Like mother, like son...my son P and I go through various food crazes and phases, and we are currently hooked on ice kachang.
Our favourite local desserts stall in Singapore is Sim Huat (Stall Number 48) at Newton Circus Food Centre, where we usually do takeaways of cheng tng, another family favourite. But last week, on a particularly hot and humid afternoon, we both spontaneously hit upon ice kachang on a quick scan of the colourful photo-menu on the stall's signboard. Minutes later, we were bowled over (no pun intended) by two, um, bowls of deliciously cold, giant mountains of finely shaved ice (which looked and felt amazingly like virgin powder snow, and were quite unlike the misshapen, sorry-looking
chunks of ice you get in lesser ice kachangs that threaten to chip your teeth with every bite) with generous lashings of lurid neon pink, green and brown sugar syrup. The syrup-infused ice simply melts on your tongue and in your mouth, creating a delightfully cold sensation and delivering a zing-ing sugar high to the system within seconds...maximum impact for minimal effort - yay!
The owner, a quiet, pleasant chap, doesn't stinge on his ingredients and positively beams with delight when he sees others enjoying his sweet creations. He uses quality ingredients such as real gula melaka (palm sugar) syrup in his ice kachang, with plenty of goodies at the bottom of the bowl such as kachang, sweet corn, black grass jelly (chin chow), brown agar-agar jelly, attap chee, and for regulars, extras like the large, wonderfully chewy sago balls that he uses in his cheng tng (invariably everyone's favourite, and in my view his pièce de résistance), honey sea coconut, dried and canned longans.
His cheng tng, available in both hot and cold versions, is equally superb and both versions are yummilicious, depending on your mood and the weather.
Prices are unbelievably cheap too, at S$1.50 per serving of ice kachang and S$1.50/S$2 for a bowl of cheng tng - I am a fan of the S$2 deluxe version (more is more, after all). It's the perfect dessert for an Asian-themed dinner party - but be sure to store the cold version in the freezer to keep the shaved ice from melting and diluting the taste. Don't buy more than a couple of hours prior to serving as it doesn't store well - the sago balls turn hard. A glamorous foodie friend of mine dresses up this humble everyday dessert by serving it in exquisite Mariage Frères tea cups of hand blown glass with dainty little spoons of fine bone china. Nifty improvisation and instant elevation to cult status...handy for when she is out of her monthly supplies of Pierre Hermé macaroons and candied fruit jellies!
It's become a bit of a daily afternoon ritual for the two of us when P comes home from school. And it looks like we are headed there again this weekend as he has promised to take me there for my Mother's Day treat!
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