Recipe 37: Toasted Rice Ice Cream (with a Whiff of Coconut and Black Tea)

This week’s ice cream is a complex concoction involving numerous steps, but it’s worth it.  While the recipe itself needs some small tweaks to get it just right for me, Toasted Rice Ice Cream (with a Whiff of Coconut and Black Tea) is delicious and works well as both an ice cream and a pudding (perhaps even better as the latter).  It’s a chewy, creamy ice cream perfectly blended to have you thinking about winter and being warm and cozy.

Its one flaw is that there is a lot of rice in the original recipe and the rice ends up taking over the ice cream, leaving you with more of a frozen pudding instead of ice cream.  However, that’s easily remedied by reducing the rice by half (so from 1/3 cup to 1/6 cup) and not letting so much of the coconut milk get absorbed.  I would also recommend following the instructions and cooling the base in ice water instead of doing what I did and leaving it in the fridge overnight.  That was a massive mistake and allowed the rice to absorb too much of the liquid, contributing to my frozen pudding debacle.  Nonetheless, if you love nutty, toasted rice, you should give the original a try.  Either way, you’re in for a treat.

Ingredients

• Toasted Rice Pudding
• 1/3 cup jasmine rice (only use 1/6 cup if you don’t want ice cream saturated in rice!)
• 14 oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Ice Cream Base
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon corn starch
• 1 ½ oz. (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons black tea leaves such as oolong or Darjeeling (I used Darjeeling) 

Directions

1. First, make the toasted rice pudding.
2. Place the rice in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, shaking the pan and stirring occasionally until evenly browned/the color of brown sugar.
3. Then reduce the heat to low, add coconut milk, and stir in the sugar.
4. Bring the rice mixture to a boil before reducing the heat to the lowest setting and cover with a tight-fitting lid.  Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the rice is al dente and most of the coconut milk has been absorbed – 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let cool.
5. Next, make the ice cream.
6. Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry.  Set aside.
7. In large bowl, whisk the cream cheese and salt until smooth.  Set aside.
8. Fill another large bowl with ice and water and set aside for later.
9. In another medium saucepan, combine the milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup.  Bring to a roiling boil for about 4 minutes.  Remove from heat, add the tea, and let steep for 10 minutes.
10. Once steeped, strain the milk mixture through a fine sieve, discarding the tea leaves when finished.
11. Return the milk mixture back to the saucepan and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.  Bring it back to a boil and cook, stirring continuously, until slightly thickened – about 1 minute.  Remove from heat.
12. Slowly whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth.  Then add the rice pudding and blend well.
13. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath.  Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold – about 30 minutes.
14. Pour the ice cream base into an ice cream maker’s canister and churn according to directions.
15. Once churned, transfer the ice cream into a covered container and freeze until firm – at least 4 hours.

The resulting ice cream will be thick and dense with a mild flavor of Darjeeling and coconut and tons of chewy, toasted rice.  It goes well with a splash of coconut or whole milk and pairs well with shortbread cookies and strawberries with syrup.  If rice isn’t your thing, you could omit it, instead cooking the coconut milk and sugar for about 10 minutes until reduced.  You can also eat the rice coconut pudding on its own – it’s a really delicious recipe!  But whatever way you choose to eat this, I hope you enjoy!

Overview

• Base prep time: at least 45 minutes
• Base chill time: 30 minutes
• Ice cream set time: at least 4 hours
• Taste: dense, thick, and creamy with a mild Darjeeling and coconut flavor accompanied by tons of chewy, toasted rice
• Difficulty level: medium
• Expense level: medium
• Makes: about 5 cups