Green Tea Ice Cream with 'Mochi' and Azuki Beans

This is one of the simpliest yummy Jap desert... but be warned that the cost of this dessert is not cheap :p So try this if you are making Jap cuisine or when you feel like you want to indulge.

I used dislike green tea ice cream. I mean, I'd rather drink the tea itself. Not until my friend CL first made this dessert for me and some friends years ago.. Simply add about 2 tsp of green tea powder (below) into 1L of softened vanilla ice cream (I used the low fat ones). Quickly whisk the powder into the ice cream (when I was lazy, I just used a spoon to mix. Just make sure it is done well) and then quickly place it back into the freezer to freeze.

Tip: If you have a 2L ice cream (which is the usual packaging in Oz), halve the ice cream in a big mixing bowl and then mix both portions separately and then combine them into the original container. You may notice that the overall volume shrinks a little. That is normal.

This small bottle of green tea powder for about A$8 at Yuen's. The exact one cost about S$6-7 in SG. It seems there is only this one brand/type available

Some have asked "Can I use green tea drink for substitute?" I can only say that it will definitely be quite different. This powder is a lot more concentrated. And besides, you do not want to add extra liquid into the ice cream. That liquid will freeze like ice, which is not what you want.

Next, for the 'mochi', the cheat version is to buy tang yuan (glutinous rice balls, sold at Asian grocery store in their frozen food section) with sesame filling. Cook them as per packet instructions. Once they are cooked, drain them and immediately place them into a bowl of cold water with ice. After about 10 mins, fish them out of the water and serve with green tea ice cream and red beans.

The Japanese sweetened red beans come in a can form. The cheapest at Yuen's cost A$5.99 and it is a big can, enough to probably produce 12 servings. For leftovers, eating it with green tea ice cream is good enough too! This red bean is so sweet... so just top the ice cream sparingly.

Hope you will enjoy this as much as I do!