SMALL ICE MACHINE RECIPES

Steps:

• Pour most of the coconut milk into a saucepan, reserving a splash in a small bowl for later. Add the sugar, salt and turmeric (for colour) to the pan. Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthways (if using) and scrape the seeds out of both sides with the side of the knife. Put the seeds and the pod, or vanilla paste, into the pan. Warm on a low heat for 10 mins until the sugar has melted and the mixture starts to steam.
• Mix the cornflour with the reserved coconut milk in a small bowl until smooth. Pour into the hot milk, and continually whisking, heat for another 5-10 mins until the mixture thickens to a pourable custard consistency. Strain into a bowl, and cover. Leave to cool, then chill for at least 2 hrs.
• Pour the chilled mix into an ice cream maker, and churn for 20-30 mins until you get a soft scoop ice cream. Transfer to a sealable container and freeze for up to 3 months until ready to serve. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour the chilled mix into a wide-based plastic tub or dish. Freeze for 2-3 hrs, stirring the mix every 20 mins with a fork, to break up any large ice crystals, until soft ice cream. Transfer to a smaller tub and freeze until ready to serve. You should be able to scoop the ice cream easily from the freezer, or leave for a few mins at room temperature to soften, if you need to.

Steps:

• Put the canister from the machine into the freezer a day before you want to make the ice cream. Next day, pour the cream and milk into a medium heavy-based pan, then tip in half the sugar. Slit the vanilla pod down its length with a small sharp knife and scoop out as many of the tiny black seeds as you can into the cream mixture. Cut the pod into three and drop it into the pan.
• Heat the cream and milk over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until it almost boils – you’ll see a few bubbles at the edge. Take off the heat and set aside for 30 minutes so the vanilla can infuse.
• Put the egg yolks into a bowl with the rest of the sugar and beat with an electric hand beater for about 2 minutes until the mixture has thickened, is paler in colour and falls in thick ribbons when you lift the beaters. Using a measuring jug, scoop out about 125ml/4fl oz of the cream mixture and beat into the egg yolks to slacken them. Reheat the cream until it just comes to the boil, take off the heat and stir in the egg yolk mixture.
• Return the pan to a low heat and cook, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon, for 8-10 minutes, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Watch that it doesn’t boil – as soon as you see any bubbles about to burst to the surface, it should be thick enough, so take the pan off the heat so the mixture doesn’t curdle.
• Pour the custard into a heatproof bowl, then sit it in a bigger bowl one third full of iced water to cool (this takes about 20 minutes). Stir occasionally to stop a skin forming. Put the bowl of custard in the fridge for 3-4 hours, preferably overnight, so it gets really cold.
• Get the ice cream machine running, scoop out the vanilla pod pieces, then slowly pour in the cold custard. Leave it to churn for 10-30 minutes (depending on your machine). When it stops, it is probably too soft to eat, so spoon into a plastic container, cover with cling film, then a lid, and freeze for a minimum of 3 hours. (It will keep in the freezer for 3 months but don’t take it out, then refreeze.) Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving.
• To make it by hand: in step 1, heat the milk, vanilla, and half the sugar without the cream (the custard will be slightly thicker). At the start of step 6, whip the cream so it’s light and floppy, not too stiff, and fold it into the cold custard. Freeze for 3-4 hours, stirring once an hour until almost frozen, then freeze as above.