Recipe 27: Thai Tea Ice Cream

A few weeks ago when I was in Chicago, my sister, girlfriend, and I had lunch at this little Thai restaurant and had the most amazing Thai Ice Tea of my life.  It was sweet, creamy, and syrupy but well-balanced by strong black tea.  It was then that I knew what my next ice cream recipe would be.

Fortunately, Max Falkowitz over at Serious Eats had the same idea a few years ago and was able to provide me with a recipe to start from.  The biggest change I made was adding in some coconut milk, which is a common staple in some Thai Ice Tea recipes.  You can also add a dollop of sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, or whole milk, though I would recommend trying the flavor in a glass of tea first before incorporating it into your ice cream.  I would also recommend planning this recipe far in advance because, unless you are Thai or live in a Thai neighborhood (or, say, Thailand), it’s a little difficult to find Thai Tea Mix.  We have several Asian markets in the area catering to different ethnicities such as Indian, Korean, Chinese, and plain old “international,” but I still had to order my tea mix from Amazon.  However, I can tell you that Pantai Norasingh tea mix is excellent and delicious both as a drink and as ice cream flavoring (which leads me to assume that I could add it to cake or cookies too.  Hee hee hee hee hee…).

Ingredients

• 2 cups half and half
• 1 cup coconut milk
• ½ cup Thai tea leaves
• 6 egg yolks
• ¾ cup sugar
• Kosher salt, to taste

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, bring the half and half and coconut milk to a simmer.  Stir in the Thai tea, turn off heat, and steep for no more than five minutes (I recommend putting most of the tea leaves in a diffuser with only about 1/8 cup floating free.  Otherwise, there will be way too many tea leaves in your ice cream.).
2. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until the yolks are pale yellow and thickened.  Slowly ladle in the dairy mixture, about ½ cup at a time, whisking constantly, and then transfer yolk mixture back to the saucepan.  Add a sprinkle of salt (no more than ½ teaspoon).
3. Turn heat to medium low and whisky frequently until a thin, syrupy custard forms.  Custard should coat the back of a spoon, and you should be able to draw a line through it with your finger.
4. Pour custard through a fine mesh strainer and chill covered overnight.
5. Once custard is cold, pour into an ice cream maker canister and churn according to manufacturer’s directions.
6. Once churned, transfer to freezer-safe container.  Press plastic wrap over the ice cream and then seal.  Chill in the freezer for at least three hours.

The end result will be a wonderfully thick and creamy ice cream with a strong black tea flavor and just a hint of coconut.  It goes great with shaved coconut and sweetened condensed milk.  If you’ve never had Thai tea before, it takes a little like Earl Grey but without the bitterness.  The only thing you should be aware of is that Thai tea has yellow food coloring in it so make sure your guests aren’t allergic to it before serving it to them.

Enjoy!

Overview

• Base prep time: 30 minutes
• Base chill time: overnight
• Ice cream set time: at least 3 hours
• Taste: thick, sweet, and a bit syrupy; strong flavor of black tea with a hint of coconut
• Difficulty: low to medium
• Expense level: low to medium (Thai tea mix is surprisingly affordable)
• Makes: a little over 4 cups