Foodiva's Kitchen: Dragonfruit-Basil Mascarpone Ice Cream and Mochi Ice Cream

Monday, July 4, 2011

Dragonfruit-Basil Mascarpone Ice Cream and Mochi Ice Cream


Have you noticed how there've been way too many recipes using dragonfruit on this blog lately? It's not that I can't help myself, but I really can't! Red-fleshed dragonfruit is seasonal, just like strawberries, and rhubarb and God knows what else. It lasts a mere few months and then I have to wait nearly a whole year to do this again. A whole year of resisting using artificial pink food coloring. Yes, my name is Maya and I'm a PINK addict. Do you think I need to join a support group as a form of therapy? :-)


Dragonfruit ice cream topped with Dragon's Beard candy or Pashmak.

Last year, I made dragonfruit granita because it's easy and I hadn't yet gotten myself an ice cream machine. This year, things are a little different. I am now in possession of a brand new ice cream machine but the ice cream recipe still remains very easy. No cooking with eggs and cream and all that palaava.. The key, my friends, is mascarpone. This creamy cheese makes the whole process easier and produces a rich-textured ice cream without all the messing about. Dragonfruit being fairly tasteless, I added fresh basil to the ice cream mix to spike the flavors up. Think strawberry and basil, the idea is similar.


So here's what I did. I processed all the ingredients in the blender for about, oh, 30 seconds....maybe one minute max. Then I just poured everything into an ice cream machine and let it work its magic. Left the ice cream to harden in the freezer for about 4 hours and that's all there was to it. I get to scoop out this visually enticing fuschia-pink ice cream in roughly 19,200 heartbeats (being a fairly healthy girl). Whoever invented that custard-base method must've had too much free time on their hands.


I also tried my hand at making mochi ice cream again using this dragonfruit ice cream as a filling. My mochi shell this time around was chocolate-flavored, as I thought the dark and pink contrast would be quite attractive and I'm all for gorgeous food! My mochi dough-stretching technique was getting better but I still needed the help of a rolling pin, and I still used tons of cornstarch.... Someone out there please throw me some pearls of wisdom on the correct way to deal with unruly mochi dough. 


The mochi ice cream was melt-in-the-mouth delicious and perfect to munch on (yes, you munch the mochi) on a really hot day. It was well worth the extra effort. Well, I like to think so, anyway.


Dragonfruit-Basil Mascarpone Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1 cup chopped red-fleshed dragonfruit
1/2 cup mascarpone
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves
4-5 tablespoons honey

Method:
1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth (about 1 minute). Taste to adjust the sweetness.
2. Pour mixture into an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. Scoop the semi-frozen mixture into an airtight container and leave in the fridge to freeze further for at least 2-4 hours.

Chocolate and Dragonfruit Mochi Ice Cream
Ingredients:
50 g glutinous rice flour or sweet rice powder
100g sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
100ml water
cornstarch as needed

Method:
1. Spread cornstarch on a cutting board, use plenty so the mochi dough does not stick to the board.
2. Place the glutinous rice flour and cocoa in a glass bowl and add the water a little at a time, stirring to get rid of lumps. Add the sugar and mix it well again.
3. Next, cover the bowl with plastic food wrap (leave a breather gap) and cook in the microwave on medium for 2 minutes. Mix with a wooden spoon (dip it in water) and cook for around two more minutes. Stir quickly until the dough turns shiny and smooth. It is now ready to be spread.
4. Dip your spoon in water then spread the sweet rice dough onto the cutting board as flat as possible. Remember the dough is hot so take care.
5. Cover the dough with corn starch and flip it over. Then pull and stretch the edges and make the dough thinner.
6. Keep pulling and stretching until the dough is around 3 millimetres thin. If it tears a little, just patch the hole up with more dough.
7. Leave to cool a little and when the dough is cool enough, cut it into rounds using a large, round cutter or a bowl for the size. You now have nice, round mochi sheets.
8. To freeze the dough, cover each layer of mochi sheet with plastic wrap and dust with cornstarch then put it into the freezer.
9. Place a scoop of dragonfruit ice cream onto the centre of the mochi sheet. For a nice round mochi use an ice cream scoop.
10. Fold mochi over the ice cream and join the edges at the centre, pinch to close. Place in a round mold to form a nice shape and leave mold in the freezer until the ice cream hardens up. To serve, remove mochi ice cream from the mold, leave to thaw for 1-2 minutes and eat immediately.

