One of the most satisfying traditional Taiwanese desserts on a hot summer day has got to be 礤冰 or Shaved Ice. My first memory of eating shaved ice was actually in Monterey, California more than 20 years ago. My family was visiting a friend and she took us to a popular shaved ice shop. There were so many toppings to choose from (mostly Asian toppings that looked unique) and I got my own bowl topped with a generous amount of sweetened condensed milk!
Since that day, I seek and crave Taiwanese Shaved Ice whenever the summers are hot, or whenever I travel back to Monterey or Taiwan. For the times in-between, I get my shaved ice fix preparing this dessert at home.
| The key to making Taiwanese Shaved Ice, is the Shaved Ice Maker which needs to make light fluffy snow (a hallmark of really good shaved ice) and the Asian toppings. Luickly, when I set off to make shaved ice at home, I came across a really good and inexpensive shaved ice machine from Hawaiian Shaved Ice (retails on Amazon for under $35). I was worried the ice shavings might not be fluffy enough, but those worries were put to rest after testing it out using the ice moulds to make ice 'pucks'. If you're wondering, it's also okay to use regular ice cubes in this machine, but the texture of the shavings won't be as soft. |  Hawaiian Shaved Ice Maker |
You'll also want to prepare your toppings. Popular toppings in shaved ice include barley, boba pearls, taro, boiled peanuts, red bean, mung (green) beans and many more, all usually topped with sweetened condensed milk.
I found the easiest was to prepare most of the ingredients in advance and store them in small containers in the fridge. The ones that kept best overnight were the barley and the mung beans. I made both of these by cooking in a pressure cooker for 20-35 minutes each. The length of time really depends on the texture you want. I still like the toppings to have a bit of firm texture to them so they aren't mushy.
| How to Prep toppings in a Pressure cooker: Add the dried beans (or barley) to your pressure cooker and a generous amount of water. The water doesn't need to be exact, but you'll need plenty of water so there's room for the toppings to boil and cook. I was testing out a new pressure cooker machine (the Cuckoo Multi Cooker which is similar to InstantPot) and used the Vegetables setting for 20 - 35 minutes. Discard the water after cooking is complete and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. If you like your toppings on the super soft/ mushy side, go closer to the 35 minutes, otherwise I recommend 20-25. |  |
Toppings like frozen mochi balls or even tapioca pearls can be prepped the day of making this treat as they don't keep well and are best eaten freshly cooked or made an hour before.
If you want to watch how I made Taiwanese Shaved Ice dessert at home, check out my video recipe/ tutorial I posted on YouTube. Happy Shaved Ice Making!
If you want to watch how I made Taiwanese Shaved Ice dessert at home, check out my video recipe/ tutorial I posted on YouTube. Happy Shaved Ice Making!