Red bean ice is a popular Asian dessert made with red beans, ice, and milk. It can be served as a drink or snack and has many variations across different Asian cultures. Red beans are commonly used in desserts in Hong Kong cuisine and can be blended with iced tea or topped with ice cream. Other variations include red bean bubble tea and Singaporean ice kachang.
Red bean ice is a popular Asian drink made from red beans, ice cubes, and milk. The drink is typically served as a snack or dessert. There are many different versions of red bean ice, and iterations exist in nearly every Asian culture. Many believe the drink originated in Hong Kong, but red beans — and red bean drinks along with them — are ubiquitous from the tip of Japan through to the coast of Singapore.
Hong Kong cuisine, along with the cuisines of most Asian cultures, often treats the kidney bean as a dessert ingredient. Red bean, or azuki as it is known in Chinese, has a naturally sweet flavor that complements and thickens a large number of dishes. Red bean cakes and pastries, ice cream, and dumplings are some of the more common examples, and red bean ice joins these ranks.
There are many ways to make red bean ice. The simplest version is layered in a glass. Sweetened red beans sit at the bottom, often in a sugary syrup, and comes a layer of ice, which is covered in milk, often also sweetened. The drink needs to be stirred before consumption, so that all the flavors meld together.
Many cooks top these Hong Kong drinks with a scoop of ice cream or substitute coconut milk or sweetened condensed milk for a richer, sweeter flavor. It is also possible to mix all the ingredients together to create a sort of red bean smoothie or milkshake. As long as the drink is cold and contains red beans and dairy, it can properly be called “red bean ice.”
Different cultures, cooks, and restaurants have also added their own twists and modifications to red bean ice. A red bean bubble tea, for example, is essentially red bean ice with tapioca peals or small slices of coconut jelly. Powdered tea may or may not be included, and the beans may be fresh or reconstituted from red bean paste.
Red beans can also be blended or added into iced tea to make red bean iced tea. Such a drink is commonly served with heavy cream or sweetened condensed milk and is most popular in Southeast Asia, especially Thailand and Singapore. Singaporean cuisine also features a related red bean dessert, known as ice kachang, which is essentially a dome of shaved ice placed atop a syrupy concoction of red beans. The ice in this dessert is usually covered with colorful syrups, condensed milk and fruit toppings.
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