Dondurma Maraş

Chewy Turkish Ice Cream

This month I am excited to be taking part in my first blog event. The theme is Street Food  and it is being hosted by Zita of  Zizi's Adventures. It's part of the Monthly Mingle event created by Meeta from What's For Lunch Honey?

What a great theme to get started on. Turkey has some great street food and as it's the only country I've been to I thought I would make this delicious ice cream. Dondurma means ice cream or literally 'freezing' and Maraş is the town where this famous ice cream originates.

I found three published recipes for Dondurma Maraş from Tessa Kiros, Greg Malouf and Ghillie Başan and they more or less the same. More milk than cream because it is already such a thick ice cream. A grain of mastic pounded with a little sugar for that resiny piney taste and chewiness and some sahlab powder for that thick silky texture. 

Sahlab is the ground root of an orchid that grows in Anatolia. It has thickening properties and a delicate flavour comparable to vanilla which is also from a species of orchid. Pure sahlab is impossible to find outside of Turkey and I've been told it's endangered but you can buy a powered version from middle eastern stores. It wont be quite as stretchy but you will still get that unique texture.

Here's my take on all three recipes.

Ingredients 

900ml of milk
300ml of cream
200g of caster sugar
1 - 2 grains of mastic
3 tablespoons of sahlab

Method

In a mortar grind the mastic with a little sugar to a dust and add to the sahlab. Heat the milk, cream and sugar in a heavy based saucepan. Add a little of the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir so you don't get any lumps then whisk into the heating milk. When the milk reaches the boil simmer for 10 minutes on a low heat stirring regularly. It should be nice and thick by now. Cool in a ice bath and pour into your ice cream maker then freeze in a sealed container.



 

My Gingerbread House

This house was so much fun to make and now I've done it I hope I can keep up the tradition every year. I wanted to make something a bit more simple and understated than the usual bright candy covered creations that people make not that there's anything wrong with that but I am so pleased with how my little house turned out.

I made the template with cardboard then traced around it onto rolled gingerbread. Then it was baked and cooled and assembled with royal icing. I also made some window boxes with scraps of leftover gingerbread, very effective and not too fiddly. Toffee windows and a royal icing wreath and flowers, drizzle on some icing snow and a dust of icing sugar. Pine needles shaken of bugs look lovely around the house and I put a little battery pack with a light inside. I got my brother to wire it with a little switch and tucked it under the wall of the house so it can be turned on and off.

Coconut Milk

To make fresh coconut milk you need to drain your coconut of juice and break it up into chunks. Then all you need to do is pour on hot (not boiling) water till it's generously covered and blend. Then strain it through muslin or cheese cloth and repeat. From one coconut no matter how much water you add you will get about one cup of cream, which can then be made into oil if you wish. The rest will be the milk which you can make richer or more dilute depending how much water you add.




Always pick a mature coconut to make coconut cream, the young ones will not separate in the muslin.