Scrumptious homemade chocolate ice cream

How my scrumptious chocolate ice cream looked like after staying in the fridge for over 24 hours. As tasty as fresh + Very scoop-able.

I have made at least 10 batches of ice cream since the purchase of my ice cream maker last year. While I loved every single batch, something is just not right:

• While they are all smooth and rich when freshly made, the texture become icy and hard once frozen overnight! 
• I used the best chocolate, different mix-in, but they taste nothing like Haagen Dazs. 
• I might not have the patience for that egg yolk cooking process. I've thrown out many batches of overcooked egg yolk since. What a waste!

What is missing? I've read so many "scientific" ice cream making articles. I tried different ideas.  The best texture, best tasting ice cream I made was the one I made with sweetened chestnut cream (creme de maroon) so I didn't have to add white sugar. But making ice cream with liquid sugar doesn't seem to make that difference.

Finally I read the Kitchn "Best homemade chocolate ice cream" article which was just posted last month. It has condensed milk in the recipe, which is also an ingredient on the Haagen Dazs box! Haagen Dazs is my favourite store brand ice cream.   I think I found the holy grail. I made it immediately this weekend. O dear! This is just how Haaden Dazs belgium chocolate ice cream tastes like. That rich chocolate flavour with a hint of caramelised taste. That is it! That is the secret I have been searching for! 

A few tips/reminders on ice cream making:

• Use condensed milk!
• Whisk the heavy cream until standing, then add/fold it in the other ingredients gently as per recipes. That seems to make the product more fluffy and less dense/hard. 
• Dutch processed cocoa powder really make that chocolate flavour stands out
• Whisk the custard for the one last time before putting in the ice cream maker
• I reduced the sugar content but added more chocolate than the recipe called for. The product seemed fine

Scrumptious chocolaty chocolate ice cream

1. Melt 200g chocolate in a bowl sitting on top of boiling hot water. I used Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate, 54% cocoa.  (original recipe called for 6 oz or 170g chocolate - mix of milk and dark)

2. Whisk 1 cup of Heavy Cream until standing

3. Add the 1 cup of cream (whisked), 2 cups of fresh milk, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup condensed milk, 3 big table spoons of dutch-pressed cocoa power.  (original recipe called for 3/4 cup of sugar)

4. Heat on medium-high until simmering for 2-3 minutes. Continue whisking occasionally 

5. Gradually add the hot dairy mixture into the melted chocolate. Blend throughoutly. 

6. Put in freezer until cooled (approx 1 hour?)

7. Whisk the mixture again before putting in the ice cream maker. 

8. Pour the mixture in the ice cream maker. I churned it for at least 50 minutes. 

9. Move the churned mixture into a pre-frozen container.

VIOLA!! This is how it looks after 10 hours of freezing. I was in such a rush to try out the new recipe that I forgot to add any mix in. 

This will be my go-to recipe. I will try condensed milk on other flavours ice cream =)))))

I'm so excited!

Gluten free lunch at home - SUSHI!

It was so hot and rainy the past weekend we decided we would spend the Sunday indoor at home. Stay at home weekend could be lots of fun!

We made sushi (maki roll) for lunch and Mochi the little one enjoyed the experience - preparing and eating. And it is a super healthy lunch for adult and kid alike.

And it is simple! Instead of one of us doing all the cooking in the kitchen, everyone gets to participate. Just wrap all the ingredients of your choice in rice and seaweed! We did not dip our sushi in soy sauce as it is so flavourful as it is! 

Little Mochi usually takes at least an hour to finish her lunch. She also has little patient to sit at the dining table with us. However, for the Saturday sushi lunch, she finished her food the same time as we did! Well actually we were eating as we make the maki rolls to make sure the seaweed remain crispy. 

What we put in the sushi? 

• little white fish, 
• salmon (seasoned with salt, pan fried and flaked), 
• sliced cucumber, 
• fried egg (seasoned with salt). 
• avocado!
• sesame
• shrimp and other seafood
• Spam (yay Hawaiian spam musubi!). I used a Japanese brand with no flavour enhancers.

How about sushi rice?

• Cooked rice (2 bowls)
• White vinegar (60ml or adjust to your taste) - any gluten-free white vinegar... as some rice vinegar may not be gluten-free
• Sugar (3 spoons or adjust to your taste)
• Salt (pinch)

You may adjust the vinegar and sugar based on the actual taste. We prefer it less sweet.

You may also add quinoa when cooking rice. 

How to cook rice without a rice cooker? 

I never had a rice cooker until the past few years! Here is how I did it:

- rinse your uncooked rice in water 

- put the rice in a pot (I used clay pot)

- add water such that the level of water is about 1cm above the level of rice

(So the water : rice proportion is approximately N cup of rice to N+1 cup of water)

Bon appetite!

Gluten free fusilli pasta (Carbonara)

I don't know why my photos get rotated automatically by blogger... And sorry, pic of the final product is missing.

Gluten Free Fusilli pasta is from Toronto. Gogo Quinoa, made with Rice and Quinoa.

Casa Rinaldi Cabonara sauce is from Il Bel Paese on Queens Road East, Hong Kong. It doesnt say gluten free but it listed rice starch in ingredient list.

I cooked it for ~ 15+min. And then mix in the Casa Rinaldi sauce.

Pasta: (8/10). It looks a bit whiter than wheat pasta. Texture is bit chewy as regular pasta. But most pasta broke into smaller pieces. Cooking time seems a bit longer than regular cuz they are kinda thick. It tasted good. No particular strong egg or rice flavour. Overall a decent to nice pasta. =) Your family probably can't tell that this is GF.


Side note: Il Bel Paese in Hong Kong sells gluten free (corn) pasta for about $69 500g =) But since I got so many from Toronto & Germany. I'll try Il Bel Paese's later.

Gluten free bread maker

One thing I miss the most since I started my gluten free diet is bread - Soft and chewy bread. ummm

In my Tokyo trip research, I came across an article saying that Sanyo developed a rice breadmaker that would turn rice to loaf of bread in 4 hours, with gluten free option. The machine won't be on sale til October >_< However, I'm going to taste the rice bread at Gopan Cafe in ZipZap burger shop in Harajuku, Tokyo(through 30 September, 6-9-11 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku www.zip-zap.jp).

Hope they will also sell this bread machine in Hong Kong!