Ingredients:

• For the cheesecake:
• 1 cup – Cream cheese
• 1/2 cup – Sugar
• 2 – eggs
• 1 tsp – vanilla essence
• 1 – Lemon zest
• 1 tsp – Corn flour
• 50 gms – sour Cream
• vermicelli to garnish
• semolina to line base
• For the compote:
• 2 – Sweet Potatoes (boiled, peeled and crushed)
• 1 – cucumber, sliced
• 1/4 cup – Sugar
• 1 tsp – Cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp – Lemon juice
• For the biscuit base:
• 1/2 cup – any biscuit crumbs
• 100 gms – Butter
• 1/4 cup – powdered Sugar
• 1 – zest of Lemon
• For pepper ice cream: 750 ml. Milk
• 1 tsp – vanilla essence
• 9 – Egg yolks
• 240 gms – cream, whipped and ready
• 30 gms – black pepper, coarsely crushed

Method:

1. For the compote:
2. In a hard bottom pan, add sugar and a little water to make a thick golden syrup.
3. Add lemon zest and lemon juice.
4. Add the cucumber and stir well for 3-4 mins.
5. Add crushed sweet potatoes, cinnamon powder, and mix.
6. Make thick compote. Let it cool.
7. Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C.
8. For the biscuit base:
9. Combine all the ingredients and press into the cake mould. Bake for 15 mins.
10. For the cheesecake:
11. Beat the cheese and sugar together in a bowl. Add the eggs, vanilla essence and lemon zest.
12. Scrape down the bowl, and add corn flour, sour cream and mix to a smooth batter. Do not aerate.
13. Add the cooled sweet potato and cucumber, mix to it.
14. Add the above mixture to the ready biscuit lined base. Use well-greased moulds, coated with semolina.
15. Top with a little roasted vermicelli.
16. Bake at 150 deg C in a water bath for 60-80 mins.
17. For the pepper ice cream:
18. Heat the milk with vanilla essence till it simmers. Cool for 20 mins. Whisk yolk and sugar till sugar dissolves. Add the above milk.
19. Add cream and coarsely crushed pepper. Cool.
20. Churn in an ice cream machine (alternately, take readymade frozen vanilla ice cream, fold in crushed pepper and refreeze).
21. Serve with the sweet potato cheese cake.