The ginger in this ice cream recipe creates a nice bite that contrasts well with the sweetness of the lychees. I sometime double up the ginger if the ice cream is going to be used to mild fruit, for example if you serve it with baked pears, then you can double up the ginger to add a bigger bite.

Ingredients
5 gms Ginger Root
250 gms Lychees in Syrup (Half a Tin)
200 ml Double Cream (35% fat)
2 Eggs Yolks
75 gms Sugar
100 ml Milk or Evaporated Milk

Preparation
1. In a food processor, blend the ginger root and lychees & syrup together.
2. Then whisk the cream and milk together with an electric whisk.
3. Mix the egg yolks and sugar together, add the cream and the lychee mix, and take to a bain marie (a pan inside a second pan of boiling water).
4. Keep heating and stirring to bring the liquid to just short of boil and keep it there for 3-4 minutes. This is to cook through the egg.
5. Leave to cool, then place in the freezer.
6. Remove 2-3 times and whisk it again to break up the ice crystals when they form.
7. When serving remove it one last time and blend it.

Inside these balls made from boiled rice flour are soft sugar caramel and coconut centres, eaten in a sweet ginger syrup.

Ingredients, Balls
100 gms Brown Sugar
50 gms Desiccated Coconut
20 gms Toasted Sesame Seeds
100 gms Sticky Rice Flour
50 gms Rice Flour
20 gms Cassava Starch
( Save some cassava starch to dust your hands with to stop the balls sticking)

Preparation, Ball
1. Into a saucepan, put 50ml water and the brown sugar and boil until the sugar becomes a very thick sticky caramel. You will need to form balls with this mixture so it cannot be too runny. Take off the heat, mix in the sesame seeds and ground coconut and leave to cool.
2. Take teaspoons of the sugar mixture out and roll them in your hands into small balls, approximately 1cm across.
3. Mix the 2 flours and starch together, mix in 50ml water and knead until it forms dough.
3. Cut the dough into small pieces approximately 30gms, and roll them in your hands. If the balls are a little sticky, dust your hands with more cassava starch.
4. Flatten the dough in your hand, place one of the sugar balls in the middle and fold up the dough so that it completely enclosed the sugar.
5. At this point you can store the balls for future eating, only cooking them when needed.
6. To cook the ball, boil a saucepan of water, drop in the balls into the boiling water. When they are cooked they will float to the surface (approximately 1 minute).
7. Eat warm in a ginger sauce.

Ingredients Ginger Sauce
20 gms Ginger Root
20 gms Lemon Grass
500 ml Water
4 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation, Ginger Sauce
1. Boil the water, add the ginger root, lemon grass and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Add the sugar and continue simmering for 2 minutes.
3. Leave to cool a little then ladel some of the balls and sauce into a dish to eat

Today is sweet ball day! There are many desserts we have made from balls in sauce. This one is sweet balls contain kidney beans and are served in a sweet ginger sauce. In the photograph top left you can one ball I cut open.

Ingredients
100 gms Sticky Rice Flour
50 gms Rice Flour
2 Tablespoons Cassava Starch
100 ml Rose Water
50 gms Kidney Beans (Canned or Boil hard for 10 Minutes!)
100 gms Sugar
2 Tablespoons Toasted Sasame Seeds
Water for Boiling
Cool Water

Ingredients  for the Syrup
200 gms Sugar
200 ml Water

Ingredients  for Ginger Water
20 gms Ginger Root
400 ml Water

Preparation
1. Blend the kidney beans into a purée with a food processor or blender. Put the purée into a saucepan and heat over a medium heat to thicken the beans and remove some of the water. Leave to cool.
2. Mix the rice flour, starch and sticky rice flour together. Add enough of the rose water to form a dough and knead it until it is smooth and well mixed.
3. When the kidney beans a cool, pinch off pieces of kidney bean paste and roll to form 1cm balls. Then take each ball and roll it in the sesame seeds. Do this until all of the bean is used up.
4. Put a pan of water on to boil.
5. Pinch off some of the flour dough, flatten it in your hand to form a disc about 4cms across. Put a bean ball inside and fold up the edges to envelop the bean ball. Repeat until all of your bean balls are wrapped up in the flour dough.
6. Drop the balls into the boiling water, they will float to the top when cooked, it only takes a minute or two. Once they are cooked, remove them and drop them into the cool water.
7. Make a sugar syrup by placing the sugar and water in a pan and heating until the sugar is dissolved, then leave to cool.
8. To make the ginger sauce, boil water, add the chopped ginger and boil until the ginger smell is released, then remove the ginger from the water.
9. To serve, put some of the balls in a bowl, add enough syrup to sweeten it to your personal taste, then spoon enough of the warm ginger sauce over the top to drown the balls

Ginger or Khing in Thai

Ginger is an erect plant with thickened, fleshy and aromatic rhizomes. Used in different forms as a food, flavouring and spice. Ginger’s rhizomes contain a 1-2% volatile oil. Ginger’s therapeutic uses are as a carminative, antinauseant and antiflatulence agent.

A root of Chinese and Indian origin. It is always used fresh rather than dried and should be peeled and chopped or crushed before cooking. It is available in supermarkets. Look for shiny fat roots that aren’t wrinkled or shrivelld. Though not used as frequently as galangal in Thai cooking, ginger makes a good alternative to galangal.