Patbingsu is one of the most popular summer desserts or snacks in Korea. It looks like a huge snow mountain in a bowl decorated with colorful fruits, sweet red beans and rice cake pieces and sweet creamy condensed milk. If you feel exhausted from the heat in the summer, make this. You’ll feel energetic again and your body temperature will cool down. Add your favorite toppings to your patbingsu: fruit, jelly, rice cake pieces, roasted grain powder, ice cream, sweetened condensed milk…
Make your own style of homemade patbingsu and enjoy your summer!
I used to make patbingsu for my children when they were young. On a hot summer afternoon, when they came home from school, I would wait for them with patbingsu ingredients. Once they came home, “Patbingsu is ready! Wash your hands and come back to the table! Meanwhile I’m shaving the ice!” I was very happy when I saw their excitement.
Ingredients
- Red beans (adzuki beans), sugar, vanilla, salt, shaved ice, sweetened condensed milk, rice cake, strawberries, banana, and kiwi.
Directions
- 1Make sweet red beans:
Rinse and strain 1 cup of red beans and place them in a thick-bottomed pot.
1 cup of dried red beans will make a little more than 2 cups of sweet red beans. Each serving of patbingsu needs ½ cup of sweet red beans.
Add 4 cups of water. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over low heat for 10 minutes.
Lower the heat to simmer for 1 hour.
Open the lid and check if the beans are cooked well or not. The beans should be crushed easily.
Chew a sample of the beans. If there is something hard when you chew, you need to cook longer.
Drain the water and add 1 cup of sugar, 1 ts vanilla, and ½ ts salt. Mix well.
*tip: the water from the beans can be used for making rice
Uncover and stir the sweet beans over low heat for 5 minutes.
Turn the heat off and let it cool down. Keep in the fridge. - 2Let’s make patbingsu!
Add ½ cup of sweet red beans on the bottom of a dessert bowl.
Add 1½ cups of shaved ice over the sweet red beans.
Add chopped strawberries, banana, and kiwi on top of the ice.
Pour 2 tbs of sweetened condensed milk onto red beans and place 5-7 chopped rice cakes on top.
Serve right away with a spoon.