Your new favorite summer treat: Taiwanese snow ice

Photo: Pete Lee, 2015

Crushed Ice Dessert with Mangoes and Syrup
Recipes and photography from The Food of Taiwan by Cathy Erway. Copyright © 2015 by Cathy Erway. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

There are numerous iterations of this shaved ice dessert in Taiwan—often with fresh fruit, but also with additions of tapioca pearls, sweetened red beans, or chunks of taro root or sweet potatoes in syrup. Many shops specializing in these icy desserts allow customers to create their own sundaelike creation. My favorite one focuses on mangoes, which are always juicy and flavorful, grown locally on the tropical island. A touch of sweetened condensed milk poured over the ensemble adds creamy richness to an otherwise light treat.

Note: If you have an old-fashioned ice shaver at home, you can use this to create the classic texture of this crushed ice. But you can use a blender to crush the ice into coarser, crushed bits. To eliminate large chunks, it’s best to use your refrigerator’s ice crusher setting, if available, before placing the ice in the blender.

Makes about 4 servings
1 cup mango juice
1 cup water
[1/4] cup sugar
1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and diced
4 cups ice cubes, gently crushed
1 (8-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Combine the mango juice, water, and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring, to dissolve the sugar. Continue to cook at a rapid boil until the mixture reduces by almost half, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely and then refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour. Toss the mango with the syrup.
Place the ice in a blender and pulse several times, stopping to scrape down the sides occasionally. Once the mixture resembles fine crumbles, transfer to individual serving dishes (discard any large chunks of ice). Top each dish with a generous scoop of the mangoes in syrup. Top each with a drizzle of the sweetened condensed milk and serve immediately.