Red bean ice

Ingredientsserves 6

Equipment

• A tall glass, a long spoon and a wide straw
• Crushed ice: cubes in a tea towel bashed with a rolling pin, or a few pulses in a blender

Method

1. Soak the beans one to two hours, drain, cover with fresh water (about 1.5 litres) and bring to the boil; cover and simmer forty-five minutes until the beans are soft but still whole.
2. Add the sugar (and the dried peel if using) and cook ten minutes more until the liquid is syrupy and the beans are half collapsed; cool completely and chill. This is the 紅豆沙: a sweet, thick bean stew with whole beans in it, not a purée. It keeps four to five days in the fridge and makes six glasses.
3. Spoon the cold beans into a tall glass, a third full.
4. Fill the glass with crushed ice: cubes in a tea towel bashed with a rolling pin, or a few pulses in a blender.
5. Pour the evaporated milk over the ice so it runs down through the beans; serve with a long spoon and a wide straw.
6. Variations: a tablespoon of condensed milk for a sweeter glass, two tablespoons of coconut milk for 椰汁紅豆冰, a scoop of vanilla ice cream for 紅豆雪糕冰. The café's basic glass has evaporated milk and nothing else.

Take care

• Contains milk (evaporated and condensed milk). The cooked beans keep four to five days refrigerated.

The story

Red bean ice was the 冰室's reason to exist: the ice room sold ice, and a glass of cooked red beans under shaved ice and tinned milk was its signature before the 茶餐廳 licence let it cook anything at all. It is still on every drinks-bar board, and it gave a whole chain of Mong Kok cafés its name.

Same counter

Ovaltine and Horlicks, the café wayHong Kong milk teaYuenyeung

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.