Coolish, Melon Soda Japanese Ice Cream in a sachet tube.

Coolish, Melon Soda Japanese Ice Cream in a sachet tube.

Coolish is another ice cream that is really easy to eat. I wish we had ice cream that was easy to consume in the heat and for little children since it is so clever. The Coolish ice creams are available in a variety of tastes, including vanilla and Calpis (which is a Japanese soft drink that just about every store in Japan and a lot outside of Japan sell). 

This one was only available in the spring and was flavoured with Melon Soda. It was a little strange, but really it was more like a thick shake or smoothie drink, not really an ice cream. Actually its meant to be like an Ice Cream Spider (some would call it and Ice Cream Float) and the picture on the package does show that. It's not fizzy, though, almost as if the soft drink sode had became flat and the ice cream melted but was re-frozen. I don’t know how to accurately sum up the flavour but it is like sugary melon and cream. Like a creamy soft drink I guess. It was nice, and I'd suggest it.

Like a lot of ice Creams, this is made by Lotte and was around 150yen, something like that.

 

Really easy Japanese Red Bean Ice Cream Recipe to make at home - Adzuki bean ice cream

Really easy Japanese Red Bean Ice Cream Recipe to make at home - Adzuki bean ice cream recipe

I reckon Adzuki Red bean is one of the most popular flavours in so many Japanese sweets and desserts.  Its importance in lollies and sweets is just like our love for chocolate in Western desserts.  Even though I have been in Japan for a few years now I miss the red bean taste in so many desserts, reminds me so much of holidays there in Japan.

To be truthful, there is variety of beans to make Anko but if you say Anko in Japan, most of people will imagine red bean paste because red bean paste is most commonly used in a wide range of confectionery.

A lot of factory-made red bean ice creams are just your normal mass-produced ice creams made with cheap ingredients and thickeners, with a tiny blob of the red-bean paste (also called Anko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_bean_paste) mixed into it.

But this Red Bean ice cream recipe has a good amount of the adzuki bean paste so that you really get both its flavour and the extra creaminess from its starch. You can add a little vanilla if you want but that is completely optional; I like the full on red bean flavour but some may think the vanilla enhances it.

If you want to go all artisan ice cream with this one, serve it in scoops sprinkled with a little matcha powder (brightly coloured green tea powder).

Ingredients

• 100 g Adzuki red beans

• 100 ml Water

• 250 ml Coconut milk

• 250 ml Thickened cream

• 5 g Corn flour

• 200 g caster sugar

• pinch salt

Servings would be at least 4-6 people.

Directions

1.     Soak the beans overnight in plenty of cool water.
2.     The next morning, drain off the water, rinse the beans and drain again.
3.     Place the beans together with the water in a pot.
4.     Bring to boil, and then turn down the heat.
5.     Cover and simmer slowly for approximately 1.5 hours until the red bean mixture is reduced to just 2 cups.
6.     Add sugar and stir while bringing mixture to boil. Reduce heat to a simmer again.
7.     Mash the beans against the side of the pot with a spatula or spoon until the texture of the red bean soup is thick and lumpy. Kind of a red bean (adzuki/anko) jam.
8.     In a bowl, add salt and corn flour to coconut milk and cream and stir thoroughly until there are no more lumps.
9.     Add the coconut milk/cream solution gradually into the red beans, stirring until well-mixed. Remove from heat.
10.     When the mixture has cooled down, give it a thorough whisk, then pour into ice cream molds and freeze for 6 hours or until firm.

note - This ice cream is best served when just frozen. If its been in the freezer too long it becomes too hard, let it soften slightly in the fridge or at room temperature for a little before consuming.

Adzuki red bean paste (anko) jam for ice cream

A Japanese Ice Cream for Valentines Day

A Japanese Ice Cream for Valentines Day. I have been thinking about what type of Japanese Ice Cream could be good for Valentines day. It would have to be luxurious and delicious. This ice cream is both.
Japanese Haagen Daz Rare Cheese Cake ice cream. I don't usually like Haagen Daz but this one is fantastic.

It tastes exactly what the name says - each mouthful tastes like a little piece a cheesecake in my mouth, with a slight hint of lemon and sweet honey. Then you can taste the biscuit base with more lemon taste.
Just perfect.
Happy Valentines day everyone.
And below is a recipe to make your own Cheesecake Ice cream

This is how the company describes it and truly that's what it is like. Ice cream with cream cheese, from Tokachi, Hokkaido, Japan, soft lemon sauce, and fragrantly mixed texture with flaky and buttery biscuits. Glamorous honey with a refreshing lemon-scented honey source and combined with rich cream cheese ice cream, Haagen- rare cheese cake.

Japanese Cheesecake Icecream Recipe just like Haagen Daz.

175 ml Full cream milk 
200 grams of caster sugar 
I packet (125 grams) of cream cheese 
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract 
1 medium egg
Juice of a lemon
350 ml double cream 
50 grams crumbled digestive biscuits

Heat the milk in a pan, and while it's warming up, beat the sugar, cream cheese, egg and vanilla together in a bowl. Keep beating and pour the hot milk into the cream cheese mixture and then pour it all back into a  clean saucepan and cook till a smooth custard. Don't bother with a double boiler, and actually don't even keep the heat very low, but you will need to stir it constantly, and if you think there's any trouble ahead, plunge the pan into a sink half filled with cold water and whisk like mad and it will become smooth. It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes, this way, for the custard to cook. And when it has thickened, take it off the heat, pour into a bowl and let it cool, at which time add the lemon juice and then the double cream. Freeze in an ice cream maker or place into a covered container, stick it in the freezer and whip it out every hour for 3 hours as it freezes and give it a good beating, folding in the crushed buiscuits before the ice cream is set solid.
 Yum.

Not a bad ice cream at all - Japanese Dango, red beans and vanilla ice cream

Japanese Dango, red beans and vanilla ice cream.  This wasn't bad ice cream, just that it is plain vanilla.
It did have a lot of extrad goodies like red beans in the middle (you can just see them in the photo) and Dango. In case you don't know, Dango is a Japanese dumpling made from mochiko (rice flour) like Mochi.