Desserts: Spiced & Grilled Figs and Honey

Grilled Figs with Vanilla Yogurt, my dessert today.


Growing up in Bangalore it was a special treat for us kids to go to MG road and have ice cream at Lake View Ice Cream Parlor on Sundays. Of course, those days I would get the biggest sundae possible to gorge on till the next time and usually it was Lakeview Special. Something like 5 scoops of ice-cream with chocolate and strawberry sauces with nuts sprinkled on top. In 1998 on my "big break" trip I backpacked through India and SE Asia and during that stay I discovered Naturals Ice cream parlor near Commercial Street in Bangalore and Lake View became a distant contender to this new shop.

I loved all the fresh fruit flavors here and it was a no frills kind of place, in the basement level, one or two bar stools for sitting and about 10 to 12 flavors of ice-cream served in a cup or cone. The simplicity of the place, the awesome taste of all their flavors including innovative fresh fruits and nuts was what made it my new favorite ice cream place. One of my most treasured ice cream flavors at Naturals was Fig and Honey and recently I discovered Fig and Honey flavored Greek yogurt at Traders Joes and I was so ecstatic. When I found a nice batch of fresh Mission Figs at the local Costco today I felt so happy! I couldn't resist reliving my Naturals flavors and bought a batch of the fruit. I first contemplated making some baked dish out of it but after tasting the freshness of the fruit I decided against it and came up with the idea of just grilling the ripe fruits with just a couple of additional flavors. So here goes, Spiced & Grilled Figs and Honey.



Fresh Mission Figs




More Fresh Figs, some sliced (some history of figs)

Recipe

3 Fresh Mission Figs

3 Pods Cardamom, seeds powdered

2 Teaspoons Honey, I used fresh Blackberry Honey

A little butter for greasing grill pan

Vanilla Yogurt or Ice cream to serve

Method

Take a large plate and spread the honey on the plate. Sprinkle the cardamom powder into the honey and microwave for 20 seconds to loosen and thin the honey. Cut the figs into quarters and place cut sides down on the honey and coat all over. Heat a grill pan on the stove to medium and melt butter all over the grill to coat. Place Figs coated with cardamom honey on the medium hot grill and grill till lightly browned and soft. Eat it plain straight from the grill or serve it with yogurt or ice-cream of your choice. I served it with non-fat vanilla yogurt for a refreshing, cooling low calorie dessert.

Straight from the stove, Grilled Figs and Honey, served plain.

Verdict? If you love Figs, you will love this option. Give it a try and you will be pleasantly surprised at how the grilling enhances the sweet moist flavors of the figs and the honey combined with cardamom provides an amazing punch. The vanilla yogurt gives the sweet mix a nice complement. I am so hooked! I think tomorrow I will try it with Pistachio ice-cream thats sauntering in the freezer.