I'm not actually sure whether you can call these Rooibos Recipes cooking, however since you do actually heat the Rooibos mixture to boiling or just under boiling I've decided to take the liberty of doing so.
These Ice Cream recipes provide perfect examples of where Rooibos may be infused in milk to provide intriguingly different flavors to otherwise well known tastes
For those who do not have Ice Cream Machines, as I don't, I've decided to first explain how you would freeze your Rooibos Ice Cream whithout using one, since this method will apply to both recipes.
Following this method you'll still get a lovely smooth and creamy ice cream
First, place a bowl, stainless steel is best, inside a larger bowl which contains crushed ice. The ice should come ¾ of the way up the sides of the smaller bowl
Note:- If you haven't got enough ice to do this then a mixture of ice & ice water will do
Pour your Rooibos Ice Cream mixture into the smaller bowl and leave until it is quite cool
Place the bowl containing the ice cream mixture into the freezer
Check the mixture after about 30 minutes [ This will depend on how cold your freezer is ]
Continue checking every 15 minutes until you notice that the mixture has started to freeze [ This will happen first near the edges ]
Remove the bowl from the freezer and using a hand held electric mixer whisk the Rooibos mixture vigorously. For really great ice cream you need to whisk as much air as possible into the mixture, without continuing so long that the partially frozen ice cream melts again.
Return the mixture to the freezer and keep checking every 30 minutes or so, removing the bowl and repeating the whisking process.
After 3-4 hours, again depending on the setting of your freezer, you should end up with a lovely, aerated Rooibos Ice Cream.
Now on to the recipes [ bet you thought I'd never get around to them ]
Rooibos Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe
Ice Cream Ingredients
4 Rooibos Teabags
1 cup [250ml] full cream milk
¾ cup [190ml] sugar
good pinch of salt
5 egg yolks [the larger the better]
2 cups [500ml] thick [double] cream
1 tbsp [15 ml] vanilla extract
Making the Rooibos Vanilla Ice Cream
Place the 4 teabags together with the milk, sugar and salt into a heavy bottomed saucepan
Heat, on low, stirring to dissolve the sugar, until just below boiling, the mixture should be steaming.
Remove from the heat, cover and allow the teabags to infuse for 1 hour
Place a 1 quart [1 litre] bowl into a larger bowl which is partly filled with a mixture of crushed ice and water so that the ice water comes ¾ up the sides of the 1 quart bowl
Pour the cream, through a fine strainer into the empty bowl
Reheat the milk, remove the rooibos teabags using a slotted spoon, squeezing them with the back of another spoon to ensure all the moisture is drained into the milk
Place the egg yolks in a small bowl and beat lightly. Reheat the milk and pour about ¼ cup of the heated milk into the egg yolks... Do this SLOWLY whisking continuously.
Once you've finished heating the egg yolks by pouring in the ¼ cup of hot milk, pour the resultant mixture into the saucepan containing the rest of the
Rooibos Tea infused milk. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure all the egg yolk mixture is used.
Cook the Rooibos milk mixture over low heat, stirring constantly [ a rubber spatula is best so you can stir to the bottom of the saucepan without scraping metal against metal ] Keep cooking and stirring until the mixture thickens enough to coat the spatula when you remove it.
Strain the custard into the chilled cream and stir until cooled... Add the vanilla extract and stir to mix
When the Rooibos Icecream Mixture is cold enough chill overnight in the refrigerater.
Finally make the icream in your ice cream maker or use the recipe instructions at the top of this page to finalize your absolutely delicious
Vanilla Rooibos Icream
Chai Spiced Rooibos Ice Cream Recipe
This South African Rooibos Recipe for a Chai-Spiced Ice Cream produces an ice cream with a very different but delicious flavor
The person who gave me this Rooibos recipe told me it was an adaptation of one from Floris Smith of Bushman's Kloof
Chai-Spiced Rooibos Tea Ice Cream Ingredients
6 Rooibos Teabags
2 cups [500ml] full cream milk
2 cups [500ml] heavy [double] cream
4 tsp [20ml] cardamon pods
4 cloves
1 star anise
½ stick cinnamon
5½ oz [160g] castor suger
8 egg yolks [ use large eggs ]
Making the Rooibos Ice cream
Place the Rooibos Teabags, milk, cream. cardamon pods, cloves, star anise & cinnamon into a heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to the boil.
Remove from the heat, whisk the egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture becomes pale and creamy
Add the cream/milk/rooibos mixture, slowly to the egg yolks by straining through a sieve. Using the back of a spoon press the rooibos teabags lightly against the sieve to ensure all the teabag flavor goes into the ice cream mixture.
Discard the teabags and spices
Return the ice cream mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring continuously, until it becomes a thick custard [ about 10-12 minutes ]
Pour the mixture into a bowl and place it inside a larger bowl which is filled with a mixture of ice and ice water
The water should come about ¾ up the side of the bowl containing the ice cream mixture
Cover the bowl with foil but do not cover tightly, the Rooibos mixture must be able to breathe.
Once cool enough place in the refrigerator and
chill the Chai Spiced Rooibos Ice Cream mixture thoroughly, preferably overnight.
If you're lucky enough to have an ice cream machine complete your Rooibos ice cream recipe following the manufacturer's instructions.
If, like me, you don't have an ice cream machine, you can
still make a lovely creamy Chai Spiced Rooibos Ice Cream by following the instructions at the top of this page
Both of these Rooibos Recipes produce uniquely flavored Ice Creams and are examples of how you can use Rooibos Tea in recipes
Then of course you can always
justify your indulgence in these South African Rooibos Ice Cream Recipes by telling yourself that
Rooibos is good for you, whether you get it in the form of tea or Ice Cream
Use the side flyout menu or the links at the bottom of this page to discover more South African Rooibos Recipes...
