As much as I am a fan of cook from scratch, in the busy lives we lead today, I will never miss out on an opportunity to explore quick cooking techniques if the results are good. And this particular recipe from Nigella was such a find! It was like the quick kulfi recipe on the blog but the ingredients were easier to find in India. The only tough one was the instant espresso powder but a closer look and most international food stores in Mumbai carry this. The results were absolutely brilliant! The ice cream preparation involves only whipping the ingredients together and the ice cream is ready to go into the freezer. There is no need to churn the ice cream again. The texture of this ice cream is very smooth and rich and velvety.

The original recipe is from the book Nigellissima by Nigella Lawson. I have made some changes to the recipe. I have omitted the alcohol in the recipe. To add more texture contrast, I have also added some chopped dark and white chocolate and chopped dark chocolate coated almonds to the ice cream. This gives a wonderful contrast of texture and sweetness levels in the ice cream. In some bites, the chocolate and nuts add a delightful crunch and in some bites they accentuate the sweetness of the original ice cream. Since instant espresso powder is dry, there is no other liquid in the ice cream - so no crystals are formed and there is no need to churn the ice cream a second time. One tip for those who are making this in India, Amul cream is not the right cream to be used for this purpose as it has only 25% fat. It does not whip to the desired consistency. Try and get fresh cream from a nearby dairy or get some imported products in which the fat content is clearly mentioned. Ideally 35% fat content is the right cream to use.

Regarding the addition of the chocolate and nuts, it is purely optional. I love texture and flavour contrasts in my food so this addition was natural for me. But feel free to omit it in case you want to have plain ice cream. It will taste just as good without anything else added to it.

Ingredients:

300 ml double cream/35% fat content whipping cream

175 g condensed milk

2 tablespoons instant espresso powder

Optional:

1/4 cup each White & dark chocolate chopped into chunks

1/4 cup Dark chocolate covered almonds - chopped

Method:

Whisk all the ingredients (except chocolate/almonds) together until soft peaks are formed and you have a gorgeous caffe latte coloured airy mixture. Add the chopped chocolate and nuts and mix with hand. Fill it in airtight containers and freeze for 6 hours overnight. Serve straight from the freezer.