Make the custard base

1. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. Heat the milk mixture. Add the cream and milk or the homemade nut milk into a large pot, along with the honey, vanilla, and salt. Heat over medium heat until it’s steaming, stirring occasionally. Once hot, reduce the heat to medium-low.
3. Temper the eggs & cook the custard. Scoop about 1/2 cup of the milk mixture out, and, whisking constantly, stream it into the bowl of egg yolks. Repeat this three more times to temper the eggs. Then, whisking the milk mixture constantly, stream in the tempered eggs. Switch to a rubber spatula/large wooden spoon, and stir constantly (I typically stir the mixture every 10 seconds) until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon. This could take anywhere from 5 minutes to 10 minutes, depending on how high the heat is.
4. Cool the custard. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl or pitcher to catch any egg white bits. Then place the custard base in an ice bath, stirring constantly until cool.
5. Blend in the mint and matcha. Pour the custard base into a high-speed blender, along with the mint leaves and matcha. Blend on low, slowly ramping up the speed to high. Blend on high for 1 minute or until the mint is finely blended — avoid over blending, as it’ll incorporate air bubbles into the custard and, if you’re using dairy, potentially whip the cream. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a pitcher or bowl to catch any large mint chunks and matcha clumps. Cover the base with plastic wrap or a lid and place in the fridge overnight.

Churn the ice cream & freeze

1. Melt the chocolate. Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool slightly. You can either stream the chocolate directly from the bowl/pot into the churning ice cream (this is what I normally do); you do need to control the chocolate stream, as it needs to be super thin. Alternatively, for more control, you can pour the chocolate into a piping bag/plastic bag, and stream it in like that. Note: You can do this stracciatella method with certain machines. Any machine with a spinning blade will be problematic; the chocolate will stick to the blades instead of churning into the ice cream (for example, this doesn’t work with the KitchenAid ice cream attachment). Alternative in the recipe notes.
2. Stream the melted chocolate into the ice cream. Strain the chilled custard once more before churning to catch any errant air bubbles/mint pieces. Churn the ice cream as normal, but once it starts to crystallize, start streaming in the chocolate. Keep the chocolate stream thin.
3. Finish churning & freeze. Once the chocolate is streamed in, let the ice cream continue to churn for a few more minutes or until done, to break up the chocolate bits further. Pop the ice cream into your container and let it chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.