Red Bean Ice Cream

JULY 11, 2011

by NAMI

Today I’m sharing red bean (Azuki) ice cream recipe at Gourmantine’s Blog.  For fellow foodies who are familiar with both Gourmantine’s and my blog, you probably know there are very little similarity with the type of recipes we share.  I don’t bake many sweets like she does, and how she prepares food is completely different from Japanese food.

However, Gourmatine’s blog has been inspiring me about cooking and encouraging me to reflect on the food I prepare with a deeper meaning.  I love to challenge myself to follow her recipe to go beyond my comfort zone and it’s always fun to read how she prepares food.  Her creations are always very original and simply irresistible.  Not to mention, all the effort she spent to make sure each recipe she shares is just perfect.  I have the good fortune of becoming friends with her and I learned that she spends quite some time to study the dishes before sharing on her blog, in order to meet her own expectation.  Since I never been to Europe myself, it’s always fun reading about her recreation of the food she had tasted during her frequent trips all over in Europe.  Remembering the exact taste is one thing, but recreating the dish from scratch is truly a rare talent.  Her cooking skills are exceptionally gifted and I’m so happy to be able to introduce her website on my blog.  If you haven’t visited her site, please visit her beautiful blog,Gourmantine’s Blog.

Red bean is by far the most popular ingredient or flavor in traditional Japanese sweets.  Its prominence in Japanese sweets is similar to chocolate for western desserts.  Even after living in the states for many years, the taste of red bean sweets makes me just a bit homesick and miss Japan.  This homemade red bean ice cream brought back the great childhood memories I had spending summers at my grandpa’s house.

I know this is already the 3rd ice cream recipe I’ve shared in the past 10 days and you probably think I am bit infatuated with my ice cream maker.  But my intention here is to share as many ice cream recipes as possible before summer ends.  Also, it is finally my own recipe so please take a moment and let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

Print

Red Bean Ice Cream

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Yield: Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 100 ml (little bit less than ½ cup) water
• 100 ml (little bit less than ½ cup) sugar
• 1 (18.34oz/520g/2cups) canned sweetened red beans (mashed) (Ogura-an) (Clickhere for homemade sweetened red beans)
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 Tbsp. black sesame seeds (optional)
• 4 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk (optional)

Instructions:

1. In a medium saucepan, heat water and sugar on medium high heat, stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon.

2. When sugar has completely melted, add the bean paste and mix until the mixture becomes smooth.

3. Add the milk and mix all together. When it boils remove the saucepan from the heat.

4. Prepare a bowl that is set inside a large bowl filled with iced water.

5. Pour the mixture into the bowl and stir the mixture so it cools evenly.

6. When the mixture is thoroughly cooled, pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

7. 30 minutes later…

8. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and store in the freezer for at least 3-4 hours.

9. Serve with black sesame seeds or condensed milk.

Notes

If you don't have an ice cream maker, check out here.

The following red bean ice cream is drizzled with condensed milk…

Enjoy!