Masala Chai ice cream
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cinnamon stick
  • 8 black peppercorns
  • 6 whole cloves
  • contents of 4 cardamom pods
  • 3 slices gingerroot (each about ½ cm/1/4 inch thick)
  • 500 ml (2 cups) standard fat milk
  • 150 ml sugar
  • 125 ml (1/2 cup) cream
  • 4 tablespoons of cornstarch (like Maizena. Other starches work too, by the way)
Instructions
  1. Crush thoroughly the cinnamon, the peppercorns, the cloves and the cardamom seeds (discard the pod-shelves first), preferably using a mortar and pestle.
  2. In a saucepan, mix together the finely crushed spices, the cream, 300 ml (1¼ cups) of the milk, the ginger and the sugar. Bring to a boil and remove from the heat. Cover and set aside for ten minutes.
  3. Mix the cornstarch with 200 ml (about 0.8 cup) milk, making sure that there are no lumps. Set aside for now.
  4. Put the saucepan with the cream-milk-sugar-and-spice mixture back on the stove and on medium-heat bring close to a boil. Add the milk-cornstarch blend, reduce the heat somewhat and continue to cook about 4 minutes or so, until the base has thickened. Stir frequently, making sure that there are no lumps left.
  5. Take off from the heat, let the base cool down. Preferably, cover and refrigerate overnight. Then, strain in a large bowl (removing the pieces of the ginger and the spices), stir and churn in your ice cream machine according to instructions.
  6. Put in a freezer-safe container, cover with plastic film and lid and store in your freezer.
Notes
If you would like to also test adding some actual tea to the flavours, black tea would probably be the most "authentic". I would suggest that you infuse the tea (well contained in tea infuser or teabag) at the end of step 2 above. After letting the tea infuse for about ten minutes, remove and discard it - you don't want to infuse so long that all the bitter tannin is released!
Recipe by ICE CREAM NATION at https://www.icecreamnation.org/2012/05/masala-chai-ice-cream/