''Ais kacang'' (; Jawi: ), literally meaning "bean ice", also commonly known as ABC (acronym for ''air batu campur'' (), Jawi: اءير باتو چمڤور, meaning "mixed ice"), is a dessert which is common in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

(where it is called ice ''kachang'') and

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

. Traditionally, an ice shaving machine is used to churn out the

shaved ice Shaved ice is a large family of ice-based desserts made of fine shavings of ice and sweet condiments or syrups. Usually, the syrup is added after the ice has been frozen and shaved—typically at the point of sale; however, flavoring can also be ...

used in the dessert, originally hand cranked but now more often motorised. Many

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n coffee shops,

hawker centre A hawker centre (), or cooked food centre (), is an often open-air complex commonly found in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. They are intended to provide a more sanitary alternative to mobile hawker carts and contain many stall ...

s and

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food Vendor, vendors and provides a common area for self-serve di ...

s sell this dessert.

History

Early versions of ice kacang was first known to have been prepared around the time before and after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, where the costs of ice manufacturing was becoming more affordable. An earlier variant of the Singaporean dish was described as green, made from shaved ice, paired with syrups, ''soaked seeds'' and seaweed jelly and was sold mainly by street vendors. The dish underwent many different alterations and variants throughout the history of Singapore, where during the 1920s, one version of it was described as shaved ice topped with rose water, lime or liquorice. A version of the dish, known as Kachang mera, was also sold during the 1930s. By the 1940s, the version of the dish described as having "shaved ice heaped into a little mountain", topped with red beans, "a Chinese grape-like fruit", syrup, and condensed or

evaporated milk Evaporated milk, known in some countries as "unsweetened condensed milk", is a shelf-stable canned cow’s milk product for which approximately 60% of the water has been removed from fresh milk. French inventor, Nicolas Appert, the "father of ...

, similar to how it is being prepared today, began to appear. Some earlier variants of ice kachang are no longer sold, such as the ice ball version of the desert, which was popular during the 1950s and 1960s

Preparation

''Ais kacang'' was originally made of only shaved ice and red beans, though the number and diversity of ingredients has since expanded. Today, ''ais kacang'' generally comes in bright colors and with various fruit cocktails and dressings. In Malaysia, variants now contain a large serving of '' attap chee'' (palm seed), red beans,

sweet corn Sweet corn (''Zea mays'' convar. ''saccharata'' var. ''rugosa''), also called sweetcorn, sugar corn and pole corn, is a variety of maize grown for human consumption with a high sugar content. Sweet corn is the result of a naturally occurring rec ...

grass jelly Grass jelly, also known as leaf jelly or herbal jelly, is a Gelatin, jelly-like dessert originating in China. It is commonly consumed in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is created by using Platostoma palustre, Chinese mesona (a member of the ...

, roasted

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

s, and cubes of

agar agar Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a gelling agent, jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from "Gracilaria, ogonori" and "Gelidiaceae, tengusa". As found in nature, a ...

as common ingredients. Other less common ingredients include

aloe vera ''Aloe vera'' () is a succulent plant species of the genus ''Aloe''. It is widely distributed, and is considered an invasive species in many world regions. An evergreen perennial plant, perennial, it originates from the Arabian Peninsula, but ...

, ''

cendol Cendol is an iced sweet dessert that contains pandan-flavoured green rice flour jelly, coconut milk, and palm sugar syrup. It is popular in the Southeast Asian nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Laos, Vietnam, Thai ...

'', ''

nata de coco ''Nata de coco'', also marketed as coconut gel, is a chewy, translucent, jelly-like food produced by the fermentation of coconut water, which gels through the production of microbial cellulose by '' Komagataeibacter xylinus''. Originating i ...

,'' and

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

. 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 The durian () is the edible fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus ''Durio''. There are 30 recognized species, at least nine of which produce edible fruit. ''Durio zibethinus'', native to Borneo and Sumatra, is the only species ...

and

chocolate syrup Chocolate syrup, sometimes called chocolate sauce, is a sweet, chocolate-flavored condiment. It is often used as a topping or dessert sauce for various desserts, such as ice cream, or mixed with milk to make chocolate milk or blended with mil ...

. There are also versions that shun the multi-coloured syrup and are served instead with just a drizzling of

palm sugar Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar may be qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed simila ...

syrup. In Singapore, traditional ice kachang is usually made from shaved ice, packed into a mountain-like shape and consists of red beans, creamed corn, attap chee, cendol, and grass jelly, similar to the Malaysian version, and drizzled with syrups made from gula melaka, red rose syrup, and pandan syrup. The dish has evolved to include fruits such as durian, mango, toppings such as Milo, peanuts, and sago pearls among others.

References

{{Ice-based snacks Bruneian cuisine Malaysian cuisine Singaporean cuisine Ice-based desserts

History

Preparation

See also

References