Come Away with Me

宇治金時

It's the thick of summer here now and what better way to tackle the unrelenting heat than to down a bowl of this delightfully refreshing iced shavings dessert or kakikori (かき氷). Initially, I couldn't really comprehend the Japanese obsession with it, I mean it's just ice-kacang isn't it. I was quite taken aback that many would happily fork out a couple of dollars just for a bowl of syrupy flavored ice. Through the many conversations I had with people, quite a handful of them even seem to think that ice-kacang is unique to Japan and that it must be fascinating for the uninitiated foreigners. So when they found out that we can eat this stuff ALL year round, it was their turn to be surprised. And then it dawned upon me that the reason why kakikori is being devoured in such a celebrated manner is because you only get to eat it in the few hot months before the cooling air signals the coming of autumn and ice-kacang is out of favor once again.

Recently though I've developed a craving for this particularly Japanese style ice-kacang called (Ujikintoki). Instead of the usual fruity and sweet flavor, this one uses green tea syrup and has chunks of red bean paste hidden beneath the pile of ice. Eaten with drizzles of condense milk, the wonderful combination of red bean and green tea is simply heavenly! Given the fact that I wasn't much of an ice-kacang fan back home, I amazed myself when I was able to finish the entire bowl of this icy summer treat just on my own. Somehow I can't remember enjoying ice-kacang this much before. Or maybe I'm just bias because ujikintoki puts together 2 of my favorite distinctively Japanese ingredients to create something this delectable.

Perhaps it's time to pay more attention to ice-kacang when I am home again. But if anyone does come to Japan during summer time, please do give my favorite Japanese ice-kacang a try. If you are like me and really enjoy traditional Japanese sweets, I promise you will like ujikintoki too.

posted by テレサ @ 2:48 PM