YUZU Lime Ice Cream

I adapted this recipe from Jeni Britton Bauer's book,  called Jenis Splendid Ice Cream at Home. Which, by the way, has the most interesting, unique ice cream recipes I've ever heard. Some of the ingredients might be a bit challenging to find at your local grocery store, such as ylang ylang oil, or piment d'espelette pepper for example, but no worry, she actually gives a few sources where to buy them online.

When I got this book from my friend as a gift, I was pretty excited as I never own an ice cream book before. I was also wondering if I ever told him that  I am not as crazy about ice cream as the rest of my family. So, I put the book on my coffee table so that I wouldn't forgot about it, and at least try one recipe while  my nephew were still here spending time with our family during the summer. It would be fun to make ice cream with them, so I thought! Well, I was way too busy to entertained them, and couldn't find the time to spare to make ice cream. But, I did find a time to read every single recipe in the book at night when my nephews were gone to sleep. As time goes by, summer is practically almost over, and the kids are gone back to their faraway home, I started to organize what I was originally planned to make. First, I must try the one that sounded pretty easy, and ingredients that weren't difficult to find. Backyard mint ice cream, that was it. I like mint, plus,  I have spearmint in my garden. I thought it must be good! That was my original plan, but then it all changed after my husband and I  went to nursery and found Yuzu lime tree that bears quite a bit of fruit in every branches. So,  I decided to try this extremely fragrant and delicious  lime instead of mint. My God, I was not disappointed, the flavor of this ice cream turned out to be the most delicious ice cream I've ever had in my life. I am an ice cream convert because of this book. I can not thank enough to my friend who give me this book. Thanks Anthony!

YUZU Lime Ice Cream
Recipe adapted from Jeni's "Backyard Mint Ice Cream"
makes about 1 quart

2 cups whole milk
1 tbs plus 1 tsp corn starch
1 1/2 oz (3 tbs) cream cheese, softenend
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbs light corn syrup
Yuzu lime zest (from 2 limes)

Mix 2 tablespoon of milk and corn starch to make slurry. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese and sea salt until smooth. Set aside.

Add water and ice cube in to a large bowl to make ice water bath. Set aside.

Put the remaining milk, heavy cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a sauce pan. Bring to a rolling boil on medium high heat, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, slowly whisk in the slurry. Return the pan to the heat, cook for another one minute. Remove from the heat.  Add Yuzu lime zest, cool slightly. after the mixture is cooled, pour into ziplock bag, place the bag in a bowl, add more ice cubes if necessary. Cool completely until it is very cold. Or, you can also omit the water bath, and do the cooling process in the refrigerator, if you do this, you will need to  refrigerate for about  4 hours, or overnight.

If you like, you can strain the lime zest, I didn't bother to do so as I love to bite into the fragrant flavor of this zest. Pour the mixture into ice cream maker, and process until thick and creamy.

Transfer the ice cream into container, press a piece of parchment paper directly on top of ice cream, then cover the container with airtight lid. Freeze in coldest part of freezer at least 4 hours.

Kue Apam (Indonesian Steam Rice Cake With Palm Sugar and Pandan Leaves)

Like most Indonesian kue, kue  apam is  not cloyingly  sweet, the appearance is quite pretty, and  the fragrant from pandan leaves and coconut milk is hard to resist. Most recipe I found suggested to serve kue apam with freshy grated coconut season with salt, I don't exactly remember to eat this with coconut back then, but maybe Balinese serve it differently from the Javanese. I am not sure. But next time, I'll definitely do that, I bet it tastes delicious. 

Kue Apam (Indonesian Steam Rice Cake With Palm Sugar and Pandan Leaves)
recipe adapted from this site
make 12

Ingredients
150 g gula Jawa (Javanese palm sugar), chopped into small pieces
175 ml coconut water/juice
3 pandan leaves (knotted)
150 gr rice flour
100 gr pastry flour
1/2 tsp instant yeast
180 ml thick coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

In a sauce pan add gula Jawa or palm sugar, coconut water, and pandan leaves. Boil until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat, strain, and measure 225 ml. Set aside to keep warm.

Place  rice flour into a bowl, slowly pour the warm syrup a little at the time while keep mixing it into the flour. Continue mixing until the batter is smooth. Set aside to cool completely. Once cooled, add  pastry flour, yeast, coconut milk, and salt. Using a whisk, mix until smooth and well combine. Cover the bowl with kitchen towel, let rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat the steamer over high heat. Line 12 small oven proof cups or ramekins with paper cups, then using a pastry brush, lightly oiled the paper cups. 

Add the baking powder into the batter, mix well. Spoon the batter into prepared cups. Transfer onto the steamer, cover with its lid, and steam for 30 minutes. Try to resist to open the lid while it is still cooking.

For YeastSpotting!

Kuih (Kue) Lapis. Malaysian and Indonesian Layered Steam Rice Cake Flavored With Pandan and Coconut Milk.

This is my first attempt of making kuih (kue, as Indonesian called it) lapis, that I miss so much.  After searching for recipe through various sites, I decided to settle with Lily's recipe because the amount of  ingredients she uses seem manageable (you see, I do not want to have a huge cake just for me and my husband). This  recipe is pretty simple and easy to prepare, but it does require a bit of patient  of creating such layers. The process of steaming each layer, pouring it a ladle at a time, which will take between 3 to 5 minutes. It also depends on how many colour you want to create, and perhaps how good your steamer is,  it can take up to an hour to make it. Unlike baking a cake where you can leave it alone in the oven, then you can go off do other chore; making this kuih mean you must stay around the kitchen until it is done. At least that was my experience.

The verdict: although I like the end result of this kuih (kue), it's a little bit chewier that I like it to be. So, I still want to try to make another kuih using different ingredients such as tapioca, sago, or green bean flour as the main ingredient. Which I am hoping that the texture will be  much softer, just the way I remember it. 

Kuih Lapis (Layered Steam Rice Cake With Pandan and Coconut Milk)
Recipe adapted from Lily Wai Sek Hong
make 1 (one) 8-inch square cake

150 gr rice flour
30 gr mung bean flour
560 ml coconut milk
180 gr sugar
150 ml water
1/2 tsp salt
1 pandan leave, cut into three
a drop of green food coloring

In a medium bowl, mix rice flour, mungbean flour, and coconut milk until well combine. Set aside to rest for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, boil sugar, water, salt, and pandan leaves. Remove from the heat, cool completely.

lightly oiled an 8 inches square tin then place it inside the steamer. Make sure you have plenty of water in the steamer. Place the steamer on the stove, turn the heat to high and let the water to become boil (you want the water to rolling boiling).

Pour the cooled syrup into rice flour mixture and mix well. Strain into another bowl to ensure that the batter is free from any lumps. Divide the batter into two equal portions. Add a drop of green food coloring in one of the batter, mix well.

Pour a ladle of green batter into preheated tin, close the steamer, and steam for 3 minutes. Now add a ladle of plain batter, cover, steam for 3 minutes. Repeat this process until all batter has been used up. When the top layer is set (also take about 3 minutes), continue to steam for another 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, and cool completely. Once cool, cut into desire shapes and sizes before servings.