Halva Ice Cream with Chocolate Sauce

I couldn’t decide whether I should name the post halva ice cream with chocolate sauce or chocolate sauce with halva ice cream. The decision seems to be split in my family which they like better: the ice cream or the sauce. So the decision is all mine. After going back and forth, it’s the halva ice cream that gets the leading role. Should it be vanilla ice cream in the line up, it’d easily tip the balance in favor of Dorie’s chocolate hot fudge sauce from Everyday Dorie.

I didn’t anticipate this conundrum when I set out to make the halva ice cream since I have halva (fudge-like confection made with tahini, sugar, spices, nuts and seeds) sitting in the fridge for sometime. I have my eyes on halva ice cream with chocolate sauce and salted peanuts recipe on Yotam Ottolenghi’s website. I think it’d be a perfect complement to the chocolate sauce. The halva ice cream recipe is outlined below.

Dorie’s hot-fudge sauce is a mixture of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate (75 grams), heavy cream (180 ml), syrup (3 tablespoons) and sugar (2 tablespoons). Put all the ingredients in a saucepan over medium-low heat until the mixture comes to a light simmer, about 5 minutes.

I arrange all the toppings for everyone to make their own sundaes: the salted-chocolate bits, slivered almonds, and the hot fudge sauce. Of course, more halva pieces, for a more intense sesame seeds flavor. At the very last minute when I put together my sundae, I look around the pantry. Pistachios and everything bagels catch my attention. So I put together mine with the chocolate sauce, pistachio and everything bagel seasoning sprinkled on it. (In a sense, I travel around the world.) You get the crunch, salt, pungent flavors, and nutty bites — brilliantly. Everything you look for, plus the soft ice cream and the warm chocolate sauce. I’ll make it again.

Print Recipe

Halva Ice Cream

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 250ml double cream
• 350ml whole milk
• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways and seeds scraped or 1 tsp of vanilla paste
• 2 egg yolks
• 40g caster sugar
• 30g tahini paste
• 100g halva, ½ cm dice

Instructions

1

Heat the cream, milk and vanilla pod and seeds in a medium saucepan until just coming to the boil. Remove from the heat. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until combined. Use a ladle to spoon a little of the hot cream mix into the egg mix, whisking the whole time. Continue with more cream mix until it is all incorporated. Return to the saucepan and place on medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon continuously for 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens to a light custard consistency. Remove from the heat and whisk in the tahini. Leave to cool for 20 minute; then remove the vanilla pod.

2

Place the custard in an ice cream machine and churn for about 35 minutes, until semi frozen but creamy. Remove from the machine and stir through the halva pieces. Place in a pre-frozen container and freeze. Remove from the freezer 10 minutes before serving to let it soften.

Notes

With an ice cream machine, you would need to churn the ice cream at least a few hours ahead of time, preferably a day in advance. If you don’t have an ice cream machine, make this the old fashioned way, by making the custard and freezing it without churning, beating occasionally for 4-5 hours. Add the halva half way through. Using this method works well for serving immediately but the next day the ice cream tends to go hard.