Potbingsu - Shaved Ice with Azuki Beans

Potbingsu (팥빙수) is a popular Korean summer dessert. It's almost like Hawaian snow cones except that it's served in a bowl instead of a cone. Cool off with homemade vegan Potbingsu with this easy recipe!

First, you will need an ice shaver to make this. If you're up for it, I've seen some people chop up ice with knives like Edward Scissorhands.. but I do recommend you get a machine. You can get it online for $20-$50. 

Potbingsu

Ingredients (1 serving)

15-20 Ice cubes / soymilk ice cubes (see below for my trick)

1/2 cup     Sweet azuki bean paste (use store-bought or see below to make from scratch)

Topping Ideas:

Vegan ice cream

Syrup - fruit, chocolate

Fruits - berries, banana, kiwi, pineapple, mango

Nuts

Cornflakes

Bite-size mochi rice cake

※ Even store-bought Potbingsu can easily be a vegan dessert as long as its toppings are vegan. It may contain some dairy toppings such as ice cream, jelly and condensed milk. 

Potbingsu is usually made of simple water ice. But I make ice flakes with frozen soymilk for more flavour. I feel too lazy to fill an ice cube tray so I always end up throwing a 200-ml box of soymilk in the freezer. When the soymilk is completely frozen, just remove its package to get a block of ice. Break up the block into smaller blocks if you need to - This would depend on your ice shaver. Breaking up is easy with a couple of good hard tabs with a knife. 

Let your ice shaver shave off the ice to make a snow mountain. Add 1/2 cup of azuki bean paste and go nuts on toppings! :D

In the picture above, I topped with strawberries and sprinkled some grean tea powder.

Sweet Azuki Bean Paste

Ingredients

1 cup         Dried azuki bean

3/4 cup Brown rice syrup or maple syrup

Wash a cup of azuki beans and soak them for at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse. Put beans in a large pot and add 4 cups of water. Cover and boil over medium-high heat for an hour or longer. Check occasionally to make sure you have enough water in the pot.

When beans are soft, remove from heat. Drain excess liquid and DISCARD the liquid- this boiled water will make you sick.

Add brown rice syrup to the beans and let simmer until all liquid has evaporated. Allow the beans to cool completely. It will store for a week in the fridge. If you want to store it longer, add more syrup when simmering.