While there are countless variations of masala chai, a generously sweetened Indian spice-infused black tea made with milk and water, we prefer ones where cardamom is the dominant flavor. It also translates well into ice cream; it’s easy for chai to taste amazing hot, yet overwhelmingly sweet as a creamy dessert. Something about the cardamom version, however, keeps the ice cream restrained and balanced. When we first tried it, it tasted just like masala chai, but frozen. As everyone’s palate is different, we recommend you play around with masala chai ingredients to find your favorite combination.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
2 cups heavy cream
1½ cups whole milk
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (125 grams) sugar
2 tablespoons (10 grams) loose black tea, preferably Assam
2 tablespoons (12 grams) green cardamom pods, cracked
3 whole cloves
1 3-inch cinnamon stick
½ teaspoon (2 grams) kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
8 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black peppercorns
1. Pour the cream and milk into a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water). Whisk in ½ cup (100 grams) of the sugar, the tea, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, salt, and ginger, and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Warm the mixture until you see steam rising from the top. Remove from the heat, cover, and let the mixture steep for 15 minutes. Strain the mixture into a bowl, pressing on the solids; discard the tea leaves and spices in the strainer. Return the dairy mixture to the double boiler.
2. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath in a large bowl and set another bowl over it. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, with a kitchen towel underneath it to prevent slipping, whisk together the egg yolks with the remaining 2 tablespoons (25 grams) sugar until uniform. While whisking, add a splash of the hot dairy mixture to the yolks. Continue to add the dairy mixture, whisking it in bit by bit, until you’ve added about half. Add the yolk mixture to the remaining dairy mixture in the double boiler. Set the heat under the double boiler to medium and cook the custard, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon and reducing the heat to medium-low as necessary, until steam begins to rise from the surface and the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Hold the spoon horizontally and run your finger through the custard. If the trail left by your finger stays separated, the custard is ready to be cooled.
4. Strain the custard into the bowl sitting over the prepared ice bath and stir for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the custard has cooled; stir in the cracked peppercorns. Transfer the custard to a quart-size container, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or, preferably, overnight.
5. Pour the chilled custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Place the container in which you refrigerated the custard in the freezer so you can use it to store the finished ice cream. Churn the ice cream until the texture resembles “soft serve.” Transfer the ice cream to the chilled storage container and freeze until hardened to your desired consistency. Alternatively, you can serve it immediately—it will be the consistency of gelato. The ice cream will keep, frozen, for up to 7 days.