JMTS 019: 🥵🍧❄️🤗 The Secret to Surviving Summer

Or, how to make kakigōri (かき氷), Japanese shaved ice

Homemade Ujikintoki, Japanese shaved ice with matcha syrup, shiratama dango, and sweet red bean paste. Photo: Julia Morrison

This was the year I finally broke down and bought a shaved ice machine.

A single-use kitchen appliance that can only be used a few months of the year? I know. Not a necessity, certainly. Not to mention, we don’t really have the space to store such gadgets in our apartment.

But you know what? I really love kakigōri (かき氷), Japanese shaved ice. Especially on a miserably hot and humid day, which we’ve been having quite a lot of in New York City lately. So for the purpose of sharing the delights of kakigōri with you, dear reader, I decided it was high time I got my hands on a shaved ice machine and tried it out for myself.

Classic Japanese kakigōri is a summer festival food, traditionally made using a manual ice-shaving apparatus and doused with fruity syrups like strawberry or melon. It’s a treat so central to Japanese food culture that it has its own emoji: 🍧.

Then there’s the slightly more grown-up version, usually served at a traditional Japanese sweets cafe. Generously drizzled with matcha syrup and embellished with shiratama dango (soft glutinous rice balls) and anko (sweet azuki red bean paste), this frosty dish, called Ujikintoki 宇治金時, offers a respite from summer’s sweltering heat… in a bowl.

I take my first bite and emit a shivering sigh. It’s so light, and reviving, and — I convince myself — hydrating. Oh, it’s divine.

The eye-popping portion size of the mountain of ice. The contrasting textures of fluffy ice shavings, sticky bean paste, and gently chewy dango. The saturated spring green of the matcha syrup, bleeding its way through the ice like a watercolor painting with a mind of its own.

And it's not just the numbing temperature of the dish that makes it so refreshing, but also the tricks it plays on the mind. Facing off with a giant snowball on a plate, I can feel my brain recalculating...recalculating...like a helplessly disoriented navigational system...before it concludes that perhaps I’m not as miserably hot as I thought.

Shaved ice desserts take many forms, and are popular in many hot and humid climates. All you really need is some ice, something to shave it with, and some flavoring. There’s Korean bingsoo(bingsu). Halo-halo in the Philippines. Bici bici in Türkiye. Mexican raspados. Puerto Rican piraguas.

A pile of shaved ice makes a wonderful blank canvas, just waiting to be colored in with the characteristic flavors of place: fresh fruits, syrups, condensed milk, jellies, ice cream, palm seeds, toasted coconut flakes, chili powder, lime juice — the variations are endless.

And then there’s the texture. We’re not talking about sno cones or granita here. With a shaved ice dish, plain ice is the star. And I repeat: it’s shaved, not crushed. With Japanese kakigōri, the objective is maximum, feathery fluffiness — snowflake-thin shards of ice that deliver flavor as they skate across the tongue and disappear on the palate — not clumpy, crunchy chunks.

In recent years, kakigōri has exploded as highly Instagrammable (インスタ映え) dessert phenomenon.  Year-round specialty shops now serve unique, high concept kakigōri that are as beautiful to look at as they are pleasurable to eat. A pile of shaved iced might be formed into the shape of an animal, or crafted to evoke the sunrise over Mt. Fuji. At Cafe Lumiere in Tokyo, a massive mountain of shaved ice is covered with meringue and lit on fire like a Baked Alaska Flambé. Azuki to Kouri elevates the experience even further at a sleek seven-seat kakigori counter run by a Michelin-starred pastry chef, where the limited-edition shaved ice presentations are edible works of art.

These elaborate creations feel a bit out of reach for a novice, so, for my first foray into the world of kakigōri, I decided to attempt my own goosebump-inducing bowl of Ujikintoki — shaved ice with matcha syrup, shiratama dango, and sweet red bean paste.

