Homemade Ice Cream : Strawberry Ice Cream

I was in the mood for buying fruits last week and when I saw the rows and rows of fresh fruit at the supermarket aisle, I could not resist myself, and bought 2 boxes of organic strawberries, 2 large mangoes and a box of organic golden kiwi .  But to my horror, I was so busy last week that I entirely forgot about them.  When I discovered them again on Thursday, some was turning mushy.  I threw away those mushy ones and macerated the remaining and decided to make ice cream with them.

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

Those who know me, knows that I am not so great a fan on strawberry ice-cream, or in fact any that taste like strawberry milk.  I prefer the fresh clean taste of fresh strawberries.  But my daughter begged and begged and I decided to make ice cream instead of sorbet.  However, after it was made and I tasted it the second day, I realised it did not taste so bad as store bought strawberry ice-cream, in fact the chips of strawberries made it rather refreshing and so I just went on spoon after spoon on the scoop of ice cream which I insisted my husband taste for me.

The ice cream below was made over the period of 2 days.  3 days infact as I left it overnight on the second day for the churned ice cream to harden till store bought texture and my daughter was asking over and over and over again when she can have it.  So you do need a little bit of planning if you intend to make this ice cream.

[Recipe Adapted from Making Artisan Gelato by Torrance Kopfer]
Ingredients:

 Strawberries Puree:
~400 g of strawberries
1 1/2 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of lemon juice

Strawberry Add in:
~200g of strawberries
3 tbsp of sugar

Ice Cream Base:
400 ml of fresh cream
350 ml of milk
120 g of castor sugar
2 egg yolks




Method:

First Day:

1.  Making the Strawberry puree.  Hull the strawberries for making strawberry puree.  Cut them in halve. Add in sugar and lemon juice and toss well.  Store them in refrigerator in an air tight container overnight.  Puree the strawberry the next day (discard the juice that has been drawn out) in a blender till smooth.

2. Macerate the strawberry add-ins.  Hull the strawberries.  Cut into small bite size.  Add in the suger, toss well and store them in another air-tight container overnight.

2nd Day:

3.  On the second day. Heat the milk about 100 ml of the cream in the saucepan, together with the 1/2 the sugar on a stovetop over low flame.  Stir constantly till the sugar has dissolved.  When the milk has just bubbled, remove from stove top.

4.  In a large bowl, break in the 2 large egg yolks, and remaining sugar.  Whisk till the mixture foams and lighten.

5.  Temper the eggs by slowly ladelling the 1/2 the amount of warm milk into the whisked eggs while whisking at the same time.  Pour this mixture back into the warm milk saucepan.

6.  Return the mixture back onto the stove at low flame.  Heat the mixture while constantly stirring with a wooden spatula and scrapping the bottom of the pan till the mixture thickens and start coating the back of the spatular.  Then remove the pot from the flame.

7.  In a large bowl place ice, salt and water.  Put another smaller mixing bowl (but must be able to still accommodate and mix) into the ice mixture.  Pour the remaining cream into the mixing bowl and the cooked custard in (6) into the mixing bowl.  Whisk till the mixture is well mixed and cooled down.  Put the mixture into the refrigerator for at least about 4 hours.

8.  Churn the mixture in 7 in the ice cream maker .  When ready, transfer the ice cream into a plastic tub, stir in the strawberry mix-ins and freeze till storebought hardness.

Cheong Fan with a Japanese Twist （日式肠粉）

The favourite breakfast for my daughter, Danielle, must the Chee Cheong Fun (Steamed Rice Roll).  The Chee Cheong Fun must have originated from the Cantonese, as one can surely find them in any restaurants or shops selling Dim Sum (点心).

The cheong fun served in Singapore at the normal shops that sells breakfast are usually simpler in style than those served in the dim sum restaurants (which contains stuffings of shrimp or char siew - a sweet roast pork).  These cheong fun are usually steamed and cut into pieces, drizzled with a little fried shallot oil and sweet sauce (and chilli sauce if required) and sprinkled with sesame seeds.  When I was younger, each rice roll was only 30 cents and I would only need about amost 1 1/2 to fill my stomach (my elder brother would always be glad to finish the rest for me).  But the price has slowly crept up over the years, and how each roll can cost as much as $1.00 at some shops.

I have since stop buying from these shops mainly because of two reasons:
(1)  rice rolls are easily available at most of the beancurd stalls at wet markets from $2.20 to $2.60 for a packet of 10 rolls.
(2)  My daughter and son actually do not like sweet sauce, so they usually have their cheong fun with a drizzle of sesame oil and light soya sauce.
So I usually prefer to buy my own and steam it in the morning for them as breakfast. 

Recently, I found that I had a bottle of Japanese Goma sauce (sesame dip) which I left over from my last steamboat meal.  (I like to dip it with sliced beef).  Somehow, I decided to add it my cheong fun....and boy did I really like it.  My kids still like theirs plain and cannot appreciate the Goma sauce, but my husband loves it as well.  You should really try it the next time you have your cheong fun. 

Recipe:

1 bottle of Goma Sauce

Light soya sauce

Sesame oil

2 rolls of rice rolls (cheong fun) - This is for each person.  This can be bought at most beancurd stalls.  For those living abroad, they are readily available at stalls carrying Asian or Vietnamese food.

Sesame seed (toasted in a frying pan till fragrant but not charred)

Method:

1.  Steam the rice rolls over a wok of water for about 10 min to warm it up.

2.  Transfer the rice rolls to a serving plate.  Cut the rice rolls with a scissors into bite size length or quarters.  (I like mine quartered, my daughter likes hers bitesize.)

3.  Drizzle sesame oil over.  Then drizzle light soya sauce to taste.  Finally drizzle in the Goma Sauce over.

4.  Sprinkle with the toasted sesame seed.  (As much as you like!)  And it is ready for serving.

This is especially an easy breakfast, I usually steam the rice rolls while brushing my teeth and assemble them after that.