Sweet, and Hot, and Indian Spiced, Red Corn Ice Cream Perfect for Summer Cookouts.

   There is nothing that says the hot weather is here like the taste of homemade, fresh churned ice cream. One of the best investments in cooking equipment I ever made was buying an ice cream machine. I have worked that thing to death and it's still going strong. It gets so much use in the Summer months around here that I actually bought another bigger machine to keep it company. Homemade ice cream is fast and easy and one of the few desserts that almost no one can refuse. Don't eat dairy? It can be made with coconut milk, and when cooking for gluten-free friends, it's an allowed indulgence.
  
   I veered from my vegan diet a few months ago when I was doing chemo. I was anemic from treatment and advised to add more protein to my diet, and so I did, just a bit. Now that I'm done, I'm still taking iron pills everyday and getting back to regular vegan fair, but sometimes I'm just plain vegetarian and that's where the ice cream comes in. One of the best things about doing your own cooking is having control over what goes into ones food and one of the clearest examples of that is ice cream. Fresh organic milk, fresh organic cream, sugar, and pure vanilla. That's it. No gums or fillers, or fake flavors, just the real deal.
 
   So, when I set out to make some plain vanilla ice cream the other day I got distracted by something I'd only seen once before at my local Whole Foods market and that's organic red corn. Not wanting to repeat my loss of fresh garbanzos a few weeks ago, I didn't wait. I  jumped on that corn like a starving locust and then once I got it home I kept wondering how it would be in ice cream. I've made sweet corn ice cream before and I've even used red corn before in Red Corn and Radish Sprout Salad with Peanut Chili Dressing so I wondered how I could use my red corn and make a different sort of ice cream.Could I take an Indian spice rub used for grill roasted corn and add a  few things and come up with an ice cream? You bet I could, and I did just that. You can too.

Indian Spiced Roast Red Corn Ice Cream

Here's What You Need:
2 cups organic whole milk
2 cups organic heavy cream
3/4 cup of sugar
2 ears of fresh red corn, (or regular corn)
2 whole limes
salt to taste
2 pinches of cardamom
1 tsp of Kashmiri chili
2 tsp vanilla
1 generous pinch of cinnamon
1 pinch of sugar

Here's What To Do:
Wash and shuck the whole ears of corn.

Cut the ears in half.

Roast them on a grill until they are soft and slightly charred.

Cut the limes in half. Put the Kashmiri chili in a small bowl. Dip the halved limes into the chili.

Rub the chili-coated limes on the ears of corn while squeezing to get the juice out.

Like so.

The corn should be coated in chili and lime juice.

Sprinkle a bit of salt on the ears of corn.

Cut the kernels off of the corn ears and place them in a bowl.

Add two pinches of cardamom...

...a generous pinch of cinnamon and a couple of pinches of sugar, and a touch more salt.

Stir everything together and check for taste. This is up to you as to how how or sweet or hot you want this. When it's seasoned to your satisfaction set it aside.
Add the milk, cream, and sugar to a large bowl.
Stir everything around until it's well mixed.
Add in 2 tsps of vanilla.

Pour everything into an ice cream machine.

Churn for about 30 minutes.
Scoop out the ice cream and put it into a freezer container and into the freezer for an hour or two to firm up.

Then serve it up.

Sweet, with a touch of heat and the wonderful flavors of cardamom and cinnamon.

   The red corn adds a faintly pink color to the ice cream, and the sweet hot chewy corn kernels are the perfect addition. This recipe of course will work with any color corn, but if you're lucky enough to run across red corn, grab some. You won't regret it. Coming up next, as I get back to a normal appetite again I'm looking at Indian vegetable salads the perfect side or even main dish for Summer entertaining. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori