Saturday, January 17, 2009

September 5, 2007 Singapore Deserts



We finally got up the nerve to buy and try one of these desserts at one of many dessert stalls around Singapore, mostly inside the hawkers stands. Actually, it was really good. I had something a little different than this in Penang, Malaysia and it was good too. Above is Steven and the dessert Ice Kacang, a typical Hawker Food Center (Maxwell Food Center, Chinatown)and an Indian Dessert.

Ice kacang or Ais kacang, literally "red bean ice"), is a dessert served in Malaysia and Singapore. It is also popularly known as air batu campur in Malay or ABC for short. It is sweet-tasting and is primarily ice served with sweet flavoured syrup and jelly. The word Kacang (note that kachang is an old spelling) is a Malay word for bean, and the word "ais" is a translation of the english term "ice".

Formerly, it was made of only shaved ice and red beans. Today, ice kachang generally comes in bright colours, and with different fruit cocktails and dressings. Several varieties have also been introduced which contain aloe vera in some form or another, such as in jelly form. Often, a large serving of attap chee (palm seed), red beans, sweetcorn, grass jelly, cubes of agar agar and chendol form the base. Evaporated milk is drizzled over the mountain of ice. To cater to the palates of the modern customer, some stalls have even introduced novelty toppings like 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 South-East Asian coffee shops, hawker centres and food courts offer this dessert. Ais kacang tends to be patronised by tourists and locals alike.

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