How To Make Paan Flavored Ice Cream

Paan / Pan in India is a well known mouth freshener consumed after main meals. Beetle leaves along with condiments and other natural flavoring ingredients makes it all unique. 

  

There are varieties of paan available in India with different flavors and ingredients to look at. Every state and places present it in a different way with difference in taste. My love for paan is minimal....
Since the time I learnt how to make ice cream I also learnt that there is also something called as paan ice cream, ever since then I wanted to try my hands on this flavor but was hesitant for some reason.

Recently Me and my hubby were into a resto and wanted to try out snacks there. I always encourage my hubby to taste something new. To my surprise I found pan ice cream in the menu, For a while I tried to figure out if it has something to do with fry pan??? No I'm not so dumb... But I was just wondering if there is fried ice cream which can exist there could be something with fry pan too :| 

Later I realized it should be paan ice cream and wanted to give a try  immediately!! Though my hubby ordered it but he knew less what was lying ahead for him. 
         After snacks the moment he tasted the ice cream his face lit up and eyes brighten, I was shocked to see him like this, he asked me paan ice cream? I said yes I wanted to taste it before I try at home sometime. He loved it so much that I let him have extra share and also clicked his pic to show him his own reaction. I tried this a day ago for my cousins who came to Chennai from Orrisa, with very short notice in hand that I came down to my moms place and make something for them I was glad that it turned out better than what we tasted in the restaurant :)

Ingredients
Whipping cream - 1cup (I had sweetened cream in case you have unsweetened whipping cream make use of condensed milk for sweetness)
Banarasi Paan - 2 
Custard made of cornflour
Green Food color as requred

To Make Custard
Boil Half liter full cream milk and simmer the flame mix some water to 4tbsp cornflour and make a runny paste
Add this to the boiling milk and keep stirring it to avoid lumps.
Add in 1/2 cup to 3/4th sugar and let it cook for 5 more mins.
Once this is well combined remove it from flame and keep aside to cool
After cooling keep in fridge for chilling.

Preparation To Make Paan Ice Cream:
Mean while as the milk mixture is cooling. Be ready with other ingredients like? 
- If your whipping cream is frozen thaw it by keeping it in refrigerator for few hours. 
- Keep the whipping blades in freezer to chill. 
- Keep a big bowl ready in which it has to be whipped ( please make sure that the bowl is at least 3 liter capacity or more because we need lots of space to aerate air while whipping the cream and as we add other ingredients we need some space to combine it well)
- Open up the banarasi paan and take out the stuffing inside keep it aside.
- Blend the betel leaves along with some milk and keep it ready, also add a fat pinch of green food color into it.   

Simple Till now???

Process to start making paan ice cream.
- Take a big clean bowl add in the whipping cream and start whipping till it forms a soft peaks this may take 5-7 mins
- Now slowly start adding the chilled custard mixture little at a time and keep whipping. You will slowly find the cream mixture is nicely forming stiff peaks.
- Add in the betel Juice and the stuffing which we took out and continue whipping till everything is well combined!!
- Check for Sweetness, If you have unsweetened whipping cream add in some condensed milk to sweeten it. Since I had pre- sweetened cream I did not add condensed milk + the milk custard and paan stuffing which will have gulkand will also have some sugar content so be careful at the sweetness part. 

- Place it in a well packed plastic box and freeze for 2 hrs till half set, Remove it and mix it everything from bottom to top and sides, level it and freeze it again till set. This is done to evenly distribute the mixture of paan stuffing which we added, chances are there that since the whole mixture is so light and airy that the solid ingredients might sink into the base of the box.
- Keep it over night for best result and enjoy it next day!!

Notes:
- In case you feel the flavor of paan is less feel free to blend up more betel leaves and add in to the ice cream.
- By any chance if you find the ice cream to be too much sweet to your taste then you can mix amul fresh cream to balance the taste. This can be mixed later also so no need to panic. Even if your ice cream is set you can again take out in a bowl mix in the cream and whip it, set back again!! 
- When you get the banarasi paan from shop ask the shop keeper not to add chunna, khatta, and supari we dont want to spoil the flavor.
- If you dont get meetha paan or banarasi pan then get paan leaves, some cherry, gulkand, desiccated coconut and sauf 
blend the leaves and add other ingredients into ice cream mixture just like that.  
- Adding Green color is optional but it gives a good presentation.
- I have added the food color from top after setting it in the box so it gives green and white shade mixed. If you add color while whipping itself the green color will be evenly distributed. 

Very Soft and Creamy Texture no Ice crystals at all :)

Impression:
- To my honest review everyone in my family loved this new flavor in ice cream and were really surprised with something new like this!!  

You need to try to know what it is!!
And the pictures explains the texture of ice cream how creamy and yummy it is :)

Do try and let us know your reviews

Cya until next
Bubye :)