ICE KACANG anyone?

Ok.. so this photo does not give full credit to this Malaysian culinary delight. Ice Kacang is unlike anything you will ever eat in your life. To make this simply shave a large amount of ice into a bowl. Next, pile the following ingredients in any desired amounts:

rose syrup

gula melaka or sarsi (try root beer syrup for us Americans)

sweet cream

red beans

sweet corn

herbal jelly (jello for us Americans)

sea coconut or palm fruits

fresh fruit such as jack fruit or watermelon

Then, place a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!

When my family tried making these a few weeks ago with some friends from Penang, we failed miserably. The taste was far from what I remembered in Penang. I am sure we did not have the correct cream or root beer syrup. If I could get a hold of some gula melaka, I would try that instead of the root beer. Also, we did not have the palm fruits. I must stop at an Asian market next time before making this. Hopefully it will taste better.

While in Penang, my kids would make their own version of this dessert. Theirs consisted of a mound of shaved ice, sarsi, and sweet cream. When combined, it tastes much like a root beer float!

Anyway, we had a blast trying to eat our Americanized Ice Kacang. The kids ended up taking the shaved ice and having a snowball fight. Can you blame these poor Floridian kids? That is the closest they get to snow!

Steven and Mike are shaving the ice with the ice kacang machine. Yes, we bought the machine and brought it all the way home with us!