Hot + Cold + Crunchy + Soft = Tempura Ice Cream

November 27, 2010 – It is a Saturday but still we have our class, *sigh*. Our first class ended early, that is why we decided to eat our lunch in Eastwood. We went to Ramen Bar because my boyfriend really loves their ramen and their Tempura Ice Cream, which is the one and only dessert that they offer.

We ordered one large bowl of ramen for us to share, one serving of Chahan (Japanese fried rice), together with Chasyu (Sliced Pork). And of course for our dessert, we ordered 2 servings of Tempura Ice Cream.

This dessert is very interesting since we all know that Tempura is a Japanese cooking style that requires the ingredient (whatever it is that you want to make tempura out of) to be dipped in a batter and then deep fried. How will you deep fry an ice cream? Quite thought-provoking and attention-grabbing, right? I was quite amazed myself because for an ice cream to have been fried, I was expecting a plate full of melted ice cream on it but I was a little impressed by its presentation. No drop of melted ice cream was on the plate and it does not melt as fast as you would expect it.

For further definition of the structure of Tempura Ice cream, it is created with: tempura batter, choux pastry (the same pastry that is used to make cream puffs and éclairs), scoops of vanilla ice cream, and chocolate sauce and stick-o as accompaniments.

Ramen Bar’s Tempura Ice Cream – Php120

To answer the question of how it is fried; first, they will have to preheat the oil so that the temperature will be reached right after they are done preparing what is to be fried. They cut the top of the baked choux pastry so much so that they can put a scoop of well-frozen ice cream in it. They cover it with the cut part as though they haven’t removed it and then dip it into the tempura batter. Right after dipping it into the batter, it goes straight to the hot oil, hot to the point that it will instantly cook the batter in one second, and then they will remove it instantly.

The reason why the ice cream is not melted is because the tempura ice cream was shocked into a hot oil in the least possible time, which makes it unable to penetrate the inside of the choux pastry. When you put something into very hot oil, the tendency is for it to cook from the outside to the inside, making the food crispy outside and soft inside. In this case, the only element of the dessert that needs to be cooked is the batter which is very fast to cook making it possible to be removed from the oil before the heat will even penetrate the choux pastry.

I love this dessert because it is very creatively done and because they were able to combine hot and cold, and soft and crispy into one dessert. But the taste is actually a mediocre since the vanilla ice cream, which is not homemade and can be bought in any supermarket, is the one that gives the dessert its flavour.

My Rating:

     Tempura Ice Cream     8/10

Address:

     Eastwood City (in the middle of Cookbook Kitchen and O’sonho), Libis, QC