Chinese Shaved Ice, or baobing, is something I’ve only seen made the right way in China.
On hot days in Beijing, when my parents and sister lived there for a 3-year stretch while I was in college, there was nothing better than a tower of fluffy, snow-like shaved ice with all the toppings. Sweet red adzuki beans and cooling green mung beans, lots of chewy tapioca pearls and rice balls, and the perfect sweet condensed milk mixture.
It was an elaborate yet light dessert I could never get enough of.
Recipe Inspiration: A Din Tai Fung Copycat
Din Tai Fung is one of the most famous restaurants in China, known for their soup dumplings and other traditional Shanghai brunch dishes.
At the end of any meal there, though, I would always insist on this shaved ice dessert. An impossibly tall tower of ice would arrive at the table, with 4 spoons, and we would slowly spoon away the sides of the tower, chewing on the sweet tapioca pearls swirled in with the sweet beans and delicate ice shards.
On our trip to Shanghai last fall, however, I was absolutely devastated to discover that they removed ALL of the shaved ice desserts from their menu!
So this recipe is a recreation of all those bowls of shaved ice, now that my one source has been unceremoniously cut off. As for those of you who’ve never tried it, you’re in for a treat!
How Is Baobing Different?
Chinese shaved ice, or baobing, is not quite the same as similar desserts served up in Japan, Korea or Hawaii. For instance, Hawaiian shaved ice resembles fluffy snow, and is topped with flavored syrups. Korean shaved ice, or patbingsu, relies more on discrete toppings without the milky soup that brings it all together.
This Chinese shaved ice is also different from some of our other cool, milk-based Chinese desserts, inspired by the dessert chain Honeymoon Dessert. Ice is the main component here, unlike say, our Black Sticky Rice Mango dessert, which relies more on milk and ice cream.
This shave ice is quite literally, a tower of shaved, flaky ice that melts in your mouth, covered with toppings and doused with a condensed milk mixture.
Baobing Toppings
Baobing can have many different toppings and ingredients! This version is very traditional, as it uses red beans and mung beans. Other super traditional add-ins are cooled, cooked taro cubes and grass jelly.
This recipe is the version we ate often in China, but we recognize that these more mild flavors are not for everyone, so you can adjust your Chinese shaved ice to your taste! Here’s the breakdown, so you can figure out what your perfect Chinese shaved ice tastes like.
What ours has:
- Clear tapioca pearls
- Black tapioca pearls
- Glutinous rice balls
- Red bean
- Mung bean
- Coconut milk mixed with regular milk and condensed milk
Other ideas for add ins:
- Fruit (e.g., mango, berries, etc.)
- Ice cream (vanilla and matcha are particularly good)
- Steamed, cooled and diced taro
- Taro and sweet potato glutinous rice balls
How to Make Baobing (Chinese Shaved Ice)
There are a handful of steps and components that need to come together on one time-sensitive tower of ice! Here’s the approximate sequence of events:
- 10-12 hours before servings: Freeze the ice and prepare the 2 bean mixtures
- 1-2 hours before serving: Prepare the add-ins
- Right before you’re ready to serve: Assemble the shaved ice!
Do you see now why I was heartbroken that the one restaurant I knew served this quality of shaved ice removed it from the menu? It’s a labor of love. But let’s get into it!
Step 1: Make the Red Adzuki Bean & Mung Bean Mixtures
Drain the soaked beans and transfer the red beans and mung beans to two separate pots. Add 3 cups of fresh water, the sugar, and salt to each.
As you can see in the photo below, 1 cup each of red beans and mung beans balloons to quite a bit after soaking!
Bring both pots to a boil. For the red adzuki bean mixture, reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour. It depends a little bit on the soaking time and the age of the beans. For the green mung bean soup, simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the beans are tender and breaking open.
When the beans look soft and broken down, use an immersion blender to blend just ½ cup of each bean soup into a puree. Then add the puree back to the pots. Cool completely before using. I made mine one day ahead of time and let it chill overnight. If you do this, you may need to loosen the red bean mixture with some water the next day, as the adzuki beans can be quite starchy.
Step 2: Prepare Ice for Shaving
You’ll need to get an ice shaving machine (you can find some on Amazon). The one we used is a simple device that doesn’t require electricity, but it does ensure you get a fluffy consistency to your ice. You could try pulling off the same thing in a high-powered blender, but it’s likely that you’d end up with little pebbles of ice rather than fluffy shaved ice.
You’ll need to use the molds that come with the ice shaver and freeze water in them the night before. One of our molds was cracked, so I lined it with plastic wrap. I also used a small plastic takeout container we had—both solutions worked like a charm!
When you’re ready to shave the ice, you just load the ice blocks into the top of the ice shaver, screw in the handle, place a bowl underneath, and turn the handle to shave the ice. You’ll need 2 blocks for 1 large serving, 2 regular servings, or 3 small servings.