37 comments:

Three-Cookies said...

Can you freeze dragonfruit? In that way you always have natural pink coloring:) I froze strawberries and realised they lost their sweetness on freezing. Frozen bananas maintain sweetness. Not sure which category dragonfruit will fall under.

Unknown said...

This is stunning and looks delicious and very pretty!

Norm said...

Gorgeous! And you may have just given me the inspiration I need to have another go with our ice-cream maker. We use it lots in the UK, but have been trying new recipes here as double cream is so expensive (and also 'not quite the same' as in England!). We've not really achieved any great success so far, but next on the list to try is now mascarpone! Thank you Maya!

PFx said...

I was about to mention on how much purple you have in your blog. Hahaha, but! Your mentioning about pink addiction just inspired me somewhat. (I'm not a pinkie).

I have to make a pink sauce for something now.

I wish I have an icecream machine now... The last picture justified me to getting one, unfortunately... the last bank statement...

Alina---Explora Cuisine said...

Such a colorful ice cream you made Maya! I love all your pink-ish recipes :) Have a great week my dear!

createwithmom said...

delicious looking colourful dessert
the candy on top I like it
torviewtoronto and createwithmom

Maureen said...

I can't get over the color of dragonfruit ice cream. It's so beautiful. I can't wait to try it.

Anonymous said...

OH my gosh, that looks like basil spun sugar, is it? Tres Cool, I wonder if I can hunt down some dragon fruit here. THE service here is So slow, what's up with this wifi! UGH! Man this looks so tres awesome.

the [sugar] apothecary said...

Keep the crazy colors coming! I love ice cream mochi... but the only ones I can seem to find in New York are simple vanilla, green tea, red bean, strawberry, etc. from Japanese markets. I could do with some dragonfruit and chocolate for sure!

Aimi-Athirah said...

Ka, this truly looks beautiful! Been telling my Brisbane ladies about your food blog, I hope you don't mind me sharing! See you soon! xoxox Aimi

Evelyne CulturEatz said...

This ice cream is so up my alley, love it all. Where did you get the dragon beard...or did you make it. We have one tiny shop that sells dragon beard candy in Montreal but cannot buy the "beard" alone.

Cher Rockwell said...

Wow- another beautiful dish.
I am jealous that you can get pashmak where you are (and those awesome looking dragonfruit!)

Unknown said...

Love dragonfruit! Ate a lot of them when I was in Indonesia. This ice cream looks wonderful Maya.
The mochi ice-cream also looks fantastic. One of my favourite dessert to order when going to a Japanese restaurant.

Anonymous said...

This homemade mochi looks simply fantastic! Amazing post! Love the colors!

Unknown said...

Oh dear, I've been sooooo busy packing and unpacking (we're moving house) that I haven't even had time to look at all your lovely comments until now. Thanks to all of you who came by and let me know you were here, I'll try to stop by your blogs when I have a minute to breathe.... ;-). Miss you all!

shaz said...

wow great colours and flavors. Thanks for sharing that mochi recipe. Gonna try it out soon. :) Btw, I added you to my blogroll. I hope you don't mind. Have a great week ahead!

Unknown said...

Three Cookies, I love your idea of freezing natural food coloring. Pure genius, thanks for the idea! That way, I'll have my pink fix all though the year ;-).

Unknown said...

Kate@Norm, you're right about the double cream being different over here...it's just not as thick and creamy as the ones in the UK. Mascarpone is nearly the same price as cream, but texturally it's amazing, especially when you turn it into ice cream. Dust off that ice cream maker, you're in the tropics now! LOL.

Unknown said...

