Sorbet a new passion

Woo-hoo! I went against the advice of a respectable cooking magazine and my recipe turned out fine. I don't have an ice-cream maker but wanted to make a sorbet and consulted Donna Hay Magazine, Issue 7, Summer 2003. One of the tips was:

"If you don't have an ice-cream maker, you can use the still-freezing method to freeze your ice-cream in the freezer (this method is not suitable for the sorbets)." [my emphasis]

But I went ahead anyway (instructions for the still-freezing method in the recipe below) and managed to produce a passion fruit sorbet with a lovely smooth texture! No matter, I still think DH magazine is wonderful even if I often have to cut down on the amount of sugar asked for in sweet recipes.

I used passion fruit in the sorbet. Now, I've been made to believe that passion fruit is harvested when it falls off the vine when its skin is smooth and is best eaten when its skin starts to wrinkle (you can get some information on the fruit here and here), which means you have to keep them for a while after you buy them. I have to admit that I've cut them open before they got wrinkled and I haven't been disappointed. This time, though, I waited until they were wrinkly and they were very sweet. See, wrinkles aren't so bad. Like Samuel Beckett's face. (Sorry, I'm digressing but talking about wrinkles makes me think of the author's picture on the edition of Waiting for Godot I'm reading now – those lines, so much character in that face.)

And then I found this site which claims to debunk myths about the wrinkled skin. I don't know what to believe, but I'm glad the fruit I had was excellent.

Good quality ice-cream is delicious but sorbets are lighter and I think more refreshing for the hot and humid climate of Malaysia. After I made the one with passion fruit, I was stoked and wanted to try another flavour. The Husband had made a cup of white coffee that morning but forgot to drink it because he was already late ­­– that's Mr Notime for you ­ – so I decided to use that. This coffee had milk in it so technically, it's not a sorbet. It's more like a gelato or iced milk (not cream), a kulfi even, though I wouldn't be so bold as to claim that it was an authentic Italian or Indian frozen dessert.

The amount of sugar seems to be key in the texture of sorbets ­­– too much and the ice crystals will be large and hard, too little and the mix doesn't freeze well. The experts advise adding alcohol ­­– vodka is preferred because it doesn't mask the flavour of the fruit ­­– since it doesn't freeze and so large ice crystals don't form. I've already added Kahlúa to the kulfi. Looks like I'll be stocking my liquor cabinet some more.

PASSION FRUIT SORBET
Makes 2 cups
1 cup water
¾ cup caster sugar
Pulp and seeds from 4 ripe passion fruit (about ½ cup)
¼ cup Piña Colada mix (alternatively, use 2-3 tablespoons of pineapple or citrus fruit cordial)
2 tablespoons lime juice

• Put water and sugar in a saucepan and cook over low heat until sugar dissolves. Turn up heat and let syrup boil for a minute. Pour syrup into a metal mixing bowl and set aside to cool. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, cover bowl with cling film and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
• When chilled, place bowl in the freezer for an hour or until the mixture is set around the edges but soft in the middle. Beat until smooth with a hand whisk or fork to break up the ice crystals and return to the freezer. Check again after an hour and beat the ice crystals till smooth. Return to the freezer and repeat the process a final time, then pour mixture into a plastic container and freeze completely.

KAHLÚA COFFEE KULFI

Makes 2½ cups

Use milk coffee that you would normally make to your taste or use this recipe.
Milk coffee (combined)
2 teaspoons instant coffee
1 teaspoon sugar
150ml freshly boiled water
50ml fresh milk

Kulfi ingredients
200ml milk coffee (recipe above)
200ml evaporated milk
¼ cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons Kahlúa (or another coffee liqueur)

• Put coffee, milk and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and cook until sugar is dissolved.Turn up the heat to medium and simmer for a minute. Pour mixture into a metal mixing bowl and set aside to cool; stir in Kahlúa, cover bowl with cling film and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

• When chilled, place bowl in the freezer until the mixture is set around the edges but soft in the middle, about 2 hours (it takes longer to set than the sorbet). Unlike the sorbet, use a fork and just stir the mixture gently until smooth (if you use a whisk, too many air bubbles will form), then return to the freezer. (Actually, at this stage if you don't want to continue, you could just have the coffee as a slushie!) Repeat this process two more times, then pour mixture into a plastic container and freeze completely.

PRINTABLE RECIPE