Coconut Icecream with Raspberries and Raspberry Coulis

My husband loves ice cream; I mean he REALLY loves ice cream. A few years ago, he decided that we needed to have an ice cream maker. Not a fancy one, just a basic ice cream maker with a small motor. The pretext reason was that we could not find good sorbets in supermarkets back then... We did make a few sorbets at the beginning. However, over the last 5 years, I think we used the ice cream maker only twice (but purchased lots of ice creams and sorbets)! The ice cream maker was sitting in a closet (next to the yogurt maker).. and because of that, the minute we thought about making some ice cream, it was not possible because the bowl was not cold!
The other day, as I was surfing the cooking blogsphere, I came across ice cream recipes. All of a sudden, I felt it was high time the ice cream maker come back into our life! In a way, I was "decluttering" (well, not exactly since the ice cream maker was in the freezer now but still, it was out of the closet!)
It also happened that coconut milk was on sale at the supermarket. Not the cans I purchase to make coconut-based curry but the big quarts of coconut milk and because I had never purchased any before, I thought that it would be perfect to make ice cream.
I like grocery shopping... well, let me be more precise: I like having time to browse the aisles of a supermarket to look at what's being offered, what's new, what's just "re-packaged".. but I am unfortunately very often doing the groceries with my younger kid, ie, no time for browsing!  That said with a view to bringing new ingredients into our diet, I have come to purchase one new ingredient at least once a week. Sometimes, it might just be a new yogurt, some other time, I am in the ethnic section of the store and taking something off the shelf that I have never heard of, let alone tasted, before! Growing up in what is now "Chinatown" in Paris, we used to go to the first Asian supermarkets with my mother and just do that. We would look at what people were putting in their cart, get something that did not seem "uneatable" and if we had NO idea of how to cook it (that is 90% of the time), we would ask a customer how she would prepare it. As a running joke after that, whenever we bring something a little bit out of the ordinary to the table (let's say Tahini sauce, pilpil, bulgur), we call it "cuisine exotique". Some of my cousins who lived with us at some point could relate...
There is nothing exotic in this coconut ice cream. It's very simple and healthy. I added raspberries to add fruits to the mixture and to make a coulis (raspberries sauce) to serve with. It was a real hit with my husband and my children who are asking for more! Next time the coconut milk is on sale! Bon Appétit!

Ingredients
For the ice cream
- 1 cup (65g) of dried unsweetened shredded coconut flakes
- 1.5 cup (375 ml) unsweetened coconut milk (whole or reduced fat but not skim)
- 1 small can (13 fl oz) of condensed milk
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup of frozen crushed raspberries


For the coulis:
- 12 oz (340g) Fresh (or frozen) raspberries
- 1 (5ml) Tbs Lemon juice
- Agave sugar or honey to taste
- Fresh raspberries (for serving)


Preparing the ice cream:

• In a pan, roast the coconut flakes until golden brown. Let cool.
• Mix the coconut milk with condensed milk and vanilla extract.
• Add the coconut flakes and crushed rapberries
• Put in the ice cream maker and then in the freezer.
  

Preparing the coulis:

• Thaw the raspberries
  
• Blend the raspberries together with lemon juice
• Add honey/agave syrup to taste
• Serve over ice cream with fresh raspberries
  

My personal comments:

• Roasting the coconut flakes makes a real difference in taste. Don't skip this step and make sure you purchase unsweetened DRIED coconut flakes.
  
• Don't put whole raspberries in the ice cream because they'll never thaw and won't be easy to chew on, especially for the children.
  
• You would make the same ice cream with strawberries.
• You could use unsweetened condensed milk and then use honey/agave syrup/powdered sugar to sweeten the ice cream.