In India, the name for avocado is ‘butter fruit’, and for good reason: it whips up to a cream so luxurious that today’s recipe nearly wrote itself. I say nearly, because you can’t just replace the eggs like for like with avocado and end up with a creamy, soft scoop.
‘Vegan ice-cream needs more protein,’ Joe Donnelly at Poco Gelato in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, tells me, while vegan ice-cream pioneer Natalie Slack at Black Milq in London says to aim for ‘a good balance between fats, solids and sugar’.
It’s a whole new ball game making vegan ice-cream, but starting with a buttery fruit such as avocado and adding rich condensed coconut milk is a delicious step in the right direction.
Avocado, coconut and matcha ice-cream
To make this, you’ll need to begin the day before, and you’ll need an ice-cream maker. The bowl of the ice-cream machine needs to be well-frozen, so give it a good half a day or more in the freezer before you start churning.
You can buy condensed coconut milk, matcha and xanthan gum in major supermarkets and online.
Prep 10 min
Cook 30 min
Makes 600ml
250g avocado flesh (ie, from 2 avocados)
1 x 210ml tin condensed coconut milk (I like Biona)
½ tbsp lemon juice
½ tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp matcha powder, plus a little extra to garnish
100ml unsweetened soya milk
½ tbsp caster sugar
½ tsp xanthan gum
¼ tsp salt
Raspberries, to serve
To make the ice-cream, put everything bar the raspberries in a blender, blitz smooth, then scrape into the chilled bowl and churn until the ice-cream is the consistency of soft-serve – which should take 20-30 minutes depending on your machine.
Transfer to a lidded container and pop into the freezer for a couple of hours, or until hardened.
Serve two small scoops per portion and top with a few raspberries. If you like, shake a little extra matcha powder on top to make it look pretty.
