Matcha Cream

Matcha Cream

Today we're delving into a little tea recipe. This is inspired by Japan. I plan to do a more formal blog post on Japan, but I don't have the time to research it right now. What I do have is some heavy whipping cream left over from another tea experiment. It really needs to be used up since I don't want to put it in the freezer. There was a previous blog post that addresses why I don't want to freeze it. This one takes a little prep work because it calls for strained yogurt as well. As it happens, I strain yogurt quite frequently, so I have the setup down pretty well. If you have a nice, watery yogurt, coffee filters work well. You line a colander with paper filters, and place it over a bowl. I opted to buy use a reusable coffee filter for straining yogurt because it is an easy setup with no waste. 

Okay, I am one of those geeks who makes my own yogurt. I didn't intend to become one of those people until I got an electric pressure cooker with a yogurt setting. It's pretty easy to make, and I can make it how I want it, for less than what I would pay to buy it in the store. This happens to be made with 1% milk, and it's a bit runny. We can fix that...

Just cover it, and put it in the fridge overnight, or for a couple of days, or however long it takes you to get back to it. I will warn you not to forget about it too long, though. If it starts to mold, you have to throw the filter out and get a new one, because you will never be able to scrub the mold out of the mesh. How do I know this? No reason.

When I looked back at the original recipe, they said to use vanilla yogurt that was drained for a few hours. My yogurt drained for over a day and a half. If you look closely at the picture, you can see that it has shrunk quite a bit in the filter. Anyway, if you're using plain yogurt, you can add some sugar if you want to. I know that I'm going to be eating this with something sweet, so I didn't think it would matter.

I put 1 teaspoon of matcha in one bowl, and made a paste with hot (not boiling!) water. I put a tablespoon of cream in the other bowl, and beat it with the whisk attachment for my mixer.

I added 2 tablespoons of the very thick yogurt to my matcha, and hit it with the whisk.

I couldn't help but think that this kind of starting to look like guacamole. It is light green, but not the same thing...

Then we're instructed to fold them together. I will admit, I'm not being nearly as precise as the original recipe with my measurements or technique. I just don't cook according to strict instructions. I cook on the theory that it will turn out in the end. Yeah, I don't cook for other people, especially kids.

Here is the finished product. It is definitely more voluminous thanks to the electric whisking.

Japanese culture is known for valuing beauty, including with food presentation. I didn't have a pastry bag or a star tip to pipe this artfully into a bowl, so I just scooped some in (you could also dust some matcha powder over the top to dress it up as well). Then I arranged some apple slices around it The original recipe said that this was popularly served with poached pears, but I didn't have any pears. My choices were canned fruit, kiwis, mandarins, or an old granny smith apple found in the depths of my fridge (don't judge me!). While the apple is left over from the holidays, I know that it is the same age as the apples currently available in the store. Since there were no bad spots, I figured I might as well use it.

The final verdict? It was good. The apple provided all the sweetness I needed to enjoy it. The "dip" as I used it, was creamy and had a nice matcha flavor to it.