It’s monsoon season all across the country, and the temptation to eat crispy samosas and pakoras with kadak masala chai is never ending. If pakoras and samosas are not your thing and you prefer something cold instead, the monsoons bring with them a special blessing in form of the seasonal pulpy fruit, Jamun. Jamun (black plums) area a tasty fruit with their unique color and taste. It has a blackish-purple color and a sweet yet tangy flavor.
Jamuns bring back many childhood memories for me of purple-stained tongues. We would race to get a darker color on our tongues. The fruit is usually eaten raw with the addition of a small amount of black salt on top. It is treated more like a snack rather than an after-meal fruit. The purple color is caused by the plant’s pigment anthocyanin, and native to South Asian countries, especially Pakistan and India. This seasonal fruit is infused with vitamins and minerals with enormous medical benefits.
I wanted to make a dessert with Jamun to share with all of you and decided to make homemade Jamun Ice Cream. I never tried making ice cream before, but was completely confident that jamun would yield a beautiful color, taste and flavor when made into an ice cream. Trust me, making an ice cream is very easy and effortless. I had a simple recipe for the ice cream, shared by my best friend, Ayesha Siddiqua, who loves making ice-creams at home. You will find homemade ice cream in her freezer all the time. I dedicate this post to our friendship.
This is an egg-less ice cream, made with simple and easily available ingredients. Making ice cream with jamun is the best way to eat this seasonal treat, and a perfect way to beat the humidity and enjoy the rains.
Ingredients:
- Milk – ½ cup
- Cream – ½ cup
- Condense Milk – 1 tin
- Corn flour – 2 tablespoons
- Jamun – 1 cup
- Salt – ½ teaspoon
- Vanilla Essence – 1 teaspoon
Instructions:
- Dissolve fresh jamun in cold water for some time. This will help in de-seeding the jamun more easily
- Blend the de-seeded jamun into a coarse paste and set aside
- In a pan, mix corn flour and milk. On a medium flame cook until it approaches boiling point. DO NOT let it boil. Remove from heat and let it cool
- Whip the cream into soft peaks
- Add condensed milk, vanilla essence, salt, the prepared milk and the jamun paste
- Mix them all well and pour it into a plastic container. Cover with an airtight lid and freeze for 3 to 4 hours
- After 4 hours, remove from freezer and beat it again with an egg beater or a hand blender
- Put it back into the freezer and let it set until firm. For best results, place in a freezer overnight
- Your ice cream is ready!
Fatima Ali
I am trained to be an IT professional. I served National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) for six years after graduating from the same university. As long as I can remember, cooking good food has been my passion and it makes me happy. My cooking lessons were a bit unusual though. Back in the day when digital did not mean much, my father would record cooking shows (knorr ka kitchen, kaukab khuwaja and Zee Khana Khazana – Chef Sanjeev Kapoor) for me to watch endless times later on, before trying the recipes out. I would make brownies and cold cake almost every day while my mother was asleep. This was my way of surprising her every evening. My mother cooks amazing food too and I have tried many of the recipes written in her recipe book. I draw inspiration from a number of chefs from televised cooking shows such as Late Chef Farah, Chef Rahat, Chef Mehboob, BBC Food, Masala TV, Chef Shai, Chef Sharmeen, Master Chef Australia and my ultimate favorite Chef Shireen Anwer. I would not be as good a cook I am now without passive guidance from each one of these.
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