Step 3: Prepare Toppings
Cook the tapioca pearls in separate small pots per package instructions. For the dried white tapioca pearls, use my mom’s instructions. The white tapioca pearls can be slightly tricky to cook, but the black tapioca pearls (the ones in the packages that say, “Ready in 5 Minutes”) cook quickly, so feel free to only use those if you prefer.
Prepare the glutinous rice balls per our recipe. We had some set aside in the freezer, so all we had to do was boil them and cool them under running water.
Next, prepare the milk mixture by mixing the three types of milk together in a bowl, large measuring cup, or pitcher. You can opt to use all coconut milk, or all dairy milk if you prefer one over the other. As for the condensed milk, this is where most of the sweetness comes from, and the thicker the milk mixture, the better it’ll be over the ice.
Step 4: Assemble the Shaved Ice
This is the most exciting part!
Shave the ice and heap it into a big tower in a shallow bowl. You may need to shave the ice into a smaller bowl than what you’ll serve it in. If you need to move ice around, just be sure to move quickly!
Using a spoon, drip the red bean and mung bean mixtures down the sides of the ice tower in alternating columns. Then, place the boba, tapioca, and glutinous rice balls around the base of the ice tower. Finally, pour the milk mixture over the top, letting it soak into the ice and flow down the sides.
One serving of this shaved ice takes about 1 cup of shaved ice, as much of the bean mixtures and toppings as you want, and ½-⅔ cup milk. Go by your own preferences and build them how you like!
You can make these with only the green mung beans or only the red beans, or change up the toppings entirely.
If you’d like to simplify the recipe, try making just the red bean mixture, a batch of quick cooking tapioca pearls, and assemble with just some ice, the milk mixture, red bean, tapioca, and maybe a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Enjoy!
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Recipe
Chinese Shaved Ice
Equipment
- Manual Ice Shaving Machine or Blender
Ingredients
For the red bean mixture:
- 1 cup dried red adzuki beans (8 oz./225g, soaked overnight)
- 1/4 cup sugar (50g, or to taste)
- 3 cups water (710 ml)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
For the mung bean mixture:
- 1 cup dried mung beans (8 oz./225g, soaked overnight)
- 1/4 cup sugar (50g, or to taste)
- 3 cups water (710 ml)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Other toppings:
- 1/2 cup dry quick-cooking black tapioca pearls (boba)
- 1/2 cup dried white tapioca pearls (can substitute more quick cooking black tapioca pearls)
- 1/2 cup glutinous rice balls (using our recipe)
- 1/2 cup coconut milk (120 ml)
- 1/2 cup regular milk (120 ml)
- 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk (120 ml, or to taste)
Instructions
Make the Red Adzuki Bean & Mung Bean Mixtures
- Drain the soaked beans and transfer the red beans and mung beans to two separate pots. Add 3 cups of fresh water, the sugar, and salt to each.
- Bring both pots to a boil. For the red adzuki bean mixture, reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour. It depends a little bit on the soaking time and the age of the beans. For the green mung bean soup, simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the beans are tender and breaking open.
- When the beans look soft and broken down, use an immersion blender to blend just ½ cup of each bean soup into a puree. Then add the puree back to the pots. Cool completely before using. I made mine one day ahead of time and let it chill overnight. If you do this, you may need to loosen the red bean mixture with some water the next day, as the adzuki beans can be quite starchy.
Prepare Ice for Shaving
- Freeze ice in molds that came with your ice shaving machine.
Prepare Toppings
- Cook the tapioca pearls in separate small pots per package instructions. For the dried white tapioca pearls, use these instructions. The white tapioca pearls can be slightly tricky to cook, but the black tapioca pearls (the ones in the packages that say, “Ready in 5 Minutes”) cook quickly, so feel free to only use those if you prefer.
- Prepare the glutinous rice balls per our recipe. We had some set aside in the freezer, so all we had to do was boil them and cool them under running water.
- Next, prepare the milk mixture by mixing the 3 milks together. You can opt to use all coconut milk, or all dairy milk if you prefer one over the other. As for the condensed milk, this is where most of the sweetness comes from, and the thicker the milk mixture, the better it’ll be over the ice.
Assemble the Shaved Ice
- Shave the ice and heap it into a big tower in a shallow bowl. You may need to shave the ice into a smaller bowl than what you’ll serve it in. If you need to move ice around, just be sure to move quickly!
- Using a spoon, drip the red bean and mung bean mixtures down the sides of the ice tower in alternating columns. Then, place the boba, tapioca, and glutinous rice balls around the base of the ice tower. Finally, pour the milk mixture over the top, letting it soak into the ice and flow down the sides.
- One serving of this shaved ice takes about 1 cup of shaved ice, as much of the bean mixtures and toppings as you want, and ½-⅔ cup milk. Go by your own preferences and build them how you like!
