Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Green tea and chocolate soy ice cream

This Sunday I`m going to take an exam for Japanese language proficiency and I`m supposed to meditate s-t-u-d-y, like right now. I was studying, but then my husband offered me to have a cup of ice cream I made this weekend (again!) and just like that, I`m now much more interested in sharing about it with you.So, it will be his fault if I end up abandoning my textbooks tonight.

Ice cream talk now. I`ve been wondering why I can`t find ice cream made of soy milk here in spite of the various products of plain soy milk or the flavored ones. I`ve learned that when the food I want is not available at the stores, or is not affordable for me, that means either I just forget about it or make it myself. Obviously, with my new toy in the kitchen, I did the latter one. Another reason why I make my own ice creams is I can adjust, aka. reduce the sweetness. I don`t actually often buy ice creams (or the popular Japanese soft cream) because I always find they`re too sweet for me. If you follow my recipe here and find that it`s not sweet enough for you, feel free to adjust the sweetness.
Just for a reminder, in making ice creams, I still don`t cook/heat anything and I don`t add eggs. 

Start with dissolving the matcha (green tea) powder with soy milk gradually in a container. 

The mixture will be frothy at first, but that`s alright.

While dissolving the matcha powder, stir honey or sugar in.
Add the remaining soy milk and pour the whole mixture to a different container while pushing it with the back of a spoon through a sieve repeatedly until no lumps are visible.
Taste it, stir in more honey or sugar if necessary, and add a pinch of salt.  When you`re done, chill the mixture in the refrigerator 2-3 hours.

After the mixture is chilled enough, start churning it in an ice cream maker. 

..until it has turned thick.
Transfer the ice cream to a container and keep it in freezer for 2-3 hours.

Shouldn`t I be studying now?I can feel the books staring at me. Ugh.

Alright, to shorten this post, this is the chocolate soy ice cream that I made the next day. The method is pretty much the same, only this time I used cocoa powder.

This is how I kept the ice creams in one container.

 And I didn`t do this on purpose.

Scooping time! 
I`m sorry for showing you this green-brown messiness, but in my defense, the messiness is my signature.

Creaminess-wise, this soy ice cream is somewhere between sorbets and dairy cream-based ice creams. Much lighter than the regular ice creams, but still "creamier" compared to sorbets. It has a soft crunchy texture that might bring sorbets to mind, but the milkiness of the soy ice cream might make the difference.
I remember how I can feel the sweet stickiness remaining in my mouth when I eat the regular ice cream, which I don`t find in this soy ice cream. It melts and it`s gone very quickly. I don`t know if this is good or bad, but if you`re looking for a lighter version of ice cream like me, then this one is probably for you.
Enjoy!
MATCHA (GREEN TEA) SOY ICE CREAM
Makes about 500 ml

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Tbs matcha (green tea) powder
450 ml plain soy milk
4 Tbs honey
A pinch of salt

CHOCOLATE SOY ICE CREAM
Makes about 500 ml

Ingredients:
3 Tbs cocoa powder
450 ml plain soy milk
6 Tbs honey
A pinch of salt

Method:
1. Dissolve matcha or cocoa powder and honey gradually with soy milk in separate containers.
2. Pour the mixture through a sieve repeatedly until no lumps are visible.
3. Add a pinch of salt, stir a bit, and chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
4. Churn all the ingredients in an ice cream maker according to the manual for 30 minutes or until the mixture has thickened up.
5. Transfer the ice cream to a freezing container and keep it in the freezer for another 2-3 hours before serving.
Note: If using only one freezer bowl, make the ice cream one flavor a day.

6 comments:

  1. LOL!!!! The Ziploc crack me up! 最後に笑わせてもらいました(爆笑)! I'm making green tea ice cream too (again). Very healthy ice cream and I'd love to try mixture of matcha and chocolate in ice cream!

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    1. Haha, it cracked me up too after I opened the container! I should tell Ziploc that I did some advertisement for them :DD

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  2. This looks so good!! I love soya milk with fresh papaya & a bit of honey blended into a milkshake, perhaps you can turn that into an icecream too?!! :)

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    1. Hi Lucy, I haven`t had papaya probably for 3 years now and now you really made me craving for it! :D Papaya ice cream sounds really really delicious! Let me know if you make some :))

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  3. I don't have an ice cream machine unfortuately. If you haven't had it for 3 yrs, perfect for you to try it out again!! hehe

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    1. Haha, now that`s the thing. I can`t find any papaya here unless I go to Okinawa as it`s pretty much a tropical fruit. But I`ll keep a note on the papaya ice cream idea in case someday the papaya magically pops out in my hands :D
      By the way, you can find quite a lot of info on the internet on how to make ice cream without the ice cream machine. With machine or not, enjoy your papaya!

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