Healthy Frozen Dessert Maker

Gourmia GSI180

A couple months ago I got an "ice cream" maker from a neighbor. I was intrigued because it looked like I could just plug it in, put in frozen pieces of fruit, and ice cream would come out from it. The maker claims the result would have texture similar to ice cream. I have another ice cream maker that has an inside bowl that needs to be frozen prior to use, and I would need to prepare a list of ingredients in order to make ice cream. How could this new machine be so easy? I read some of the reviews, someone mentioned it takes a lot of force to push the frozen fruit down the machine. 

I looked at the parts and read the manual carefully. I thought before I get carried away, I would just use a bag of pre-packaged frozen pineapple chunks to test it out. According to the manual, the frozen fruit should be removed from the freezer for about 5 minutes before making the dessert in order to ensure a softer consistency. I let the bag of pineapple chunks sat for at least 5 minutes before pouring them into the opening on top of the machine.

After I push the chunks all the way down with the plunger, a yellow ribbon of pineapple unfurls from underneath. It was like magic!  I actually didn't need to use that much force. Since the machine is pretty light weight, I had to make sure that I did not push too hard. I think letting the frozen fruit sit out for a few minutes really helped.  The consistency is however far from ice cream since there is no cream involved.  I might be able to trick little kids into thinking this was ice cream but it's definitely not ice "cream". It's refreshing and fun to make. For lactose intolerant people,  this is a good alternative to ice cream or frozen yogurt. For people who can't chew, this would be a good way to enjoy fresh fruits on hot days. The machine is easy to take apart for cleaning. Since there is no cream, the parts just need to be rinsed off. No detergent needed.

Homemade Karanji for Diwali, Festival of Lights

I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at my cubicle world this morning. My Indian cubicle mate, who taught me the Indian eggplant dish, handed me a brightly colored box. When I opened it, there were two pieces of pastries inside (I ate one before remembering to take a photo). She told me that they were filled with coconuts. I immediately ran upstairs to get a cup of coffee to go with the pastry. The pastry is not greasy at all. I thought they were baked although they looked like they were fried from the blisters on the shell. The coconut flakes inside were moist, spicy, and sugary. After I finished the first piece, I went over to obtain some information about the delicious morsel.

"Was there ginger in the pastry? It's sweet and spicy!" I asked her.

She was surprised to hear the mention of ginger as there was no ginger in the ingredients. There were just coconuts, sugar, jaggery, cardamon, and saffron." Oh, so it was cardamon not ginger that I was tasting. I couldn't believe how off I was. Must be still half asleep.

"What is jaggery?" I asked her. Jaggery (also translated as jaggeree) is a traditional unrefined non-centrifugal sugar in India. It is a concentrated product of cane juice without separation of the molasses and crystals. It's available in Indian grocery stores in blocks. You shave it from the block to use as a sweetener. It sounds great and tastes excellent. I will have to pick some up to experiment with.

I asked her whether the pastries were baked. It turned out they were fried. I was surprised again! She explained to me that the dough was made with all purpose flour mixed with an Indian flour similar to semolina. She went on to explain how the dough was stretched to make it pliable.

After hearing the process and ingredients in details - saffron, shaved jaggery, fresh coconut flakes and pastry made from scratch, I realized this was no ordinary everyday dessert that I just ate! I asked her if this was for a special holiday? Surely enough, the pastry, called Karanji, is for Diwali, which is a five day Hindu festival, often referred to as the Festival of Lights. She admitted it was a lot of work which normally is a community effort in Indian. A group of women would gather and spend a day making Karanji and socialize. She made karanji with a friend during the weekend to celebrate the holiday.

Wow, I feel incredibly special to have the opportunity to taste this authentic homemade Indian treat and learn more about the culture and history behind it. This is one of the reasons I feel fortunately to live in the Bay Area. You can experience world cuisine and culture without having to fly anywhere.

Quick and Easy Hot Apple Rolls

A couple days ago, a friend of mine in the office brought in a large bag of home grown Fuji apples to give away. She started describing to me this Filipino dessert which uses chopped up apples, roll them in lumpia wrappers and deep fry them. Basically, they are apple lumpia. Normally, I make apple pies, but her recipe sounded much easier and also delicious. You just can't go wrong with the combination of fresh home grown apples and deep frying. I told her that I could make some. Her eyes widened, "Really? And you are going to bring them tomorrow, right? Take all the apples!"

