Swee San's Kitchen

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Project 52 Ice Cream Mondays : #7 Osmanthus Granita

Hahaha, I know, you must be thinking “WHAT??” (what is wrong with this girl)

Lol, so I actually have a list of ice creams and gelatos to make, but sometimes I get too bored with it and want to make something refreshing instead of old’ fat and creamy. I love cream, infact I have a secret obsession with cream (dairy please). Like, I would suddenly have craving for whipped cream or anything with cream. And the best possible cure is to the coffee stand and get like a mocha frap with lotsa whipped cream on top. Eekkk …. T___T

Ah but of course, lately the weather has been a bit cranky. Plus if I’m making cakes or doing some fondant work, I can’t help but have the need to cool down. It’s relatively OKAY cool in where I work fondant but u know, all those kneading and rolling and cutting does make you sweat a bit. So there and then, I decided to make a …. granita!!

Granita is simply crushed ice (ice kacang!!), made from a lightly sweetened fruit puree or another liquid. Granita is the simplest to make, requiring no more than a dish, a freezer, and a fork. No ice cream machine required! How well, I shall rest you Mr Ice Cream Maker.

 dried osmanthus

So granita it is. And I’m left to figure, what flavour should it be. I remembered that I have some Osmanthus from Wendy the last time I met her. This woman is mad (well, in a good way, mind you). Have you seen her double decker White Honeycomb Cake. It looks awesome (Wendy, when can we try? 😛 :P) So she gave us some dried osmanthus, (thanks again)

I’m sure you’ve heard of “Guai Fah Gou” in those Qing Dynasty TVB shows from Hong Kong, or any olden days TVB series. But if you haven’t it’s ok. Guai Fah Gou is Osmanthus Jelly. Osmanthus, ?? is a native plant in warm temperature zone, like Asia. It’s flowers are very small, about 1cm long but pack with fragrance and very refreshing. They’re usually used to make tea and desserts with these tiny dried flowers

Hence, I thought to make an Osmanthus Granita! That should be the base flavour, then I thought of adding some crunch, water chestnut. Voila!! Rock Sugar!! yeah…

I then went too far off, Honey Sea Coconut? Hrmm.. We’ll see.

So today’s Ice cream Monday is slightly experimental. It’s the first time I made it and I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere before. I tried searching for a recipe for osmanthus ice cream or something simliar but only a “molecular gastronomy” version came out. Anyways, if you’re interested to try, here it is.
rock sugar and unpeeled water chestnut
Osmanthus Granita
(makes 1/2 litre)
600ml water
2 tbsp honey sea coconut syrup (it’s from the can of sea coconut) *opt
30-40g rock sugar
3 tsp dried osmanthus flower
4 pcs water chesnut
sea coconut, to serve
1. Bring water, syrup, rock sugar and dried osmanthus flower to boil. Then turn off the heat and let it infuse for an hour, till it cools down. 
2. Peel water chestnut and dice them. Add into the liquid and pour in a shallow container. Place in the freezer.
3. Check after about 1 hour. Once it begins to freeze around the edges, take a fork and stir the mixture, breaking up the frozen parts neat the edges into smaller chunks and raking them toward the center.
4. Return the dish to the freezer, then check the mixture every 30 minutes afterward, stirring each time and breaking up any large chunks into small pieces with a fork, until you have beautiful, fine crystals of granita.
5. To serve, scoop granita into a cup and add some sea coconut on top, well, totally optional 🙂 Or add some freshly diced water chestnut for some extra crunch!
Grate with a fork, how easy is that right!! And it was indeed very refreshing. Whenever I feel extremely hot, or I need something to cool down, I’d grab a spoon and dig a HUUUGGEE spoonful and put the whole thing in my mouth. 
It’s like eating ice as it is, but it melts really quickly in your mouth. I love the fragrance from the Osmanthus and it is very cooling too. It’s like 20% taste of chrysanthemum as well. I may be weird but the feeling’s like it’s sakura season, and the flowers are dropping ever so beautifully. Ok I think I should stop. lol.
I think I should get more Ice Cream glasses or table ware for these ice creams. I mean, it gets a little boring seeing the same cup two weeks consecutively. Hahaha. Please tell me any place to get nice (and economical) ice cream glasses, sundae glasses too!! 😛
Have a great Monday 😉
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One thought on “Project 52 Ice Cream Mondays : #7 Osmanthus Granita”

  6. Where did my comment go????
    I was sure I keyed in the verification code!!!! Oh Shucks!!!

    Thanks for mentioning me in the post, *Blush*.
    I hope you enjoyed this osmanthus granita.

    Thanks for the idea, and I'm thinkin of black plums with osmanthus 🙂 Magenta coloured, fragrantly apricotty.

    BTW, the ixoras were a great touch to these pics as they really matched with your dish, and since they come free from the garden, why la, you so kiampsap use so little. The first pic would've looked much better if there were more ixoras there. Anyway, great ixora idea. I'm definately planting ixora next time 🙂

  7. Oh yeah, if you want those cheapo ice cream cups and glasses, scout those cheapo RM2 shops. they have loads of stuff that sometimes you'd be surprised with. There's one in USJ court 5 that I frequent and few more in Sri Muda Shah Alam. I'm sure Klang will have some too.

    BTW, if you ever come visit me, I'll bring you go buy cheap tableware and serving ware 🙂

  8. @Cumi Ciki, Thanks 🙂

    @Rita, thanks, I'm sure there's alot of osmanthus desserts in HK?

    @Ju, thanks 🙂

    @Ellie, yup, and Mondays always come very quickly :S

    @Wendy, nope, I didn't receive any comments earlier.. I still have a little osmanthus left so I'm going to make guai far gou with it

    Hahah, I didn't know it was going to be pretty, I just thought it kinda matched the plate 😛

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