Red Bean Drink Recipe (Red Bean Ice / 红豆冰)

This red bean drink recipe reminds me of my childhood.

Even though I'd never been to Hong Kong as a child, red bean drink / red bean ice drink holds a lot of fond memories for me. Back then, we went to an Asian shopping centre called Yaohan Plaza (later renamed Oriental City).

The shopping centre was made up of a huge supermarket, a food court with several stalls, a section of stores with clothes, books, toys, accessories, furniture and art, a games arcade, and a restaurant upstairs.

And in the food court was a drinks stall that sold drinks from freshly-squeezed sugar cane juice to – my favourite back then – Hong Kong red bean drink.

I was heartbroken when the shopping centre closed down – it was a big controversy at the time. The site was aggressively bought by a big development firm, who wanted to demolish the site and turn it into a B&Q. There were protests about it: after all, the buyout threatened to displace a large Asian community who'd been there for literally decades.

Unfortunately, the sale went through, and Oriental City shut its doors for the final time in 2008.

And then it turned out that the development firm didn't actually have the money to develop it after all.

So it remained deserted, thieves broke in to steal copper cabling, the site turned into even more of a financial risk, and it remained boarded up and derelict for almost a decade.

What a waste. Corporate greed ruined everything once again.

Nowadays the site's been turned into Bang Bang Oriental Foodhall, Golden Dragon supermarket and Loon Fung supermarket since 2017 (plus a Morrisons supermarket). While it's nothing like the Yaohan Plaza and Oriental City of old, it's nice that the site was eventually used to celebrate Asian food once again.

As for my red bean drink, I learned to make it myself.

There are several ways to make it: chunky ice, crushed ice, shaved ice, coconut milk, evaporated milk, both... the way I grew up with it was with just coconut milk, so this is how I make it.

You can also watch me make this on my YouTube channel, Tashcakes:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients:

100g dry red beans
50g caster sugar
Small pinch of salt
Crushed ice
Coconut milk (the thick stuff from a can, not dairy milk substitute in a carton)

Method:

1. Place the red beans in a large bowl, and cover with water, making sure the water level is a few inches above the beans. Cover and leave to soak overnight.

2. Drain and rinse the beans, and place in a rice cooker or slow cooker. Add fresh water until the level of the water is twice the height of the level of the beans, and cook for two hours.

3. Transfer the cooked beans along with the water into a saucepan, add the sugar and salt, and cook until reduced down but not too thick, and the beans are soft but are still keeping their shape (about half an hour). Leave to cool completely.

4. To assemble your red bean drink, put a few tablespoonfuls of your cooled sweet red beans and syrup at the bottom of a tall glass, fill with crushed ice, and top with coconut milk. Stir well before drinking.

Enjoy, and have fun.