Ginger in Syrup topped on Homemade Coconut Ice-cream

I came across Sunita’s blog on Jai & Bee’s JugalBandi. She has some really cool recipes and pictures up. I was especially impressed with her spice theme for the month and just decided to participate and give it a try.

Driving back from work, I thought to myself, how different could ginger be served, than in a curry, buttermilk, tea or pickle. I had tried “Candied Ginger” during the Holiday season last year, so thought of incorporating something more on those lines...a combination of spice and sugar....something different yet so “Gingery”:)
That’s when I felt an amalgamation of coconut and ginger would probably be cool....and came up with this ... Ginger in Syrup topped on home made Coconut Ice cream (That’s a mouthful....aint it:) ). I had never come across this before, so was paranoid about this experiment and decided to try it over the weekend.

I kept the ingredients a secret from my husband, and requested him to be the “Critic”. I was keeping my fingers crossed hoping he wouldn’t grade it a 1 (on a scale of 0-10, 10 being the best). To my surprise, his reaction on the first bite was “Is that Ginger!!!...the coconut does bring out the ginger. It’s flavorful! ” What astonished me the most was he helped himself to a second serving...and that to me was a sign that my ginger- coconut combo worked in harmony.
Perfecto!

So here you go....my contribution to Sunita’s Spice of the month Ginger.

Ingredients for Ginger in Syrup

½ cup Ginger, julienned
4-6 teaspoons sugar
½ cup water

Method:
Heat sugar and water in a wok. Add Ginger, stir continuously and bring to boil. Cook till the syrup condenses and becomes thick and sticky.
Pour over home made coconut ice-cream. Serve.
Enjoy!

Note: Make sure the syrup is warm. If you leave it to room temperature for a long time, it may solidify. In that case, add 2 teaspoons of water and heat on low for a few minutes.

Ingredients for the Coconut Ice cream

( After googling and skimming through a bunch of recipes for this I came across this website on which I based this version of the Coconut ice-cream )

2 cups Coconut cream (canned)
1 tablespoon Coconut powder
1 cup water
2 eggs beaten
2 eggs- Yolks only, no whites
1 teaspoon Coconut essence (Picked this up from a Asian grocery store)
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Method:
Roast coconut powder, without oil on low heat for 4-5 min, till light brown. Mix in Coconut cream and water in the wok and heat while stirring continuously for 5-6 min. Make sure you do not boil this mixture. Whisk together beaten eggs, egg yolk, essence, sugar and salt in a bowl. Boil the mixture, over a water bath (double boil over water). Blend in the warm coconut cream-water mixture into the above mix. Stir continuously till the mixture thickens and turns sticky. Remove, pour into a metal bowl and cool to room temperature. Freeze for about 1.5 hrs. Remove and beat into a smooth mixture (I used a hand held blender). Re-freeze for about 4-5 hrs before serving.

Top with the Ginger in Syrup!