Green Tea Ice Cream

Living in tropical weather sure is an advantage where ice cream is concerned. You can have it all year round! Not that any kind of seasons will keep you from having one if you are overly crazy over ice cream. This is the first ice-cream that I chose from my latest collections of recipe books, David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop" and it is delicious! I reduced about 3 tablespoons of sugar from the original and it turned out just right. The colour is not as green, I have to start looking for a really good quality japanese green tea powder, that would make a whole lot of difference! This is a really great book, with lots of tips and pointers and the great thing is that most of the ingredients are readily available over here too! So, if you have an ice-cream maker and a great book like this, there's no reason not to make some delicious homemade ice-cream. Just as David Lebovitz says, prepare to be vowed!

Green Tea Ice Cream
(adapted from "The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz)
~ makes about 1 quart (1 liter) ~

Ingredients :
1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
3/4 cup (150 gm) sugar (I reduce about 3 tbsps)
pinch of salt
2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream
4 tsps matcha (green tea powder)
6 large egg yolks

Method :
Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Pour the cream into a large bowl and whisk in the green tea powder. Set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking , then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream, then whisk it vigorously until the custard is frothy to dissolve the green tea powder. Stir until cool over ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.