would be alone at home, I thought I can do anything I want to. Running naked, jumping out from the roof or mezzanine level or go window shopping. My window shopping turns into serious shopping. What can I say, I am metrosexual... we love shopping (actually it's also an excuse when we guys have shopping frenzy like girls... just say "I'm a metrosexual", one would stop questioning you)

In my list of to see is a candy thermometer, ice packs, yup I still can't see one here and some groceries. So naturally, I'll stop at a kitchen supplies store to find a candy thermometer. 38 bucks? Okay maybe next time. And I continue to browse through the store. Then I saw a parchment paper. A reusable parchment paper. 10 bucks, hell yeah! (that how cheapskate Asians are) So I bought one. And an idea came to me. I came to a realization, I can just mess up the kitchen because my mother is away. So I planned to bake some cookies.

After buying half of the items, I drive through a nearby bazaar, my actual birthplace. Some of my friends houses are there. So I pass by my oldest bestie's house at Ginger street. Next I texted her if she is here.

We exchange texts and eventually, we wanted to have a chat, via phone. All my ingredients are ready and I called her. We chated throughout my baking process. That why, mobile phones have hands free setting. So I baked and chatted. Kinda fun...

So I would like to thank my bestie to 'accompany' me throughout the baking process.

My next post would probably about my baking.

Insya-alright, I'll post the pictures too.

*Insya-alright - that what my bestie said... lol its a portmanteau of Insyaallah and everything gonna be alright. Insyaallah is Arabic for God's willing

Bye for now, I need to see my cookies. Crossing fingers

Tried and tested (tasted?) Greek yoghurt salad dressing

The idea of eating raw egg yolk disgust me. No doubt, homemade mayonnaise are way better than store bought mayonnaise but if I'm the one preparing the mayonnaise, I wouldn't enjoy eating them. Ignorance is bliss. And, raw egg yolk mayonnaise spoil faster.

But, that doesn't mean I lose my battle with store bought mayonnaise. I don't hate store bought mayonnaise, I just don't like the consistency. If I have to use them I would modify them by adding vegetable oil and lemon juice to make them runnier. After all, lemon juice and olive oil are the main ingredients. My late cousin, Estelle mix them with sweetened condensed milk. That's too sweet for me. 

To mix oil and water, one needs emulsifier to emulsify them. Emulsification is when oil droplets are suspended in water, or in this case lemon juice. Emulsifiers need to be both hydrophilic and hydrophobic. 

I'm not sure whether yoghurts are emulsifier. But they taste and feel similar to mayonnaise. Greek yoghurt are sour and creamy. With that in mind, I mix Greek yoghurt with vegetable oil. As yoghurt are naturally sour, I don't think adding lemon juice is a good idea. So I mixed both ingredients and season with salt and pepper... et voila. A delicious salad dressing.

I've read this recipe many times before but I was skeptical. Even before mixing in oil into the yoghurt, I felt reluctant. It's a leap of faith. Well, considering Greek yoghurt cost 12 buck a tub which is quite expensive. 

Now I'm a convert. No more sugar in my salad. Good for low carb diet. 

(p/s I'm gonna find our yoghurt maker in the pantry later. Thinking of make my own yoghurt and strain them. Greek yoghurt are actually strained plain yoghurt. Do store bought yoghurt have live active lactobacillus  in them? Because I'm thinking of using them as starter)

Chicken breast, yoghurt, cucumber

I am always eager to try new recipe. Some just popped up in my head. This morning I bought some chicken breast. There are leftover yoghurt and cucumber in the refrigerator.

I pan seared and shred the chicken breast, mix it with julienned cucumber and yoghurt. Add some salt and pepper. Voila! A recipe yet to be named. Maybe just a simple descriptive name like shredded chicken breast with yoghurt and cucumber.

Too bad it's not Kosher. What the heck, I'm not Jew.

(p/s I think maybe the Greek or Indian or Arabs do mix cucumber with yoghurt. Raita, Tzatziki. Not sure whether they mix them with chicken breast)