What is pandan?
Pandan is a tropical leaf with a unique flavor that originates from Southeast Asia. The key question here is what does pandan taste like? To me, pandan tastes like coconut and sweet corn with someone mowing their lawn in the distance. Sweet and nutty with savory undertones and the slightest touch of grassiness. The more scientific explanation for pandan’s unique flavor lies with 2-Acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP), a compound that gives freshly baked bread, jasmine rice and basmati rice their signature nutty aroma. This explains why pandan is often used when cooking rice.
What’s the best way to infuse pandan flavor?
In the process of recipe testing I tried 4 different methods for infusing pandan:
- Tying leaves into a knot and steeping
- Blending then straining before heating
- Blending then straining after heating
- Blending then straining after heating and curing in the refrigerator
After several taste tests I preferred the version that calls for blending then straining AFTER heating. This strategy maximizes the nutty aroma of pandan leaves by infusing it in cream. Blending releases far more flavor than steeping alone, allowing you to use a lesser quantity of pandan. Some of the flavor compounds in pandan are heat sensitive, hence why it’s typically steamed or quickly cooked. Straining after curing in the refrigerator was difficult and left behind fibrous leaf particles, with only minimal improvement in flavor.
Pandan Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 30 g pandan leaves frozen or fresh, washed
- 350 mL heavy cream
- 400 mL whole milk
- 2 large egg yolks
- 120 g granulated sugar
- 20 g dextrose sub granulated sugar
- 30 g skim milk powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 g locust bean gum sub 2 large egg yolks + 10g cornstarch dissolved in 20g cold milk
Instructions
- Cut pandan leaves into 1 inch segments with scissors. Blend all ingredients together then transfer to a sauce pot.
- Prepare an ice bath in a large container with equal parts ice and water. Set aside.
- Bring the mixture to a very gentle simmer (180F) over medium heat, stirring frequently.
- Pass the mixture through a cheesecloth set over a strainer to remove pandan pieces. Transfer the cooked ice cream base to a heatproof container. Place heatproof container in the ice bath to cool. Once cool, cover and set in the fridge overnight, ideally at least 8 hours to develop body and flavor.
- Churn the ice cream base according to machine directions. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 4 hours to fully firm up.
This turned out INCREDIBLE! I subbed dextrose for glucose syrup instead of granulated sugar since I had it on hand and wanted to experiment haha, and used the locust bean gum sub since I didn’t have that either. I churned in my cuisinart ice cream maker for ~15min, AMAZING silky texture, strong pandan flavour, 10/10 no notes. My family (who’s Vietnamese and typically don’t love overly sweet desserts) and friends devoured it. Thank you so much Mei! Very very much recommend
Thank you for the thorough comment, I think many others will find it helpful if they want to swap the sugar mix. An ice cream that is not overly sweet is an incredible compliment!
My mum brings me fresh pandan from her garden and I usually make seri muka with it (my mum’s favourite dessert from her childhood in Malaysia) but thought I would try this recipe to mix things up. I followed the recipe pretty exactly, including getting the locust bean gum powder, but was a bit disappointed to end up with a bitter flavour after churning. The sweetness and pandan flavour come through really well, but I’m a bit stuck on trying to figure out what I messed up that gives it a bitter aftertaste? Especially since I didn’t notice it after cooking, only after churning.
Possibly it’s just my unfamiliarity with cooked pandan, as I normally create pandan juice (blended with water then strained) to turn into a custard!
Regardless thanks for the recipe Mei, I love seeing interesting ways to incorporate the unique flavour of pandan, looking forward to trying your other ice creams too 🙂
Hi Katherine, thank you for taking the time to leave such detailed feedback! Bitter flavor can come from phenolics (like cut fruit turning brown and bitter) and chlorophyll during the blending process. Just guessing here about the delayed bitterness, but the resting period and oxidation can make bitter flavors more noticeable with time (sort of like oversteeping tea). Since you’re using garden-fresh pandan, I might scale back the total quantity of pandan leaves to reduce this effect or blend for less time, leaving the leaves slightly coarse and pulp-y.