Name: Red Bean Ice Cream
Yield: Makes a scant 2 quarts
Ingredients: 3 cups whole milk; 1 cup heavy (whipping) cream; 2/3 cup sugar; 1/8 teaspoon salt; 3 egg yolks; 2 tablespoons cornstarch; 1 3/4 cups Anko (red-bean paste); 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract (optional)

A lot of commercial red bean ice creams are just your basic, junky, mass-produced ice creams made with inferior ingredients like gums and thickeners, with a little of the red-bean paste called anko stirred in. Not so the following: a custard-based, from-scratch ice cream, enriched with enough anko so that you really get both its flavor and the extra creaminess contributed by its starch. The vanilla is optional; some feel it detracts from the red- beaniness, but I think it enhances it.

If you want to go to town with this one, serve it in scoops sprinkled with a little matcha (brightly colored powdered green tea), and offer matcha-flavored meringues alongside; you can make them from the egg whites you'll have left over from the ice cream.

Those who are allergic to dairy products can make this using canned full-fat unsweetened coconut milk: substitute 4 cups for the milk and cream.

Recipe notes

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