Tart Baby

If you are in the mood for the most decadent ice cream you've ever had, then this recipe is for you. It tastes like what I imagine the first ice creams were like. It is truly 'iced cream'. It may be a bit rich compared to what passes for ice cream these days but I've never been a fan of diet anything. I was craving cardamom ice cream just like I used to eat at the Bombay Ice Creamery in San Francisco so I put this recipe together.

I modified the vanilla ice cream recipe from The Ice Cream Book by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis by adding in cardamom pods during steeping and then a bit of dried cardamom before it goes into the ice cream maker. I referred to the spice house's recipe for cardamom ice cream but used the ingredients and proportions from Farrow/Lewis. I think it is the best of both worlds.

This cardamom ice cream is very similar to kulfi in that it contains cornstarch and uses heavy cream. I've never had legitimate kulfi, so it is hard for me to compare but I would like to try it out sometime to see the differences. The ingredients for kulfi include cardamom pods, milk, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream and cornstarch. I imagine it is much more sweet than this recipe. I would check out this kulfi recipe from the BBC if you are interested in doing a taste test: legit kulfi.

Cardamom Ice Cream
Adapted from The Ice Cream Book by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis

Ingredients

* 1 1/4 cups whole milk
* 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
* 8 whole green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
* 6 Tbsp sugar
* 4 egg yolks
* 1 tsp cornstarch
* 1 1/4 cup whipping cream
* 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

Preparation Instructions

Put the milk, vanilla bean and crushed cardamom pods into a heavy pan and bring slowly to a boil. Remove from heat, cover, and let infuse for 20 minutes. Take out the vanilla bean and scape the seeds into the liquid. Remove the crushed green cardamom pods.

Beat the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch until thick and foamy. Gently reheat the milk or cream and beat a little of it into the egg yolks. Pour the egg mixture into the cream and return the pan to a low heat. Stir until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon; it will take several minutes. Do not let it boil, or you'll get pieces of scrambled egg.

Remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir until it has almost cooled. Whip the whipping cream lightly and fold it into the custard. Add the 1/8 teaspoon of ground cardamom. Freeze in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions.

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