You all know the name of my blog "PATBINGSOO" but I have never made a post on the actual dish itself. I think it is about time for that, to show you guys one of the most common and popular dishes to have in summer in Korea.
Patbingsoo or 팥빙수 is a popular dish in Korea that is eaten in summer to cool down from the humdity and sweltering weather temperatures. This snack originally began as ice shavings and sweetened azuki beans (known as pat, 팥). It was sold by street vendors.
In contemporary culture, it has become a very elaborate summer dessert, often topped with ice cream or frozen yogurt, sweetened condensed milk, fruit syrups, various fruits such as strawberries, kiwifruit, and bananas, small pieces of tteok (rice cake), chewy jelly bits, and cereal flakes.
That was my introduction for it, but I'll also give you the one offered by the Korean Tourism Board
"During summer, besides eating ice cream, there’s quite a popular dessert, which Koreans are found eating with friends, families, coworkers, and lovers, called ‘Patbingsu’, which is a big swirl of yogurt or sherbet mounted on some ice and garnished with sweet red beans called ‘Pat’ or fruit. There a various creations and sizes to enjoy with a group or by yourself. The best part of eating this dessert is that you don’t have to worry about calories or watching your weight unlike ice cream. It’s a guilt-free dessert, and one, which is considered a healthy snack.
I highly recommend ‘Green Tea Patbingsu,’ not only is it considered a well-being food, but its shop (O’sulloc Tea House) specializes only in green tea, making all its food from this ingredient. In the west, ‘green tea’ is still a novelty, which is mostly considered a beverage. It’s a great opportunity to treat two new things- green tea and patbingsu- if you haven’t already. Patbingsu reminds me of a glorified snow cone, but much, much better than a regular snow cone.
Another great franchise to eat fruit bingsu is at a place called “Ice Berry”. It specializes in fruit yogurt desserts with ice and fruit. There is an assortment of different kinds of fruit toppings to choose from such as watermelon, kiwi, peach, strawberry, as well as cereal and vanilla ice cream. If you share with a group of people, it’s best to order a large size bowl called “Jangpan bingsu”. It’s a sumptuous treat to eat in the summer as well.
Tip: Make sure before you eat patbingsu or fruit bingsu, to mix it thoroughly. The taste is much better! Also be careful, don’t just eat the ice by itself. A big spoonful of it may make your brain freeze."
[Source: http://visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=260552 ]
Now you guys should have a wholesome understanding about patbingsoo. Now just so you guys know, what the tourism board says I can't make a comment about the places that it tells you about because I have never been there before...let along heard of it. BUT to put you out of your misery, I'm going to show you my version of patbingsoo.
Seriously, you can eat it however you want and with any combination of toppings. Here goes:
Ingredients
- 2 cups of ice
- 1/2 cup of cut-up fresh fruit (kiwis, strawberries, bananas, pineapple, peaches, mango, any berries, watermelon, melons are all good) or fruit cocktail.
- 1/4 cup of chapsal dduk, sweet rice cake (you can use mochi if you can't anything else)
- 1/3 cup of sweetened canned red bean, called 팥
- 1/4 cup of condensed milk OR scoops of ice-cream <-- I prefer this
You should be able to find everything at your local asian grocer or even supermarket
Method
1. Grind up the ice using a mixer or ice grinder and put it in a bowl (clear bowls are nice to eat out of)
2. Pour the condensed milk or ice-cream over the crushed ice in the bowl. Put the red bean topping over the ice and milk, and then sprinkle the fresh fruit and dduk over the whole thing (you can be artistic and arrange the fruit prettily, or just dump it on top and eat).
3. EAT
Now you guys should have a wholesome understanding about patbingsoo. Now just so you guys know, what the tourism board says I can't make a comment about the places that it tells you about because I have never been there before...let along heard of it. BUT to put you out of your misery, I'm going to show you my version of patbingsoo.
Seriously, you can eat it however you want and with any combination of toppings. Here goes:
Ingredients
- 2 cups of ice
- 1/2 cup of cut-up fresh fruit (kiwis, strawberries, bananas, pineapple, peaches, mango, any berries, watermelon, melons are all good) or fruit cocktail.
- 1/4 cup of chapsal dduk, sweet rice cake (you can use mochi if you can't anything else)
- 1/3 cup of sweetened canned red bean, called 팥
- 1/4 cup of condensed milk OR scoops of ice-cream <-- I prefer this
You should be able to find everything at your local asian grocer or even supermarket
Method
1. Grind up the ice using a mixer or ice grinder and put it in a bowl (clear bowls are nice to eat out of)
2. Pour the condensed milk or ice-cream over the crushed ice in the bowl. Put the red bean topping over the ice and milk, and then sprinkle the fresh fruit and dduk over the whole thing (you can be artistic and arrange the fruit prettily, or just dump it on top and eat).
3. EAT
The Korean style of eating patbingsoo is 섞어섞어, or "mix mix". You take a spoon, mix everything together so that the toppings and ice blend, and eat! But personally, I prefer leaving the toppings intact until the very end. It is more pretty that way.
That is the recipe for basic patbingsoo...there are a lot of other varieties that you can try, such as green tea patbingsoo and misutgaru patbingsoo (미숫가루 팥빙수)
I hope you guys enjoy that in the summer heat. It looks absolutely delicious....but it is too cold to eat here...maybe I'll just go and have some ice-cream now ^^
Next week = another recipe. Look forward to it
