Banana & Mango Nice Cream (Vegan, Wheat & Gluten Free)
Now you won't often hear me bemoaning my diet, because to be honest I love being vegan and wouldn't change it for the world.
Something I have really missed since going vegan however is decent ice cream.
Even in today's veganuary-gripped world, the vegan options in the freezer cabinets are still woefully limited and horrifyingly expensive.
Last summer I promised to buy myself an ice cream maker and have a go myself, but I never managed to muster the cash or the enthusiasm for it.
But now things have changed - I've discovered a way to make a whole array of frozen desserts without an ice cream maker and I'm hooked!
Now spoiler alert - you do need some specialist equipment for this, but few vegan households are without one. Yes, you know what I'm about to say - this recipe uses a high powered blender.
As a vegan who has always been on a budget, I balked at the prices of some of the branded blenders by Vitamix and others. Much as I'm sure they're wonderful, I've never been able to afford the £500 odd you need to buy one, and to be honest thought I'd have to go without until I won the lottery.
Thankfully the gods of Lidl heard my prayers, and brought out their own Silvercrest high powered blender for a very reasonable £69.99.
Now, caveat - Lidl only bring in special magical unicorn offers like this sporadically, so you can expect to only see them once or twice a year, but if you're patient (and shop there every week like I do) you're sure to get one eventually! And they're worth the wait.
It's a great gadget to have on hand, and being extremely powerful, as the name suggests, they have many skills, including being able to crush up frozen fruit into nice cream.
Anyway, that's enough of my waffling about how much I love my high powered blender, on to the recipe!
You will want to make this very ripe fruit so it's nice and sweet. Move over banana bread, I know what I'm going to be making with my overripe bananas from now on!
There are many different things you can put in nice cream, but this is what I had in the kitchen, so it's what I used. And very nice it is too!
In case you're wondering, it's called Nice Cream because it's made from fruit with a little plant milk. There is no actual cream or dairy in it, and it's much lower in calories so way better for you, whilst still satisfyingly creamy and delicious.
Ingredients
2 Large, Ripe Mangoes
2 Large, Ripe Bananas
160ml Plant milk (I used sweetened soya)
1 big pinch of pink Himalayan salt
Method
The first step is to freeze the fruit, .If you happen to have ready frozen fruit, you can use this instead.
Peel and cut the bananas into 1-2cm slices, and place into a large container for freezing. Make sure they are laid evenly over the bottom and not touching each other so they don't stick together.
Repeat this exercise with the mango cutting it into 1-2cm cubes.
Place your fruit in the freezer. The fruit will take around 4 hours to freeze. I left it overnight just to be sure. This also means that you can prep for your nice cream in advance which is useful if you want to make semi-frego.
Remove your frozen fruit from the freezer and put it into your high powered blender. Blend until it reaches a fine crumb-like consistency then add your salt and plant milk and blend until it's all nicely mixed up into a smooth and creamy soft-serve.
(You might need to taste it a few times just to be sure *wink* )
Now the blending process can be a bit of a pain and you'll have to take the lid off and scrape it down a few times. I find that the "pusher" that comes with my blender is invaluable here, it fits through the hole in the top of the lid and is designed to be short enough so that the blades can't accidentally catch it.
Once it's reached a soft serve type consistency, you can eat it straight away (believe me, it's tempting!) this is called semi-frego if you want to impress some dinner guests. It makes a lovely dessert served in some snazzy crystal bowls. It does melt rather fast in hot weather, so this is a good one for winter dinner parties.
However if you're after a more solid consistency, then simply decant the mixture into a container with a lid that is suitable for freezing and pop it in the freezer for a couple of hours.
Voila - Mango & Banana nice cream.
Everyone will be super impressed at your ice cream making skills, so enjoy the compliments!
Something I have really missed since going vegan however is decent ice cream.
Even in today's veganuary-gripped world, the vegan options in the freezer cabinets are still woefully limited and horrifyingly expensive.
Last summer I promised to buy myself an ice cream maker and have a go myself, but I never managed to muster the cash or the enthusiasm for it.
But now things have changed - I've discovered a way to make a whole array of frozen desserts without an ice cream maker and I'm hooked!
Now spoiler alert - you do need some specialist equipment for this, but few vegan households are without one. Yes, you know what I'm about to say - this recipe uses a high powered blender.
As a vegan who has always been on a budget, I balked at the prices of some of the branded blenders by Vitamix and others. Much as I'm sure they're wonderful, I've never been able to afford the £500 odd you need to buy one, and to be honest thought I'd have to go without until I won the lottery.
Thankfully the gods of Lidl heard my prayers, and brought out their own Silvercrest high powered blender for a very reasonable £69.99.
Now, caveat - Lidl only bring in special magical unicorn offers like this sporadically, so you can expect to only see them once or twice a year, but if you're patient (and shop there every week like I do) you're sure to get one eventually! And they're worth the wait.
It's a great gadget to have on hand, and being extremely powerful, as the name suggests, they have many skills, including being able to crush up frozen fruit into nice cream.
Anyway, that's enough of my waffling about how much I love my high powered blender, on to the recipe!
You will want to make this very ripe fruit so it's nice and sweet. Move over banana bread, I know what I'm going to be making with my overripe bananas from now on!
There are many different things you can put in nice cream, but this is what I had in the kitchen, so it's what I used. And very nice it is too!
In case you're wondering, it's called Nice Cream because it's made from fruit with a little plant milk. There is no actual cream or dairy in it, and it's much lower in calories so way better for you, whilst still satisfyingly creamy and delicious.
Ingredients
2 Large, Ripe Mangoes
2 Large, Ripe Bananas
160ml Plant milk (I used sweetened soya)
1 big pinch of pink Himalayan salt
Method
The first step is to freeze the fruit, .If you happen to have ready frozen fruit, you can use this instead.
Peel and cut the bananas into 1-2cm slices, and place into a large container for freezing. Make sure they are laid evenly over the bottom and not touching each other so they don't stick together.
Repeat this exercise with the mango cutting it into 1-2cm cubes.
Place your fruit in the freezer. The fruit will take around 4 hours to freeze. I left it overnight just to be sure. This also means that you can prep for your nice cream in advance which is useful if you want to make semi-frego.
Remove your frozen fruit from the freezer and put it into your high powered blender. Blend until it reaches a fine crumb-like consistency then add your salt and plant milk and blend until it's all nicely mixed up into a smooth and creamy soft-serve.
(You might need to taste it a few times just to be sure *wink* )
Now the blending process can be a bit of a pain and you'll have to take the lid off and scrape it down a few times. I find that the "pusher" that comes with my blender is invaluable here, it fits through the hole in the top of the lid and is designed to be short enough so that the blades can't accidentally catch it.
Once it's reached a soft serve type consistency, you can eat it straight away (believe me, it's tempting!) this is called semi-frego if you want to impress some dinner guests. It makes a lovely dessert served in some snazzy crystal bowls. It does melt rather fast in hot weather, so this is a good one for winter dinner parties.
However if you're after a more solid consistency, then simply decant the mixture into a container with a lid that is suitable for freezing and pop it in the freezer for a couple of hours.
Voila - Mango & Banana nice cream.
Everyone will be super impressed at your ice cream making skills, so enjoy the compliments!
