Azuki Ice Cream
For those who love Azuki, red bean paste, this is the ultimate Japanese ice cream, the result is a creamy, sweet, and slightly nutty cold refreshing treat with bits of chewy red azuki beans inside.
Azuki, red bean paste, is one of the main ingredients of Asian traditional dessert. The paste is made by boiling and mashing the Azuki beans, and then it is sweetened or left as it is. It is not that difficult to make, but it does take some time. You can certainly purchase ready made red bean paste in cans, but it can be overly sweet. I kept mine pretty low in sugar because I knew it was going in ice cream.
There are mainly two types of red bean paste, mashed and smooth red bean paste. For this recipe I used a mashed paste, so you can have little pieces of red bean in each bite.
Red bean paste
Ingredients:
300 g Azuki bean soaked overnight
150g Sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Wash and strain the Azuki beans. In a large pot, add Azuki beans and pour water until 2cm above the beans. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat for 5 minutes. Drain the beans and discard the water.
Return the beans to the pot and pour water until 2cm above the beans. Cover, and simmer over medium low heat until the beans are soft and easily breakable for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Turn off the heat, and let it cool for about 20 minutes.
Strain and discard the liquid. Using a hand blender, mash the bean coarsely. You may add little bit water to help mashing the beans.
Put the mashed beans back into the pot in medium heat. Add granulated sugar while stirring constantly. Add salt and turn off the heat.
Let it cool completely before storing red bean paste into the fridge
Red bean Ice cream
Ingredients:
300g Whole milk
40g Double cream
90g Sugar
1g Salt
1/2 Vanilla Essence
Mix all the ingredients together and process the ice cream in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions, usually about 20 minutes.
Once the Ice cream is ready, transfer in a container, add few scoop of red bean paste and swirl gently with a spoon. Allow to freeze completely in the freezer. Enjoy!
Azuki ice Cream served with coconut Crémeux , Pandan steamed sponge, Gula Melaka Crumble.