coconut and black sesame ice cream
2 min readIn an age when big tubs of ice cream are readily available in every flavour imaginable, it’s still lots of fun to make your own. Although ice cream is not a typical sweet in China, we grewup eating some of the best stuff in the world made from fresh New Zealand cream. In this ‘no-churn’ recipe, we infuse two of our favourite Chinese dessert flavourings into a rich custard.
Serves 4112 tbsp black sesame seeds egg yolks 90g granulated sugar 165ml coconut milk 12 tsp vanilla extract 12 tsp sesame oil 150ml double cream 1 Toast the sesame seeds in a small frying pan over a low heat for 5 minutes, or until they smell slightly smoky and nutty. Transfer two-thirds of the seeds to a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder and grind until they resemble cracked pepper. Mix the egg yolks and sugar together in a small bowl and set aside 2 Heat the coconut milk gently in a small saucepan over a low heat until it is hot to the touch. Add the egg yolk mixture and vanilla and cook over a very low heat for about 10 minutes stirring occasion-ally, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Pour the custard into freezer-proof bowl and leave to cool.
3 Stir the sesame oil, ground and whole sesame seeds into the cooled custard. Whip the cream to soft peaks, then add this to the custard mixture and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy. Cover with cling film and freeze for 30 minutes.
Fetch the custard mixture from the freezer and vigorously beat it with a wooden spoon to get rid of any ice crystals. Return to the freezer for a further 30 minutes, before repeating the beating and re-turning to the freezer for another 30 minutes.
5 Beat the ice cream once more, then transfer it to a freezer-proof container. Smooth over the top, then cover and freeze for a further 2-3 hours before serving. Allow the ice cream to soften at room tem-perature for 5-10 minutes before eating.
