Fry your brekkie

Just that rhubarb foam deserves a dish of its own.

Fried ice cream has been on my list to try since I ate it (so a few years). The first when I heard of it, it felt so against the entire premise of ice cream! Met with my childish concerns of 'how on earth can it not melt' in conjunction with my limited knowledge of food, I was in awe of this creation. Up until very recently, when I learnt that it's only fried for about 10-15 seconds- that too protected by some other dry ingredients like bread crumbs or cake, which helps the ice cream to maintain a decent temperature while creating a stable outer coat for it.

I, though wanted to skip this coat, knew it wasn't possible for one other reason- the tempura would not really cling to the ice cream. It would fry off more or less, exposing the poor ice cream to melt away in sadness. (cc- ice cream and sadness). So, how do you turn a dessert into a not so healthy breakfast? With oats, of course! Which went well with a really nice tempura.

I paired rhubarb with a coffee and toasted rye ice cream, but the idea of the dish stems from the foam. The making of the rhubarb sorbet revealed that perhaps some fruits simple do make better sorbets than others- because of the massive contribution of solids from using the entire fruit, making the mixture more viscous. The rhubarb was stewed till it completely lost shape, blended to get a foam base sufficiently thick. I always season rhubarb with vanilla, without fail; I can't quite describe what it does, but in a way it brings these hidden flavours in the rhubarb in a complementary manner, just like adding a certain amount of sugar to yuzu does. With a texture that great, the siphon seemed a nice idea, though not without hesitation- the siphon can really aerate batters, and at times it can be almost like bubbles, a texture I wasn't after. Honestly, I was surprised with this one. I cannot begin to describe how happy the mouthfeel of the foam made me feel.

I wanted a last go at rhubarb and chocolate with raspberry, but wanted the dish to be very central to the ice cream and the foam. I decided to a nice tuile keeping in line with the thin crunch of the tempura, with some cocoa nibs tossed in raspberry powder and licorice for an extra kick of flavour.

Toasted Rye and Balinese Coffee fried ice cream, Oats, Chocolate Tuile, Rhubarb Foam, Licorice Nibs and Lyo Raspberry

The happiness within