24 Sep 15 (Thu - Hari Raya Haji) – Rambutan with Pineapple Bits Ice Cream and Passion Fruit Sorbet

Wanted to try the ice cream recipe that I had concocted some time back and finally got the chance to do it. Went to get the whipping cream on Wednesday and on the way bought five passion fruits for $2. It was kind of boring to just eat the passion fruits direct and so decided to try making sorbet with them.

The rambutan with pineapple bits ice cream didn’t turn out as expected. It didn’t have much rambutan taste, was a bit too sweet, was not smooth in texture and was a bit too thick. Probably because (1) I used canned rambutan instead of fresh ones; (2) I didn’t use enough rambutan; (3) I didn’t puree the rambutan enough and (4) I over-strained the rambutan puree of its juice.

Rambutan with Pineapple Bits Ice Cream

Ingredients:

200ml whipping cream 80g rambutan puree* 80g fine sugar

1 tbsp finely diced pineapple                                                      1/4 tsp corn flour

Method:

1.  Whisk whipping cream and corn flour till foamy for about 3 mins

2.  Add fine sugar in three batches and whisk the mixture after every addition

3.  Add rambutan puree* and whisk till well combined

4.  Pour mixture into a container of your choice and put into the freezer

5.  Remove from freezer after 2 hours to churn** with a fork

6.  Repeat step (5) for another two times, add in diced pineapple on final churn before freezing it overnight

* Use all the rambutan in the can and blend into puree. Drain away the extra juice.

** Try to churn the mixture in a whisking manner to try to incorporate as much air into the mixture as possible

The passion fruit sorbet, on the other hand, turned out pretty well. It had a nice yellow in colour and a very strong passion fruit taste. I was pretty proud of the sorbet so I decided to make an attempt at plating. Googled for ideas and found out that most fine dining restaurants actually serve their ice cream in the form of a quenelle and the results can be achieve by either using the traditional two spoons method or one spoon method.

Passion Fruit Sorbet

Ingredients:

128ml passion fruit juice*

225ml water

104g fine sugar

Method:

1.  Pour water and sugar into a pot, bring to boil then simmer for another 5 mins till sugar dissolve

2.  Remove sugar syrup from heat and stir in passion fruit juice till well combine

3.  Transfer to a container of your choice and set it aside to cool

4.  Once solution is cooled, put it into the freezer

5.  Take out after 45 mins to churn using a spoon and repeat this step for another 3 times

6.  Leave the mixture in the freezer overnight for it to firm

* Use about 5–6 passion fruits, dig out the seeds and blend into puree. Strain the puree to remove the finely crushed seeds.

** You can adjust the amount of sugar to suit your sweetness level by doing taste test in step 2.

I chose the one spoon method as it seemed to be easier but I was wrong. It took me quite a while to get the ice cream and sorbet to form the quenelle because the ice cream was not of soft-serve texture and the sorbet was a bit too flaky. The final masterpiece was passable. However, eating the ice cream and the sorbet together was surprisingly good because the sweetness of the ice cream complimented or should I say countered the sourness of the sorbet.