Beans? Why would anyone put beans on shaved ice?
For anyone not familiar with sweetened beans, it does seem a little strange at first. Our daughters took a long time to try this because of that reason. Sweet beans just don’t have the brightly colored look most people associate with sweet foods. But wow are they delicious on shaved ice and ice cream!
Sweetened beans are an extremely popular addition to shaved ice in many Asian countries. And since Hawaiian style shave ice originated from Japanese immigrants, it’s no surprise that it’s a popular topping in Hawaiian shave ice shops as well.
At our house we make Filipino Halo-Halo a lot, so we had to figure out how to make sweet beans. It’s not something you can typically find ready made in stores. In the Philippines it’s sweetened mung beans are called minatamis na monggo.
It can also be a little hard to find azuki beans and red mung beans in stores, but luckily you can get both on Amazon so that’s what we do. Besides beans all you need is water, sugar, and a pinch of salt so this is a nice simple recipe.
Here’s the recipe we use to make the sweet beans. This makes roughly 2 cups of beans after they expand.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup adzuki or red mung beans
- 3 cups of water
- 3/4 cup sugar
- pinch of salt
Instructions:
[dropcap]1[/dropcap] Using a strainer, rinse out the beans with water. While rinsing, discard any funky looking dried or discolored beans or any other debris. [dropcap]2[/dropcap] Soak the beans in a large bowl or sauce pan overnight. You’ll want to use a fairly large bowl because they’ll expand from soaking. Use 3 times as much water as there are beans. [dropcap]3[/dropcap] The next day, drain the beans and add them to a pot with the sugar and salt and 3 cups water. Always use 3 cups of water for every cup of beans. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for about 45 minutes, until the beans are nice and tender. [dropcap]4[/dropcap] Let cool, and then place inside a jar or other storage container until you’re ready to use them. Since they’re so sweet, they’ll actually stay good for quite a while in the fridge.That’s it! Please give it a try and let us know what you think.
