Red adzuki bean ice cream

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 110 g adzuki beans
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 300 ml water, more if needed
• 3 egg yolks
• 225 ml whole milk
• 140 g sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 225 g whipped cream
• 1 vanilla pod(s), including the pulp

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 6 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 3 hours; Total time approx. 9 hours 30 minutes

surprising ice cream flavor from Japan

Soak the dried adzuki beans in water overnight. The next day, bring the drained beans to a boil with sugar, lemon juice, a little salt, and 300 ml of water. First, boil vigorously for three minutes, then simmer on low heat for two hours, until the beans are very soft. You may need to add a little more water occasionally. If you don’t want to spend that much time or can’t find dried beans, you can substitute 300 grams of ready-made adzuki paste from an Asian store. Kidney beans are not an alternative and would not produce a satisfactory result. To make the ice cream, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until frothy. Bring the milk, cream, a little salt, and the scraped seeds of the vanilla pod to a boil. Slowly pour the mixture into the yolk mixture, stirring constantly. Heat everything again over a bain-marie until the egg mixture begins to thicken at around 70 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Fahrenheit). Add the drained beans and puree thoroughly with a hand blender. If you want smooth ice cream, strain the mixture through a sieve again. It’s okay if there are still small pieces of beans in the finished ice cream. Some people even prefer this method. Freeze in an ice cream maker and let it harden in the freezer. Chill in the refrigerator for an hour before serving. If your guests discuss the delicious flavor, no one will be able to recognize the actual base.