Pierre@PFx, before I got my machine, for the longest time, I made my ice cream the manual way! If you're interested, email me and I'll let you know how. As for the abundance of pinks and purples on this blog, it may be that my inner Drag Queen/Barbie is manifesting herself in my food creations...LOL. I shudder at the thought!

Unknown said...

Aimi, I'm so glad you came by, lai! Sure, spread the word in Brisbane...hell, all of Oz pun boleh. LOL, I don't mind. Keep tuning in, mwaahs!

Unknown said...

Evelyne@CEE, a friend gave me 2 large tubs of dragon's beard, one plain and one green (pistachio, I think). I tried making it at home once when I didn't own a candy thermometer, and I went through 5kgs of sugar before I surrendered. Now I've bought the said thermometer, I will be attempting the sweet feat again..hopefully successfully this time round!

Unknown said...

Michael! So glad that you're back and got to savor plenty of dragonfruit while visiting your relatives. I'm expecting some Indonesian recipes on your blog soon!

Unknown said...

Shaz, thanks for visiting and following my blog. Always happy to have a Singaporean blogger friend. Love your featured recipes too!

Nancy said...

When I think of your blog two things come to mind, dragonfruit and pink :) I love all of your pink and dragon fruit recipes, it's your trademark. Mochi ice cream is so great on a hot day. Sorry no tips on the mochi, I do exactly what you do. That is get completely covered in cornstarch :)hehe

Lauren said...

this is simply stunning! I've never seen anything so pretty. Oh how I love fuschia! I've never had dragonfruit. You have inspired me to try it. I think I saw some at Whole Foods the other day. Keep making the beautiful things you do.

Nithya said...

Wow! I'm drooling here. Love the colorful treat :) So apt for this summer :)

Sarah said...

Wow- the color is just incredible! I made plain mascarpone ice cream a few months ago but I can only imagine how incredible it tastes with the dragonfruit.

My husband grew up in Taiwan eating mochi so I'll be scoring major brownie points with this recipe- thanks for sharing!

Tasty Trix said...

Oh man, I lOVE this color!!! I am a pink addict too ... our new dog Franka boasts a pink leash, collar, toys, and heart shaped bright pink name tag. LOVE IT. It is so hellishly hot here, this is a dessert (breakfast and lunch) that I can really get behind!

Russell at Chasing Delicious said...

Oh gosh these ice creams looks incredible! Everything about them and all the flavors too. I am going to have to try these recipes. Gorgeous shots too!

Nami | Just One Cookbook said...

Okay...Maya... I'm totally speechless! I'm so busy looking at the pictures and I'm feeling like WOW!!! Totally stunning pictures, but I'm more impressed that you made this beautiful ice cream! So unique and you are totally in another level of making ice cream in blogosphere. Way above! Well done!

Jenny (VintageSugarcube) said...

That is officially the best looking icecream I've ever seen. I'm screaming for your icecream Miss Maya!! And the lime green Pashmak gives a stunning sizzle. How's that sexy red kitchen coming? XOXO

Kathy said...

OMG…how beautiful! I would love to get my hands on some dragon fruit! I have never had them or mochi. Very impressive! Great post!

spcookiequeen said...

Good Morning Miss Maya! Funny, when I was making jam all I could think about was where could I get some red dragonfruit, lol. I have an ice cream maker now too and have been fooling around with flavors, but I still want red dragonfruit. You are killing me over here. Hope you are enjoying your weekend. Keep the pink coming.
-GIna-

Taste of Beirut said...

Very impressed with your creativity and skill here. This ice-cream could figure in a five-star restaurant, easy~

Norm said...

OK, so I made it - and I loved it! (Results about to be posted to my blog). Next stop, mochi!

Thanks for the inspiration Maya.

Priya Sreeram said...

lovely - your entry from YBR caught my eyes and am glad to be following ur culinary adventures !

Manu said...

Yet another great contribution to YBR! I LOVE this ice cream. It looks so pretty! I am sure my daughter would love it (she's a pink lover too). Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!

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