Honey Rose and Pomegranate Ice Cream

A creamy delight

With the festive season setting in with the Ganapati Utsav, there is a abundance of colorful blossoms at the road side flower shops. Oranges, yellows, whites, pinks and reds all around. I have a small mandir in our apartment, but for me it's more like standing in front of the deities with folded hands for a couple of minutes instead of an elaborate puja with flowers, incense sticks and chanting elaborate mantras. My God is understanding and pardons me every time for this short cut way to seek his divine blessings. 

Even if I don't buy flowers very occasionally but that particular day while waiting for the traffic signal to turn green, I saw teenage boys selling stunning pink colored rose bouquets. The bouquets were looking amazingly beautiful and immediately I developed a romantic craving for them. By the time I fished out my purse the light had already turned green and there was no way I could convince the auto driver to stop his auto in the heavy traffic. I could just languish for those roses then and decided to buy some the next day. But unfortunately I never saw those boys or bouquets again. Somehow the view of those roses had suddenly made me feel like a teenager in love, the happy happy dreamy and mushy kinda feeling  and I decided I needed some rose in my life or rather cooking. I started looking on the net and surprisingly came across so many recipes involving roses. I never had any idea that a romantic flower like rose can be such a versatile ingredient in so many dishes. I thought to give a shot at making some rose ice cream. There are many recipes of rose ice cream on the net, I read through a couple of them and came with my own mixed version. I couldn't find the pink roses so I had to do with the standard red roses readily available at any flower shop, just make sure the roses you get are pesticide free. I also had some fresh and juicy pomegranate at home and since the color matched the roses I had chosen for this recipe, I used them as well. I was previously aware of a thing called rose honey (rose petal infused honey) and had some of it already at my home, so that became a nice topping to go with the inherently romantic rose petal ice cream.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves:2

Cuisine: General

Ingredients:

• Milk  -  200 ml
• Fresh Cream (I used Amul Fresh cream) - 200 gm
  
• Sugar - 85 gm
• Rose water - 3 tbsp
  Rose Essence - 1 tbsp
• Rose Syrup -  3 tbsp
• Fresh Rose Petals - 10 to15
• Pomegranate - 1 cup
• Saffron - 2-3 strands
• Almonds - 5 (chopped)
• 

Ingredients for Honey Rose:

• Honey
• Rose Petals
  

Procedure for Honey Rose:

Preparing Honey Rose is really pretty easy but the only caveat is making sure that the roses you are going to use is fresh and pesticide free. Hence the best way to procure such roses is growing them in your backyard. You can store the rose petals in an air-tight container and store it in the refrigerator for using it later in any dessert. You can also experiment with all kinds of different roses, each one has a characteristic color and smell.

1. Wash and dry the rose petals.
2. Fill a jar with the rose petals.
3. Pour honey uniformly over it and let this concotion stand for at least 2 weeks. The more the standing time the more fragrent the honey becomes.

Honey rose comes in handy as all kind of dessert toppings so even if you make it in bulk, its always a useful. I made a bowlful just enough for this batch of dessert. The subtle smell of rose with the sweetness of the honey will always leave you craving for more.

Procedure for Ice Cream:

1. Take the sugar, 5-6 rose petals, rose syrup, 1 tsp of pomegranate seeds and 3 tbsp of rosewater in a food processor and pulse to make a uniform puree.I prefer to use Mapro rose syrup as they have a very natural smelling rose flavor and shredded rose petals which helps to add texture to this dessert. I used the glistening scarlet seeds of antioxidant-rich pomegranate to give that extra crunchiness to the decadent dessert.

2. Take the fresh cream and milk in a saucepan and add the above puree. Add the saffron strands. Mix well.

3. Turn on the heat and bring the mixture to boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes until the mixture thickens a bit. Turn off the heat.

4. Allow the mixture to cool down to room temperature.

5. Place a few chopped almonds and pomegranate seeds in the bottom of the refrigerating bowls. Pour the thickened mixture into refrigerating bowls till half. Line a few more pomegranate seeds along the side of the bowls and then pour the rest of the mixture over it. I used four glass bowls for freezing the dessert. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Note: Make sure the mixture is stirred at constant intervals of 1 – 1.5 hours during the freezing process. This will ensure a smooth texture.

Serving Tips:
Scoop into serving and  top it with rose petal honey, rose syrup, a dollop of fresh cream, pomegranate seeds and rose petals. Sprinkle finely chopped almonds or any other nuts of your preference.

Relish the delectable dessert and enjoy the festive season!

1.You can use coconut cream for this ice cream
2. Nuts can also be used in the recipe for a richer outcome
3.Wash and dry the rose petals before using them in any preparation to do away with any dirt or impurities present

A spoonful of happiness