Monday April 13, 2009 | 5 comments
It is almost impossible to find a Japanese eatery that does not list green tea ice cream on its dessert menu, but I have always wished that ujikintoki was instead the most commonly served Japanese sweet dish.
Ujikintoki is Japanese kakigori, a shaved ice dessert flavored with matcha syrup and enriched with toppings like red beans (azuki in Japanese), glutinous rice balls (mochi in Japanese), and a scoop of green tea ice cream.
Ujikintoki has to be one of the most romantically named desserts. Uji is a city in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, where cultivation of the premium-grade Uji Gyokuro green tea has a thousand-year-old history; the tea plants are shaded for a few weeks before harvesting. Uji is home to the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site Byodo-in Temple, not always included as a destination in a tour of Kyoto, but a must-see stop along with other famed ancient shrines, such as Kiyomizu-dera Temple and Kinkaku-ji Temple in the region. Kintoki refers to red beans cooked in unprocessed sugar syrup. Sakata Kintoki, a folk hero said to have reddish skin and thus often painted red in storybooks, may be the source of the dessert’s long name.
The Internet offers numerous Ujikintoki recipes. This dessert is easy to make with ingredients readily available at Asian supermarkets, such as matcha powder, a can of azuki beans, and frozen glutinous rice balls, but how many of us have a powerful machine at home to shave the ice really fine? I could tell you that the primitive ones that are operated manually don’t work well.
I bought a Rival Snowcone maker to solve such a problem with Ujikintoki. It was about $15-$20 and comes with two plastic cups (both of which have lids). Just fill it with water, put them in the freezer, drop the puck in to the machine and press down on top of it. It does a pretty good job and one puck fills a regular sized cereal bowl with enough shaved ice to do some damage ^_^. Sure beats shaving it by hand. Good stuff though; you’ve got me jonesin’ now!
I’ve never been a fan of Asian desserts – just not sweet enough for my liking. You’ve intrigued me with this interesting dish. I’ll keep my eyes open for it – although I suspect I’ll have to get myself to Japan to really sample the best.
Good article and I’m going to look for those frozen rice balls next time I’m in our Asian market, those photos are pretty tempting! We do quite a bit with green tea ice cream and matcha for desserts items/beverages but nothing quite so ‘exotic’. Yum.
Jamus,
Thanks for the information on the affordable Rival Snow Cone. I’ll definitely purchase one before summer arrives.
Michelle,
Yes, eateries in Asia serve the best ujikintoki. I was able to find it at very few Japanese restaurants in L.A., and none was as good, not bad, but not as good.
Diane,
Hope you’ll consider adding ujikintoki in your menu! It will be popular.
The first time I ate Ujikintoki is around 16 years ago. It tasted very uniqle;a little bitter mixed with thick sweet. I think it’s not a dessert for children, even though I am not sure Japanese children eat Ujikintoki. However, when I getting elder, I like Ujikintoki more. For me, this taste is for adults to remind their childhood.