Halo-halo

Halo-Halo

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shaved ice*
• 1 fresh young coconut
• ½ cup fresh or frozen sweet corn
• ½ cup canned adzuki beans
• 2 cups evaporated milk
• 2 small (Ataulfo) or 1 large (Keitt, Kent, or Tommy Atkins) ripe mango
• Vanilla (or ube, if available) ice cream, for serving
• Crispy rice or corn flakes, for serving

Gelatin:

• ¼ cup powdered gelatin
• 2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (or substitute other berries)
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup cold water

Instructions:

Gelatin:

1. Cook raspberries in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the berries have broken down and released their juice. Strain through a sieve to remove seeds. This should yield about ⅔ cup of juice – if not enough, top up with water.
2. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin into the cold water to soften and bloom. 
3. Return the raspberry juice and sugar to the saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar fully dissolves. Add the gelatin and continue stirring until dissolved.
4. Pour into an 8”x8” pan and refrigerate for about 1 hour, until firmly set. Unmold the gelatin and cut into ½” cubes. Keep refrigerated until ready to assemble.

Assembly:

1. Drain the coconut and carefully open it with a hacksaw, hammer, or cleaver. (Don’t discard the refreshing juice!) With the edge of a spoon, scoop curls of coconut meat out of the shell and into a bowl.
2. Cut mango into ½” cubes: To cut a mango, slice each “cheek” away from the pit, hold the cheek in your palm, and carefully score vertically and horizontally through the flesh without cutting through the skin. Then scrape the fruit away from the skin with a spoon, and repeat with the second cheek. On the remaining center piece, peel off the skin, cut the flesh away from the pit, and slice into cubes.
3. In four tall glasses, begin layering the ingredients: a scoop of gelatin cubes, a scoop of cubed mango, a scoop of adzuki beans, a scoop of coconut, and a scoop of corn, dividing equally between all four glasses. Add ½ cup shaved ice to each glass, then pour ½ cup evaporated milk over each one. Top each glass with a scoop of ice cream and sprinkle with cereal.

Variations: Different versions of halo-halo are common across the Philippines, and while many common Filipino ingredients aren’t readily available in Oregon (things like sugar palm, ube, and ripe jackfruit), many other common ingredients work quite nicely. If you don’t feel like making gelatin, try gummy bears or sliced gummy worms. Try other fruit, like berries or diced peaches, bananas, or fried ripe plantain. Other beans, like navy, kidney, or mung, can work well in place of adzuki beans, especially if they’ve been cooked in a sugar syrup. Try substituting sweetened condensed coconut milk for a vegan version. And if the halo-halo isn’t sweet enough for you, drizzle with a simple syrup or maple syrup. While not super traditional, these additions or substitutions are still delicious!

*To shave ice, put ice cubes in a blender and process on the “crush” setting for about a minute, then switch to “blend” until smooth.

Serves 4

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