Mango Ice Cream with Condensed Milk

Mango is undoubtedly the King of fruits, at least for me, and I bet several others would agree with me on this one! With a beautiful color, rich creamy pulp and unbeatable taste, mangoes hold a special place in every recipe. Though they are great to just consume by themselves, they do add a special touch to the food they are paired with, especially desserts. So here's a household favorite - rich creamy Mango Ice Cream, made without using an ice cream maker! And I add a hint of Cardamom to the recipe, which is a taste I developed after trying it for my Peach Melba with Vanilla Cardamom Ice Cream recipe. The Condensed milk is indeed the second star ingredient which lends the smooth texture to this ice cream.

Back when I was a young kid in India, helping my mom in the kitchen we did not have the convenience of fancy kitchen gadgets. It was hard to find a proper baking oven in most homes, as some of you might recollect, so having an Ice Cream Maker was definitely not treated as a valid expense!:) But that does not mean we did not get to enjoy creamy dense ice cream at home - it just meant you had to add in a few extra steps to develop that smooth velvety texture, and this Mango Ice Cream is proof that you don't always need gadgets to do things right!

Eggless Mango Ice Cream Recipe using Condensed Milk, and Flavored with Vanilla & Cardamom

Ingredients
Makes about 6 servings

1/2 litre full-fat milk
4-6 medium sized ripe mangoes
100 ml (small can) of sweetened condensed milk
additional sugar - add to taste
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 tsp ground cardamom powder

Method
Boil the milk till it becomes a little thick and creamy, about 12-15 mins, then remove from flame and add condensed milk to it.

Allow the milk to cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, de-seed the mangoes and blend the pulp in a mixer to make thick mango pulp. Do not add water or any other liquid.

Once the milk is cool, add the mango pulp to it and blend well. Check for taste and add more sugar, if needed. Now transfer the mixture to an ice cream pan; cover it with cling-wrap, then put an inverted baking dish over it, to prevent ice from forming on the top of the pan. Freeze the mixture for a couple hours.

Remove the mixture and transfer to a mixer again. Add the cardamom powder and vanilla essence, then blend well, using the Whisk/Froth setting on the Blender.

Again freeze it for an hour, then repeat the blending process again, one more time. This may sound strenuous, but it is what you need to do when you are not using the convenience of an Ice Cream maker! But don't worry, its totally worth it - the freezing/churning process will ensure that your ice cream becomes nice and creamy, and sets well to give you same texture as an ice-cream maker recipe.

Now put the ice cream pan in the freezer, again, covered with cling-wrap and freeze for another 3-4 hours, or until ready to serve.

When you want to serve it, remove the pan from the freezer and let it thaw for 5 minutes. Then take an ice cream scooper and dish out as many scoops as you like in a bowl. Garnish with some fresh fruit and mint leaves, more mango pieces if you like, and serve immediately. You can also use pistachios or other fresh fruit like berries as a topping.

I like my Mango Ice Cream plain, but adding a few raspberries makes the presentation look much better:)

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