Ais kacang
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ais kacang or ice kacang (Chinese: 红豆冰; pinyin: hóngdòu bing; literally "red bean ice"), is a dessert served in Malaysia and Singapore. It is also popularly known as air batu campur in Malay or ABC for short. The word "air batu", literally meaning "stone water" means ice and "campur" means mixed. It is sweet-tasting and is primarily ice served with sweet flavoured syrup and jelly. The word Kacang is a Malay word for bean, and the word "ais" is a transliteration of the English term "ice".
Formerly, it was made of only shaved ice and red beans. Today, ice kacang generally comes in bright colours, and with different fruit cocktails and dressings. Several varieties have also been introduced which contain aloe vera in some form or another, such as in jelly form. Often, a large serving of attap chee (palm seed), red beans, sweetcorn, grass jelly, cubes of agar agar and cendol form the base. Evaporated milk is drizzled over the mountain of ice. To cater to the palates of the modern customer, some stalls have even introduced novelty toppings like durian, chocolate syrup and ice cream. There are also versions that shun the multi-coloured syrup and are served with just a drizzling of gula melaka syrup instead.
Many South-East Asian coffee shops, hawker centres and food courts offer this dessert. Ais kacang tends to be patronised by tourists and locals alike.
