Nolen Gur Icecream

Winter dates for Summer Fates

Nolengur (aka Pataligur) is the magical molasses made from date palm which has the most heavenly aroma and flavour. It has the dark, heavy caramelized sugar notes with a fruit nutty aftertaste. I can’t do justice to this unique flavour in words- you simply must taste it!

In Kolkata, my hometown, it makes a much-anticipated brief appearance during the winter season. That’s when I pick up as much as I can store and horde it in my freezer. It’s like precious gold and I try to stretch it along for as long as I can through the rest of the year.

In the two winter months of Dec-Jan, Bengalis go crazy devouring nolengur all kinds of sweets and desserts- in sandesh (a dry sweet made of cottage cheese), in payesh (a kind of rice pudding), in peethes ( rice based pancake like or dumpling like sweets), and yes, my favorite- the nolengur ice-cream.

I give in to give up

My friends have been asking me for the recipe and it is long overdue. It’s quite simple- has just 3 ingredients. But it does require an Ice-cream maker.

I use a Cuisinart 1.4lt one- it’s easy to use and good enough for home cooking. The inner chamber of the ice-cream maker needs about 24hrs in the freezer to be ready to churn out the ice-cream. I also find it better to make the ice-cream 1 night ahead and let it freeze overnight for a more solid block. So, plan ahead if you want to make for a party!

The ice-cream contains egg yolks- I am still trying to work out a good egg-free recipe. Will update as soon as I have that. For the leftover egg whites, I have a great recipe for Glutenfree Dairyfree Almond Cookies

Alternates always exist

I have tried a dairy free version as well and it is equally delicious. The recipe adapts very well to the dairy-free version by simply substituting the regular cream with coconut cream in the recipe below. For coconut lovers it is perhaps taking the ice-cream recipe up a notch or two with the added nutty flavor of fresh coconut cream. So, try that as well for a more paleo-friendly lower-carb option!

Nolen Gur Icecream

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Serves: 10 scoops Prep Time: 15mins Cooking Time: 15mins

Ingredients

• Nolen Gur( date palm sugar) 130g
• Cream (Regular or Coconut Cream) 1lt
• Egg Yolks 10

Instructions

1. Separate the egg whites and egg yolks. Keep aside the egg whites for using later in fluffy egg white omelettes, macarons or gluten-free almond cookies (recipes here-) 
2. Whisk up the egg yolks in a blender or by hand
3. If you have the cream in the refrigerator- warm it up a bit on very low fire to get to a lukewarm temperature
4. Slowly add the  lukewarm cream to the beaten egg yolks and blend/whisk again
5. Put this egg yolk+cream mix on very low heat (or water bath) in a thick bottom aluminium pan and keep stirring for 5mins. If required- switch off and on the fire to keep the temperature low and prevent the cream from curdling
6. In 5mins as the mix thickens to a creamy custard- you can check at the back of your ladle. If you draw a finger across, it will leave a sharp line. Then it is ready to take off the heat. 
7. Switch off – but still keep stirring for a few times to prevent it from sticking to the hot bottom of the pan. And let it cool for 1-2 mins
8. Heat up the solid nolen gur blocks for 40-60sec in a microwave oven to melt it to a treacle like syrup
9. Pour this into the custard and stir to mix it well. Add bit by bit and check for your preferred level of sweetness. Depending upon the quality of the nolengur I have seen something between 125-140g works best to my taste
10. Let the custard cool down. For best results- refrigerate for 1 hour before pouring into your icecream maker. Churn for 15mins or as per your device instructions. It usually comes out as a soft serve in my machine and I put it in the freezer for 3-4 hours for a more solid block
    

    Nolen Gur- my traditional winter indulgence

Nolen Gur Icecream was last modified: March 31st, 2024 by Melting Lemon Drop

Notes

*In case you don't find Nolen gur (date palm sugar), you can also try it with coconut palm sugar (aka Gula Malacca) for a slightly different nuttier flavour- but quite delicious too!