Matcha Ice Cream With Adzuki & Shiratama

been craving for it since i had it at tetsu, so again with the surplus of whipping cream at home, i set out to make my own macha ice cream. both the ice cream and shiratama (glutinous rice balls or 白玉, as the japanese call it) are real easy peasy! so far i've tried 3 kinds of macha powder - phoon huat's, sunlik's and the one in a little tin can available at the japanese section of some NTUCs (i got mine from bishan junction 8). the one from phoon huat tastes the most artificial with an added jasmine fragrance. the other two are much better, taste like real macha and with the sunlik one cheaper at 50g for $4.50, compared to the japanese one at $6+ for 40g.

and while there are few methods in making ice cream, i will ONLY recognize and acknowledge the cooked custard-based one as the real deal. the kind that adds egg yolks to whipped cream, or worse, non-dairy whipped topping is just crap.

recipe from the perfect scoop by david lebovitz

ingredients (makes abt 1 liter) :

1 cup milk

150g sugar

500ml whipping cream

pinch of salt (i used fleur de sel)

6 large egg yolks

4 tsps macha powder (i added alot more)

directions :

1. warm the milk, sugar & salt in a medium saucepan.

2. pour cream into a large bowl & whisk together with macha powder. set a strainer on top.

3. in another bowl, whisk together egg yolks and slowly pour in the warmed milk mixture while whisking constantly. put the mixture back to the saucepan.

4. stir the mixture constantly over medium heat, scraping the bottom as you stir, until mixture thickens and coat the back of a spoon, or about 85C.

5. pour custard thru' the strainer into the cream, then whisk vigorously until custard is frothy to dissolve the macha powder. stir until cool over an ice bath.

6. chill the mixture thoroughly then churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions then freeze until firm. alternatively, if you don't have an ice cream maker, you can place the mixture in a shallow metal tray and freeze, whisking every couple of hours until frozen and creamy.

* to make the shiratama, mix glutinous rice flour, macha powder (optional) with water until a dough forms (it should not stick to your fingers). bring a pot of water to boil, form the dough into balls and cook them in the boiling water. they're ready when they float. plunge them under running water to stop them from cooking further.