Ginger and walnut ice cream (Shir yakheh zanjafil)

My love for ice cream always has me looking for new flavours, and here I think I have hit the jackpot.

Shir yakheh literally translates to "icy milk" and is a favourite dessert in Afghanistan. In the old days, Afghans collected natural ice from the mountains and stored it in underground chambers to be used for chilled drinks. Ice cream was the natural progression of this custom.

This is a beautiful ice cream, the texture is rich and the flavours pair beautifully together. The caramel adds sweetness and the ginger a mild spice that brightens up the dessert. I added crystallised ginger for a soft texture along with the walnuts. This is an ice cream that I can eat a tonne of, yeah I know.....

Durkhanai Ayubi tells her story of fleeing war-torn Afghanistan through recipes and stories in this cookbook. She runs two restaurants in Adelaide, is a freelance writer, and is a fellow of the Atlantic Institute. Through this book, she describes how new ideologies, such as Soviet-inspired communism and Islamic extremism, informed movements that challenged Afghan culture and traditions and led to the large-scale displacement of Afghans, including many members of her own family. This cookbook is filled with wonderful recipes that are delicious and they do stave my craving for great Afghan cuisine.

For more delicious recipes from this cookbook, click here.

Ingredients:

3 cups cream

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons caramel sauce, or to taste

1 tablespoon of ginger paste

1 tablespoon candied ginger, finely diced

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted

Mix the cream, condensed milk, caramel and ginger paste. Whisk well. For a lighter ice cream, whisk it into a thick foam, but I prefer a denser ice cream. Taste for ginger and sweetness, the ginger should be pronounced and the sugar present, but not overbearing.

Add the nuts and candied ginger, then mix them in. Churn on the ice cream setting. Store in the freezer.