Tempura ice cream is made by coating ice cream balls in tempura batter and frying them in hot oil. It can be served plain or with toppings and is often found in Japanese restaurants. The dessert should be served immediately after frying to maintain its contrast between the warm outer shell and cold interior.
Tempura ice cream is a type of deep-fried ice cream that uses an Asian-style batter, called tempura. Fried ice cream is made by coating ice cream balls with thin breading and briefly frying the balls. Found in many Japanese restaurants, tempura ice cream isn’t difficult to make at home. While vanilla ice cream is often used, any flavor can be substituted.
Ice cream needs to be extremely cold so it’s firm enough to hold its shape when dipped in batter and deep-fried. Therefore, it is collected into balls which are placed back in the freezer for a few hours or overnight. Some versions of tempura ice cream place the ice cream between two slices of pound cake. The sandwich-like result is then wrapped in saran wrap and returned to the freezer to set solid.
Tempura batter is made with flour, egg and water. Sometimes baking soda is sieved into the flour and vanilla extract may be added for further flavouring. Eggs are lightly beaten and mixed with water. Next, the flour is beaten into the eggs. The actual tempura batter will not be fully mixed.
Once the batter is done and the ice cream is solid, the balls or buns are evenly coated in the batter. Then they are fried in hot oil. Plain vegetable oil, rather than olive oil, for example, is normally used for frying. It is extremely important that the oil is very hot, so each portion cooks quickly. Tempura ice cream should be fried for about 30 seconds before being removed from the oil to prevent the ice cream from melting.
The resulting dessert will have a lightly browned crunchy exterior and a soft, creamy interior. Although finished portions should be allowed to drain briefly on a paper towel to remove excess oil, tempura ice cream should be served almost immediately after frying. Serving immediately allows the treat to maintain the contrast between its warm outer shell and cold interior. It also prevents the interior from becoming threatening.
Tempura ice cream can be served plain or with toppings. Sauces, such as chocolate, strawberry or caramel, sometimes complete the dish. Cookies with whipped cream or wafers are also toppings. In addition to tempura-coated ice cream, sometimes bananas are tempura-coated and fried. Tempura bananas are usually served with ice cream and often topped with chocolate or caramel sauce.
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