Last night someone told me about a delicious ice cream being made/served at a hot new restaurant in Nashville.
"Milk Chocolate with pistachios and cardamom," she said - "to die for."
And I immediately thought of Shrikand, or Shrikhand, an Indian yogurt dessert - but sometimes served with savory entrées, too.
(Here's a typical Shrikand recipe: I posted it in a blog here 6-1/2 years ago:
http://www.dadamo.com/B2blogs/blogs/index.php/2006/05/26/for-henriette-the-lowdown-on-dairy-fat-a?blog=8)
Basically, shrikhand is yogurt that has been hung/dehydrated, then sweetened and spiced. Sometimes nuts are added. The classic combo is pistachio/saffron/cardamom in yogurt that's been sweetened with powdered sugar and flavored with rosewater.
I surfed around to find that there are gazillions of Shrikand recipes/ideas in the cybersphere.
I put 2 and 2 together to deduce that those who pine over Days of Ice Cream Gone By could have plenty of fun with the basic idea. The sky's the limit: Sweetener, spices, extracts... Chocolate... I've seen it with chocolate chips...of course, nuts. You can give it a whipped texture, you can add a little cream (mmm), etc.
(Many are familiar with Raita - a runny yogurt accompaniment to spicy dishes. It usually contains pepper and some raw vegetable such as shredded carrot and/or cucumber. But I've had delicious banana raita - very effective with some curries.)
I'm starting to fantasize about chocolate shrikand, however. Maybe laced with raspberry preserves...
...uh oh.