Turkish Style, Stretchy Icecream Made with… What?

A while ago, I wrote I made something unique with natto leftover, and showed you this photo, and asked you to guess.

I haven’t given you the answer, have I?

The answer is… Turkish Style, Stretchy Icecream!

I got this recipe from Cookpad, my favorite recipe site. Unfortunately, it’s only in Japanese. Anyway, handful of people posted this super sneaky recipe of making Turkish Ice cream (called Dondurma) like stretchy ice cream by using a leftover cup of natto. I think it was originally aired on TV.

This is the natto (furmented beans) I used - Tezukuri Natto, from Japan Traditional Foods, handmade in Sebastopol, never frozen as on my previous post.

First, I opened the package, and topped with Japanese mustard and dashi-shoyu (milder, tastier soy sauce) that came with it.

Then I swirled it a few times inside of the cup, round and round… We Japanese do not stretch it up. That may be fun to do since it could go up to 4 ft. However, it makes it harder to eat, and tend to create a mess.

And I topped it on steamed rice, and a little bit of Ao-nori flakes.

Yum… I repeat. Their natto is far tastier than regular super market natto. I never really cared for natto that much before, especially those sold in the US. They are previously frozen, mushy and stinkier than those in Japan. However, because Japan Traditional Food hand-made their natto locally in small batches, and never freeze it, theirs has full of umami, nutty taste and firmer texture. I must say I crave them now… If they are bit more affordable, I would eat it all the time!

So here’s the empty cup of natto. A good food must be enjoyed as many time as you can, even the empty cups.

I made ice cream just to try this pseudo Dondurma recipe. This is regular vanilla ice cream. It should work with any kind. If you are sensitive to natto smell, it may be better to use stronger flavored ice cream like chocolate or coffee. Just scoop them into an empty natto cup, and swirl around and around, much more than when you did with natto itself until it stretches. (See the video below).

The real dondurma is made with salep, which makes the ice cream extremely stretchy. When I was in Turkey, I tried to bring it home so that I can make dondurma at home, but the export of salep is prohibited. This natto version doesn’t stretch as much, and of course, not the same with the real one, but at least, it’s really fun, with kids of all ages.

Oh, the smell? We try really hard with nose touching the cream, yet barely noticed it. According to these recipes on Cookpad, any natto from supermarket should work, but they are far more stinky, so I imagine the smell could be an issue for American people.

See my husband trying it on the video:

I’ve recently found that our 3 year old nephew loves ordering natto at sushi restaurant. Great! Next time we go visit Seattle, I’ll treat Hugo and myself a nice natto lunch and this ice cream later. No one else, just Hugie and I, since his parents said they couldn’t even stand the smell of it coming from his plate.

Last year Hiyashi Chuka (Cold Chinese Noodle Salad). This year Sushi — I even learned to stop him crying by offering some sushi — work like a charm! Next time Natto! Woo hoo! All beloved food from my country. You are a true foodie, at such young age. I’m very proud of you.

We love Shooshee!