Azuki Red Bean Ice Cream

Ok.. I have to admit. I've fallen into a bit of a Japanese flavor ice cream phase. I'm trying so hard to not just go and make a green tea ice cream. I've been saving that can of macha (green tea powder) for last, making everything else I can think of before I go and open that can. For now, I've ticked off Black Sesame and Azuki (red bean)... I'm thinking one more before I go for the green tea. I'm not too keen on Wasabi ice cream. Lychee ice cream maybe ? Toro ice cream is another common flavor - but I'm not sure where to get Toro in Australia. I wonder what sweet potato ice cream would taste like ? :)

Azuki Red Bean Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 100g sweetened red bean paste
• 300ml heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons Vodka

Method

1. Heat the milk in a heavy saucepan with the sugar and salt. Turn off the heat once the sugar has dissolved.
2. Beat the egg yokes together. Add a bit of the warmed milk into the egg yoke mixture.
3. While stirring the contents of the saucepan, slowly pour the milk egg mixture into saucepan. Put the saucepan back on a very low heat and stir constantly until it starts to thicken. You want to turn this mixture into a custard
4. Take the mixture off the heat and whisk in the red bean paste really well. You can strain the whole mixture at this point to remove the lumps. But I prefer to keep the red beans in the ice cream for more texture.
5. Let it cool for a few minutes and then stir in the cream. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
6. Churn the ice cream according to your ice cream maker's instructions.
   

Black Sesame Ice Cream

I had some leftover Black Sesame Soup from the Chinese dessert I made the day before. I was thinking about Black Sesame Ice cream, but I wanted to try making an egg-less ice cream instead. ie. An ice cream that wasn't custard base. So that it wouldn't overpower the taste of black sesame.

This recipe I stumbled across from David Lebovitz's website is a gelato type of ice cream. The recipe does not call for any egg yokes, instead you use cornflour and milk to create the base.

The resulting ice cream was more delicate and really brought out the nutty flavors of the Black Sesame.

Black Sesame Gelato
Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz's Pistachio Gelato

Makes about 3 cups (3/4 liter)

• 2 cups whole full cream milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• 200ml black sesame soup paste (see recipe for black sesame soup dessert)
  
• few drops of lemon juice
  

1. Make a slurry by mixing the 1/4 cup of the milk with the cornflour, mixing until the starch is dissolved and the mixture is smooth.
2. Heat the rest of the milk in a medium-sized saucepan with the sugar.
3. When it almost starts to boil, stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook at gentle simmer for 3 minutes, stirring and whisking constantly. Make sure there are no lumps left over from the cornflour
   
4. Remove from heat, scrape into a bowl, and chill thoroughly, preferably overnight.
5. Once chilled, blend in the black sesame paste and just a few drops of lemon juice until smooth.
6. Freeze the gelato in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.
   

Churn Snowy Churn.. !! :p

Notes:

• Optional Extra: Try serving with a teaspoon of Japanese sweet red bean paste on the top of the icecream. With the icecream resting on a layer of cornflakes below.
  

Vanilla Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream... is a lot of fun (usually).. and does seem to taste a lot better than the frozen stuff from your local deli. This recipe from David Lebovitz is definitely one of the better ones I've tried out. The resulting ice cream is rich in vanilla and very creamy. Just try to forget you have to use 2 cups of pure cream ... :)

Vanilla Ice Cream
recipe adapted from David Lebovitz's Book ~ The Perfect Scoop

• 1 cup full cream milk
• A pinch of salt
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 vanilla bean (split lengthwise into two, seeds scraped out)
• 6 egg yolks
• 2 cups pure cream (separated into 2x 1 cups)
• 3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

--- Ice for an 'ice bath'

1. Warm the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds out with the tip of a paring knife and set aside. Add the bean pod to the milk. Continue to simmer on the lowest heat setting.


2. In a separate mixing bowl, pour 1 cup of the pure cream and add the vanilla bean seeds into the cream. Whisk the cream a couple of times to break up the seeds and place into an ice bath, then set aside.


3. Once the sugar has melted, add in the remaining 1 cup of pure cream, continue to stir to combine the cream and milk. Then cover and remove from heat and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 mins.


4. Stir together the egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add some of the warmed milk, stirring constantly as you pour. Pour the warmed yolks and milk mixture back into the saucepan.


5. Cooking over a low heat, stir constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the pure cream with vanilla seeds that was set aside previously in the ice bath.


6. Rinse the vanilla bean and put it back into the custard and cream to continue steeping.


7. Add vanilla extract, and keep on stirring the mixture over the ice bath until it has cooled.


8. Once the mixture has cooled completely, cover with glad wrap and place into the refrigerator. David Lebovitz recommends to leave this as long as possible (ie. overnight). I usually leave it until I'm ready for it to be placed into the ice cream maker. (ie. when I feel like wanting to eat ice cream).


9. When it has chilled thoroughly, remove the vanilla bean and freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.

Makes about 1 litre of ice cream.