Last night my friends and I went to dinner at a wonderful little Vietnamese restaurant in Portland, ME called Thanh Thanh 2.  We’ve been there several times and are never disappointed.  While they don’t have a dessert menu like the Thai restaurant across the street, they do have a nice assortment of shakes.  I think I’ve tried all of them on the list… even the dreaded durian shake.

My shake choice last night was Red Bean and Coconut.  Simply delicious!  I’ve tried red bean popsicles before from the asian food market across the street (yes, this street is very well cultured!) and it wasn’t bad.  The shake, however, was 10x better.   This had me thinking I’d like to make some red bean and coconut ice cream myself.

I’m a fan of no egg ice creams, so when I came across this red bean and coconut ice cream recipe, I was delighted.

1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup cream
3 cups coconut cream or thick coconut milk
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 to 2 cups red bean paste
In a med bowl, whisk sugar, milk and cream til sugar is dissolved. Stir in coconut cream and vanilla.  Put in ice cream maker…. enjoy!

Recipe adapted from the Cuisinart recipe book by East Meets West

This recipe makes about 2 quarts, so you’ll want to cut it in half if you’re going to use your MEGA Play & Freeze Ice Cream Ball to make it.

Oh, and I’d just like to add that perhaps it’s just my wacky taste buds, but last night’s red bean shake had a similar taste to chocolate.  My friend, who also had a red bean shake that night, kinda agreed, but not really.  Then I found a blog about the KitKat Azuki.  Yes, a KitKat candy bar made with red beans! I guess my “red beans taste like chocolate” idea wasn’t that uncommon as the Japanese have paired it with lots of chocolate.

{28 Mar 2008} {Tags: , }