Homemade chai tea ice cream enriched with star anise, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, peppercorns, cardamom and black tea.
BE PICTURED IN; CHARACTERIZED IN:
According to historian Lizzie Collingham in her great Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors, the English popularized tea drinking in India in the early 20th century to expand the market for the tea grown there.
I can only say Thank God.
Spicy, milky, sweet chai is one of my favorite ways to drink black tea. Here are all those wonderful chai tea spices infused in ice cream.
chai ice cream
ingredients
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2 star anise stars
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10 whole cloves
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10 all pimento
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2 cinnamon sticks
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10 completely white peppercorns
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4 cardamom podsseeds opened
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1/4 Cup full-bodied black tea (Ceylon or English breakfast)
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1 Cup milk
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2 cups heavy cream (divided, 1 cup and 1 cup)
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3/4 Cup sugar
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A prize Salt
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6 egg egg yolk (see Separating Eggs)
method
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Steep milk and cream with chai spices for 1 hour:
In a heavy saucepan, add 1 cup milk, 1 cup heavy cream, and the chai spices — star anise, cloves, allspice, cinnamon sticks, white peppercorns, and cardamom pods — and a pinch of salt.
Heat the mixture until it is steaming (not boiling) and hot to the touch. Reduce the heat to warm, cover and let stand for 1 hour.
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Leave mixture with tea leaves for 15 minutes:
Reheat the mixture until steaming hot again (again not boiling), add the black tea leaves, remove from the heat, stir in the tea and let steep for 15 minutes. Use a fine-mesh strainer to strain the tea and spices, and pour the infused milk-cream mixture into a separate bowl.
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Add sugar to the milk and cream mixture:
Return the milk and cream mixture to the heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the sugar to the milk and cream mixture and heat, stirring, until the sugar has completely dissolved.
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Place the remaining cream in a bowl over an ice bath, with a sieve:
While the tea steeps in the previous step, prepare the remaining 1 cup heavy cream over an ice bath. Pour the heavy cream into a medium metal bowl and set in ice water (with plenty of ice) over a larger bowl. Place a colander on the bowls. Put aside.
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Temper eggs with hot milk and cream mixture:
Whisk egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly pour the heated milk and cream mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly so the yolks are tempered by the warm mixture but not cooked. Scrape the warmed egg yolk back into the saucepan.
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Cook pudding base until thickened:
Return the saucepan to the stovetop and stir the mixture constantly over medium-high heat with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir until the mixture thickens and covers the spoon, allowing you to run your finger over the coating and the coating does not run. This can take about 10 minutes.
The moment this happens, the mixture should be immediately removed from the heat and poured through the strainer over the ice bath to stop the cooking in the next step.
If the custard base doesn’t cover the back of the spoon, it’s not done.
The pudding base covers the back of the spoon.
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Pour the pudding through the sieve into the cream over the ice bath:
Stir into the cold cream to stop the cooking.
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Cool thoroughly:
After chilling in the ice bath for the first time, chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (at least a couple of hours).
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Processing in the ice cream machine:
Stir the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
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Store in the freezer:
Store in an airtight container in your freezer for several hours before consuming. Note that the ice comes out of the ice cream maker quite soft. It will continue to harden in your freezer. If you store it for more than a day, you may need to let it sit for a few minutes to soften before attempting to scoop.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 368 | calories |
| 27g | Fat |
| 24g | carbohydrates |
| 9g | protein |
