Masala Chai Ice Cream

A masala is a mixture of spices, and contrary to popular belief, it does not have to be a mixture of hot or spicy spices.  (Garam masala, however is a mixtures of spicy spices, as the word garam means hot or spicy.)  Masala chai is tea infused with a variety of spices.  Usually, the extra spices are ginger, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom, but others can be added as well.  Generally, the tea is not spicy, but depending on the mixture of spices you add can make it a little spicier than expected.  

One of our wedding gifts was a Cusinart Ice Cream Maker, which we used all of once, to make basic vanilla ice cream at home.  The true ice cream addict that I am, my mind started churning on what I could make next.  I absolutely love chai lattes, so I decided to concoct a recipe that could turn a chai latte into chai ice cream.  It turned out wonderfully, so for anyone with an ice cream maker, do try it out.

Ingredients

4 egg yolks

250 ml milk (100% milk fat), about 1 cup

250 ml heavy cream

150 ml sugar (less if you don't like your ice cream very sweet)

3 tablespoons masala tea powder

If you don't have masala tea powder, you can use two or three black tea bags, 3 crushed green cardamom, five or six cloves, about 1/2 a teaspoon of minced ginger, one cinnamon stick.  

1)  Beat the egg yolks and sugar until the volume of the mixture increases and turns pale yellow.  It will be smooth and custardy.

2) Heat milk and cream over stove, stirring constantly until scalding.  Add in tea powder or tea bags and collection of spices.  The milk will turn a light coffee color.  Continuously stir to make sure the milk does not burn or boil over.

3).  Strain milk mixture to remove spices and/ or tea powder.  Take a small portion of the milk mixture, and add it slowly to the eggs and sugar, while beating constantly.  Make sure you do this, so that you can bring the temperature of the egg mixture up to the temperature of the milk without cooking the eggs.  Add a little more of the milk and continue beating.  Finally, add the rest of the milk and beat until fully incorporated and smooth.

4)  Cover and set aside in the refrigerator or freezer to cool.  Once room temperature, pour the mixture into your ice cream maker, following directions as provided by the manufacturer.

5)  Serve and enjoy!  

If you can't get the ice cream "frozen" enough in the maker, you can put it in the freezer.  Because of the eggs, the ice cream will stay fairly creamy, even if finished off in the freezer.