Halo Halo

For those unfamiliar with the dish, Halo Halo is an extremely delicious refreshing filipino dessert which is much loved, especially on a hot and humid day. There are so many variations to this recipe that every halo halo experience is difference. However a few standard flavours and textures are always present in this dessert: crushed ice, evaporated milk, ube, beans, fruit, coconut and ice cream. Here's my late night sundae style variation, serves 2.

1 cup crushed ice

½ cup ube jam (see my Ube Jam post)

2 scoops mango ice cream (this can be difficult to find as most places sell mango sorbet, Haagen-Dazs does a very good one if you can get your hands on it)

⅔ cup jackfruit slices (canned jackfruit, drained and sliced)

2 tablespoons of macapuno slices (young coconut flesh, this can be bought in jars)

2 teaspoons of aduki beans (ready to eat, you may also use unflavoured kidney beans)

½ cup of  agar agar jelly peices (I used a great recipe I found here which I cubed, this is optional)

2 tablespoons of evaporated milk

Prepare two sundae style glasses or small bowls. Spoon a layer of ube jam, followed by beans and macapuno in each glass. Cover entirely with a layer of ice and repeat, adding in jackfruit too. Cover this with ice once again and continue assembling the two glasses until full making sure the top level is ice. Spoon the evaporated milk on top. Now add the scoop of mango ice cream the rest of the jackfruit, macapuno and agar agar cubes.

Ube Jam (Purple Sweet Potato)

I was excited to find frozen packs of grated ube (purple sweet potato/yam) in the asian store recently. I immediately thought of Ube ice-cream and the ultimate icy filipino dessert Halo Halo. It's a unique flavor of eastern Asia you cant seem to find readily in the west. After some searching online I came across a recipe for Ube Jam on Filipino Foods Recipe . This jam seems pretty versatile, so I decided to make a ½ batch with Halo Halo in mind.

500g  ube (purple yam)

½ can of evaporated milk

½ can of sweetened condensed milk

¼ cup of butter or margarine

1 drop of vanilla extract (optional)

Firstly, boil the ube (unpeeled) in water for approximately 30 minutes, drain and cool. Peel the yam and finely grate. In a large pan on medium heat, melt the butter, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract. Add the grated ube yam and turn the heat down to low. Keep on mixing the ingredients for about 30 minutes or until sticky and a bit dry (but still moist) This can be tiresome to do but it is necessary to ensure a good consistency. The flavour and colour will deepen as it cooks. Add the evaporated milk and continue to mix for another 15 minutes. Let cool  by placing the jam on a large platter.

I separated the mixture into 3 batches and saved a couple in the freezer. Ideas for ube jam: use in cake batter to make a light ube flavored lilac cake, mix with cream and sugar to make homemade ube ice cream. Add confectioners sugar to the mix to create ube icing, a spoonful of ube jam blended with coconut water for a great bubble tea! base!