Red Bean and Black Sesame Ice Cream

After the moffle party a couple of weeks ago, I had a lot of leftover sweetened red beans and sweetened condensed milk left over so I decided to make some red bean ice cream like last time. Except I didn't have enough sweetened condensed milk so when I taste tested the mixture before churning it, it didn't seem quite sweet enough. I also happened to have some leftover instant black sesame powder, so I decided to add that to the mix, and voila! Red bean and and black sesame ice cream!

Red Bean and Black Sesame Ice Cream
makes about 1 quart

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 cup sweetened red beans
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup instant sesame powder

Mix all the ingredients and freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions. Harden overnight in the freezer.

It was so simple to make and not surprisingly, perfect on moffles! I think next time I may try to make a black sesame ice cream. And I still dream about making a pure white almond ice cream....

Red Bean Ice Cream

So I had some leftover sweetened condensed milk from making mayonnaise shrimp and some leftover sweetened red beans from making the nian gao and put them in the same container thinking I could make some shaved ice later. But then I realized that it's way too cold for shaved ice and decided to try to make red bean ice cream instead (don't ask me why ice cream is acceptable but shaved ice isn't; it just is, okay?) I also had some leftover heavy cream from making the peppermint ice cream so I added what I had left along with an equal amount of skim milk. Alternatively, you can use 1 1/2 cups half and half since half and half is half cream and half milk. And I just wrote "half" 6 times in that sentence. =)

Red Bean Ice Cream
makes 1 quart

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup sweetened red beans
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup milk

Mix the ingredients and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours until cold.

Churn in a ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Freeze for several hours or overnight until hardened.

Usually you don't add the non-liquid parts of an ice cream batter to the ice cream maker until the end, but I wanted to mash up the red beans a bit and get the red color incorporated into the ice cream so threw them in there from the really beginning. I love how you can taste the flavor of the sweetened condensed milk, and it reminds me of shaved ice without being all icy.

You know, I think this is the first recipe I've come up with all by myself without adapting anyone else's!

Next: My attempt at making red bean mochi ice cream....

Nian Gao (aka Mochi Cake)

Another Chinese dessert that is traditionally eating in the winter, or more specifically, for the New Year, is nian gao. Similar to the Korean dduk and Japanese mochi, it is made from glutinous rice flour, which can be found in Asian grocery stores. Make sure you get the glutinous version (I buy the green bag with the 3 elephants on it) versus regular rice flour (the red bag with the 3 elephants on it). This recipe (from Joanna Lee) has sweetened red beans baked into it and is very rich because of all the butter. You could use a little less butter, but really, why would you want to?

Nian Gao (Mochi Cake with Red Beans)
makes 24 pieces

1 stick unsalted butter, melted (and cooled to room temperature)
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups milk, warmed to a little hotter than a fever
1 pound (16 ounces) glutinous rice flour (the green bag with the 3 elephants on it)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 (18.75 ounce) can red bean paste or sweetened red beans

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and milk. Stir in the rice flour and baking powder. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Drop red bean paste by scant teaspoonfuls onto the top of the cake. If spoonfuls are too big, the filling will sink to the bottom.

Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cake springs back when lightly touched. It should be golden.

Serve small slices of this very rich cake at room temperature or slightly warmed.

The hardest part about making this dish is getting all the ingredients to mix. You don't want the butter to be too hot or else it will cook the eggs, but if the milk is straight out of the fridge it will solidify the butter. If you do run into that problem, you could try microwaving the mixture just enough so that the butter melts again, but I think it is easier to get the milk warm before adding it to the butter.

For extra decadence, you can slice the nian gao into thin slices, dip them in beaten egg, and pan-fry for Cantonese-style nian gao.