As you can see in the picture, I went a little overboard with said bean paste. In terms of texture, the performance of the inexpensive shaved ice machine was just okay. It did not deliver optimal fluffiness.

But was my Ujikintoki delicious? Yes. Did it cool me down and make me feel reinvigorated? Yes. Did I feel transported to Japan for an instant? Yes. Will I make it again next summer? Absolutely yes.

Because there’s really nothing else quite like it.

And for the record, the shiratama dango were perfect.

How To Make Ujikintoki:

Tools:

• Shaved ice machine

Ingredients:

• Ice

• Matcha (powdered green tea) syrup

• Shiratama dango (soft glutinous rice balls)

• Azuki bean paste

Shaved Ice Machine

A shaved ice machine is a requirement for making shaved ice. Available at a variety of price points, including electric and hand-cranked models, with some professional models going for thousands of dollars. The Hawaiian Shaved Ice S900A is a well-reviewed electric machine for home use, achieves (somewhat) fluffy results, and costs less than $70.

Ice

To make quality shaved ice, it stands to reason, you need quality ice. Not that I’ve ever given much thought to the hierarchy of excellence in ice, but I can imagine that ice with a whiff of chlorine or freezer burn might not result in an optimal tasting experience.

Japanese shaved ice artisans trumpet the deliciousness and terroir of their ice, made from name brand water, from a famous spring, or a famous mountain. Some legendary kakigōri shops use only ‘natural ice’ that has literally been cut from the surface of a pond, which they claim makes for a cleaner, more pure taste. 

But since I wasn’t going to use bottles of Evian, I decided not to worry too much about the terroir of my ice. I did use filtered water and made the specially-sized ice pucks required by my shaved ice machine. I also followed the instructions for tempering the ice by leaving it out on the counter for seven minutes, just long enough for the ice to begin to melt on the surface. This allegedly makes for fluffier ice.

Note: a decently large pile of shaved ice required two ice pucks.  Containers for freezing additional ice pucks can be purchased separately.

Matcha Syrup

Much simpler to make than I imagined, the matcha syrup came together quite easily by combining the following ingredients with a whisk:

1/2 tbsp. ground matcha powder, ceremonial grade (should be an appealing fresh green color)

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp. very warm water

Shiratama Dango

To make the Shiratama dango, I followed this simple recipe from Just One Cookbook, using the recommended Shiratamako flour (that I found on Amazon).  I chose to roll the dough into little balls without an indentation, which, in my experience, is more common. The dough was definitely dry and a little tricky to work with, but the results were tender and springy with just the right amount of chew. Dango should be eaten on the day they are made.

Azuki bean paste (anko)

I opted to save a few steps and purchase a package of pre-made Azuki bean paste.  Just One Cookbook also has a recipe to make it from scratch, or make it with a touch less sugar.  I thinned out the store-bought paste with a little water to make it easier to add a smear to the shaved ice.

Instructions:

1. Freeze the specially sized ice pucks for your shaved ice machine overnight.

2. Make the matcha syrup, and set aside.

3. Prepare the sweet red bean paste (anko), and set aside.

4. Prepare an ice bath for the shiratama dango.

5. Make the shiratama dango, and set aside in the ice bath.

6. Remove the ice pucks from the freezer, let rest for ~7 minutes to temper.

7. Prepare the dishware (a glass bowl, ideally), gather all the toppings, and get ready to assemble the kakigōri.

8. Once the surface of the ice puck has started to melt, shave the ice according to the instructions of your shaved ice machine. Make a generous quantity. Tamp down the shaved ice slightly with a spatula, just enough for the mound to hold its shape.

9. Moving quickly, drizzle the matcha syrup on the shaved ice, and garnish with the shiratama dango and anko.

10. Serve with additional matcha syrup in a little pitcher, and enjoy! Itadakimasu!

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What’s your favorite summer humidity-busting treat? Do you have any fluffy shaved ice tips to share? Please share your thoughts in the comments (button below) and thanks so much for being here!

👋 O genki de ne,

Julia Morrison