Like most sorbet recipes, this one is infinitely easier to make if you have an ice cream machine. The key is to serve it as soon as you can after making it—it does not keep well and in fact is best the day it is made—and, if necessary, “warming” it slightly in the refrigerator before serving.

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　Two 12- to 14-ounce cans coconut milk (about 3 cups), or homemade coconut milk (page 584)

　　3/4 to 1 cup sugar, to taste

　　1 teaspoon vanilla extract

　　

Step 1

Combine the coconut milk with 3/4 cup sugar and taste; add more sugar if you like. Add the vanilla and stir.

　　

Step 2

Freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions or spread in a roasting pan or on a baking sheet and freeze, stirring once every 30 minutes or so until it achieves the desired consistency (figure at least 2 hours using this method).

　　

Step 3

Serve as soon as possible after making or freeze and let “warm” in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.