I took more than 10 apples home. I peeled, cored, chopped up 6 medium size apples and mixed in a couple table spoons of brown sugar and 1 table spoon of cinnamon. I got a bag of Dynasty egg roll wrappers, which you can find in most super markets such as Lucky's or Safeway. In other words, you don't need to make a special trip to an Asian market to get the wrappers. I prepped the apples the night before. Next morning, I rolled up 13 apple rolls and deep fried them. It took no more than 30 minutes to roll and deep fry them. As soon as I got done frying them, I picked up the tray and drove to the office, which is about 4 miles away. The apple rolls

As I bite into the crunchy shell, I was reminded of McDonald's apple pies although these rolls are nowhere nearly as sweet as McD's apple pies. The apple bits stay crunchy since they were fresh apples and only fried for less than 2 minutes.

Asparagus Lemon Gelato

Eggless Asparagus Lemon Gelato

I bought a bunch of young asparagus a few days ago. When I was breaking off the tough parts of the asparagus, I thought I would save those parts to make asparagus tea. Within seconds that idea turned into asparagus gelato. What would complement asparagus? No, I am not putting Parmesan cheese in gelato. Think. Think about what I have on the farm. Ah! Lemon! That's it, asparagus lemon gelato.

You might think it's weird to use asparagus for a dessert. I just Googled for asparagus lemon gelato and no hits. Maybe it's original. Asparagus iced tea is quite popular in Taiwan, and you can get it in Asian markets in cans or juice boxes. It is usually sweetened. If it's good as a sweet cold drink, I know it can work as gelato.

I boiled the parts of asparagus in just enough water to cover them and left the asparagus flavored water in the fridge overnight. After I made the custard with whole milk, I left it to cool completely before putting it in the fridge for an hour. The ice cream maker works better when all the ingredients are cold.

The "quick freeze cyclinder bowl" didn't seem to be cold enough when I made my rose gelato. After doing some research via Google, I left it in the freezer for a week. I also made the eggless custard a lot thicker than last time. As soon as the paddle started churning, I could see a big difference.

I poured in the lemon zest and juice while the milk custard mix is churning. It got so cold that the peddle couldn't turn anymore after 15 minutes. The texture is very creamy. This is much more like what I was aiming for. Next time, I'll use Farm Village asparagus instead. Yes, there are asparagus growing in one of the raised beds, but I tend not to notice them until they start flowering.

Rose Gelato

I have been looking for a gelato or ice cream maker for that last 2 months. With all the fresh herbs and fruits on the farm, I have all sorts of ideas for gelato flavors. People ask me what is gelato and what's the different between gelato and ice cream. I first had gelato during my trip to Italy about 6 years ago. It was in November, but that didn't stop me from trying as much gelato as I could. A couple years after returning to the Bay Area, I started to see gelato shops popping up all over the place. Gelato is also known as Italian ice cream, Italian ice, or Italian ice milk. It is much creamier and denser than American ice cream. However, it's lower in fat because it's made with milk and sometimes water instead of cream. It's creamier because it's churned differently from American ice cream. There is little or no air gets mixed in gelato. American ice cream is fluffier because lots of air is packed into it.

I prefer refreshing fruity gelato flavors over rich decadent flavors. There are two gelato shops in downtown Berkeley a couple blocks away from each other on Shattuck Avenue - Gelato Naia and Almare Gelato Italiano (formerly Gelato Milano). Both are quite good, but I like Almare Gelato better than Naia. To me, Almare is just a little creamier, and that's what I like. Another of my favorite is La Copa Loca Gelato in San Francisco Mission District.

I was about to go all out and get an air tight, self-refrigerating gelato machine, but I couldn't locate one at the clearance price. There is no way I can pay full retail price. I have been making stops at various thrift shops and scanning through Craigslist every day for a good deal. Finally I found a basic Krups ice cream maker at a Good Will last weekend. I made my first batch of gelato, rose gelato, with fresh rose pedals. It smells prettier than it looks.