Black sesame seed paste icecream - eggless

 Ingredients:

2 cups cream - 1 used low fat

1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole milk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup black sesame seeds

Method:

1. Combine 1 cup of the cream, the sugar, and salt in a large bowl and whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved.

2. Stir in the remaining 1 cup  cream, the milk, and vanilla extract.

3. Grind the sesame seeds in a clean spice grinder for about 5 seconds until they turn into a coarse powder. Don’t grind for too long as the seeds will turn into a paste.

4. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and slowly pour in the ground black sesame. Churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the ice cream to a freezersafe container and freeze for at least four hours or overnight.

Note: The ice cream will be rock hard, but remove it about 30 - 45 mins before you want to eat it, and it will soften enough to scoop.

For those without an ice cream maker, here's how:
If you don’t have an ice-cream maker, you can still make ice-cream. After you have made up your mixture, transfer it to a lidded plastic box (a shallow one enables the freezing to happen more quickly and also makes whisking easier as the beater can go down straight into the box) and put it in the coldest part of the freezer for two hours, or until the contents become firm at the edges. At this stage, empty out the box into a mixing bowl and whisk the ice cream with an electric hand whisk to break down the ice crystals. Return the box to the freezer and freeze for another two hours, then repeat the whisking process. Refreeze the ice-cream ( if making a sorbet that contains a generous quantity of alcohol, freeze overnight ) until 30-45 minutes before you want to serve it, at which time you should transfer it into the fridge to soften. Incidentally, it’s a good idea to arm yourself with a digital kitchen timer to remind you to remove the ice cream and whip it at various stages

"Naked" Nonya dumplings aka pie dumpling

This is just a post to show what you can do with left over glutinous rice or when you don't have the leaves to wrap your dumplings with. Whatever the reason, you can still have your "zhang" and eat it,

Ingredients - can be found in my dumpling recipe here http://peranakanandmore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/nonya-dumplings-aka-nonya-bak-chang.html

Put glutinous rice in a microwaveable bowl and add water just to the top of the rice. Microwave on high for 5 mins and then take out and stir. If the rice is not fully cooked, add a little bit more water and cook for another 3 - 5 minutes.

Remove and add salt and pepper.

Line the container with cling film and add cut pandan leaves and then add a layer of rice

Add the filling

Finally, add the last layer of rice

Cut and eat!