Ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups 550g water
• 1/3 to 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or 1 to 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 3 tablespoon 15g Dutch process cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 cup 270g pitted dates, chopped
• 1/2 cup 70g prunes, chopped
• 1 cup 165g unsweetened chocolate (chopped or as chips)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Extra-virgin olive oil, chile crisp, or chile oil, for serving
• Flake sea salt (such as Maldon), for serving

Procedure

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the water, salt, cocoa powder, dates, and prunes. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and continued to cook, stirring with a heat proof spatula or wooden spoon for one minute. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the chocolate and vanilla and stir until the chocolate is completely melted.
2. Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and puree on medium low speed until it is completely smooth (you do not want the speed to be too high, because that will aerate the sorbet and take away from its dense richness). Pureeing the mixture takes longer than you think. Pause to occasionally and be patient.
3. Scrape the puree into a metal bowl or loaf pan, cover well, and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, or until chilled.
4. Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (This can take 15 minutes. If you don’t have an ice cream maker see the note.) Scrape the sorbet back a storage container, cover, and freezer at least 4hours. Keep frozen in an airtight container for up to one month.
5. To serve, lightly drizzle oil over the sorbet and sprinkle it with salt.

Cook’s Notes

To make the sorbet without an ice cream maker, fill an ice tray with the chilled sorbet base. Freeze it until it’s solid (at least 4 hours) and then process the frozen cubes in a food processor until smooth. Scrape the sorbet into container, cover, and freeze for another 4 hours or more.

Nguyen recommends serving this sorbet with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, chile oil, or chile crisp.