Ais Kacang

 

Ais kacang is a Malaysian dessert which is also common in Singapore and Brunei.^[1] Traditionally a special ice machine^[2] is used to churn out the shaved ice used in the dessert, originally hand cranked but now more often motorized.

Formerly, it was made of only shaved ice and red beans, though the number and diversity of ingredients has since expanded.^[3] Today, ais kacang generally comes in bright colours, and with different fruit cocktails and dressings. In Malaysia, almost all variants now contain a large serving of attap chee (palm seed), red beans, sweet corn, grass jelly and cubes of agar agar as common ingredients. Other less-common ingredients include aloe vera, cendol, nata de coco, or ice cream. A final topping of evaporated milk, condensed milk, or coconut milk is drizzled over the mountain of ice along with red rose syrup and sarsi syrup. Some stalls have even introduced novelty toppings such as durian, chocolate syrup and ice cream. There are also versions that shun the multi-coloured syrup and are served with just a drizzling of gula melaka syrup instead.

Many Southeast Asian coffee shops, hawker centres, and food courts offer this dessert. Nowadays, ais kacang is mostly known as 'ABC' (acronym for Air Batu Campur, literally meaning "mixed Ice").

References

1.      ^ Yeoh, En-lai (9 March 2012). "Down by the Boardwalk in Singapore". The Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/03/09/down-by-the-boardwalk-in-singapore/. Retrieved 13 March 2012.

2.      ^ Sparklette Food & Travel Blog: Brightly-coloured machine. November 29, 2009

3.      ^ Festa, Jessica (16 January 2012). "Exploring the street food in Singapore". The Huffington Post. http://www.gadling.com/2012/02/16/exploring-the-street-food-in-singapore/. Retrieved 13 March 2012.