Ever heard of genmaicha?

A few years ago, Rosah van Schendelen reached the final of MasterChef Netherlands and currently works as head chef at A Beautiful Mess in the Amsterdam Bijlmer Bajes. In Chef’s Secret, Rosah explains how to apply a high-end cooking technique in your own kitchen. This week: genmaicha ice cream, or in other words: roasted rice ice cream. 

Although the average tea lover has probably already drunk litres of it, until recently I had never heard of genmaicha – let alone pronounced it out loud, tasted it or made it myself. That changed when I read an article about making Japanese green tea combined with roasted brown rice, or in other words: genmaicha tea. Completely ordinary in Japan, but for me a wonderful discovery.

I was lucky enough to have a pack of wholegrain rice in my kitchen cupboard too. I gently toasted it in a dry pan over low heat until it turned a lovely light brown and started to smell fragrant. Then I let the rice steep in hot water in a tea strainer for about three minutes.

Pretty funny, but what does it taste like?

Like a cup of tea with a popcorn flavour. Without, in my opinion, the unpleasant polystyrene-like mouthfeel that popcorn can sometimes bring with it. You probably also remember the smell and taste of soggy cornflakes in lukewarm, sweetened milk? That is exactly what genmaicha tastes like. And it is incredibly pleasant.

Cereal Milk Icecream

I’m not the only one who finds this flavour both nostalgic and fantastic. Christina Tosi – the New York pastry chef and owner of Milk Bar – became famous for her Cereal Milk Icecream. Genmaicha is slightly different, but has exactly the same effect. A taste of home.

Of course, you can start brewing delicious cups of genmaicha tea for your guests, but you can also score extra points by turning it into ice cream. In fact: roasted rice ice cream, topped with puffed rice. Trust me, this recipe makes it incredibly easy.

Method (for approx. 1 litre)

1. Toast the rice in a dry pan until it turns a lovely light brown and starts to smell fragrant.

2. Heat the milk and cream in a bain-marie. Add the toasted rice and leave to infuse for approx. 1 hour. Taste to see whether the flavour is already strong enough, as ice cream always loses some flavour once you taste it frozen. Is the flavour not strong enough yet? Repeat step 1 and leave to infuse for another approx. 1 hour.

3. Strain the rice from the ice cream base. Heat the mixture to approx. 70 °C. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and salt until light and airy. Add to the ice cream base and keep stirring until it reaches a temperature of 82 °C. The egg yolks will now start to cook, making the ice cream base visibly thicker. Strain the ice cream base once more and leave to cool. Chill the base in the refrigerator for another approx. 1 hour, until thoroughly cold.

4. Whisk the cold ice cream base until slightly thickened. Have an ice cream maker? Pour the mixture into it and select the appropriate programme. The ice cream base will slowly turn into creamy ice cream. Don’t have an ice cream maker? Pour the ice cream base into a shallow container. Stir thoroughly every approx. 30 minutes to prevent ice crystals from forming. After a few hours, you’ll notice that the ice cream has the perfect consistency for scooping delicious balls.

5. All you need to do now is puff the wild rice. Heat a layer of oil in a wok over medium heat to 190 °C. Carefully add the rice to the hot oil and wait for the grains to start puffing. Remove the puffed rice from the wok with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.