FINAL PROJECT DISH #2: KHA NIAO MAN

Back in June I tried my hand at a Thai Iced Tea Iced Cream (V 1.0) thinking I could make it for my final project. Thai Iced Tea is a standard in most Thai take-out and sit down Pad-style restaurants and so it fits well with the theme of my project, Global Dhabas. But Thai Iced Tea even reimagined isn't enough by itself. It needs to be accompanied by something else, something that will give some texture, taste and color contrast. So I'm bringing another Pad-Thai standard to the dish, coconut sticky rice into the picture. It's a combination that if matched, I've thought would taste good.

"But wait, there's more..."
"More?"
"That's right Bob, now tell them what they've won..."

As much as I think the combination of Thai Iced Tea Iced Cream and coconut sticky rice would be an sweet and musky treat in itself, the textures are going to be smooth, creamy and sticky so there needs to be some crunch in there somewhere. I'll be adding some rendition of fried banana crisped with spring roll wrapper. All this to create my first dessert...

Kha Niao Man with Cha Yen Ice Cream
Thai Iced Tea Ice Cream with Coconut Sticky Rice

First to make the ice cream. When I made the ice cream back in June I adapted a recipe for Earl Grey Ice Cream from "The Ultimate Ice Cream Book" by Bruce Weinstein (the ice cream book I've been using since I bought my Cuisinart ice cream maker a few years ago). It worked well but I thought the tea flavor could have been more pronounced. I also realized it missed something from some standard recipes: condensed and evaporated milk.

This time I'll substitute the recipe's sugar with condensed milk and add some more tea.

THAI ICED TEA ICE CREAM 2.0
1 Cup Milk
6 Heaping Tablespoons Loose Tea
3/4 Cup Condensed Milk
6 Large Egg Yolks
2 Teapoons all-purpose flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Half-and-Half
1 Cup Heavy Cream

1) Boil milk in saucepan, remove from heat. Stir in leaves or bags, cover and steep for 15 minutes.

2) In a mixing bowl, beat 3/4 cup sugar into 6 egg yolks til thick & pale yellow (blanchir). Beat in 2 teaspoons flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set Aside.

3) Strain leaves from milk, add half-and-half and simmer. Slowly beat hot milk and half-and-half into egg yoks and sugar. Pour mixture back into pan on low heat. Stir with whisk til custard thickens slightly. Don't boil or scramble! Remove from heat and strain into a clean bowl. Cool then stir in one cup of cream. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

4) Stir the chilled custard then freeze in your ice cream machine per manufacturer's insctructions.

In coming up with this recipe, I did some scouting about on the internet including a recipe on the Food Network.

Black Coconut Sticky Rice
1 1/2 Cups Black Thai Sticky Rice
1 Can Unsweetened Coconut Milk
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Mix rice and enough water to cover by 2-inches. Soak overnight and drain. Steam rice until tender about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat. Mix coconut milk, sugar and salt and bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Pour over the rice, mix well, cover and set aside about a half an hour so that the liquid is absorbed into the rice.

Fried Wonton-Wrapped Bananas
2 Bananas
3 Wonton Wrappers
Vegetable Oil

Slice bananas on bias and wrap in piece of wonton wrapper then seal with a touch of water. Fry the wrapped bananas until wonton wrapper is crisp then garnish with chocolate ganache.

Chocolate Ganache
6 Tablespoons Chocolate
2 Tablespoon Heavy Cream

Boil heavy cream and pour over the chopped chocolate. Use squeeze bottle to pipe out the ganache on the fried bananas.

To Order:

Place warm sticky rice in center of the bowl, scoop out the Thai Ice Tea ice cream on top. Garnish with three fried wonton-wrapped bananas trimmed with ganache and a few drops of condensed milk on top of the ice cream.

Deep, complex smoky flavors with cool, sticky and crispy textures? Mmm. Tasty.