Beat the Heat: Strawberry Bingsu (With Extra Mochi, Obvs!)

Ah, summer. The season of long days, pool splashes, and that relentless, sticky heat that makes you want to live inside your refrigerator. Growing up, I had a secret weapon against the summer swelter: Bingsu.

If you’ve never had Korean shaved ice, imagine a cloud of snow that tastes like pure joy, melts on your tongue, and is piled high with sweet goodies. To this day, nothing takes me back to my childhood faster than a towering bowl of strawberry bingsu. And my absolute favorite part? Sneaking in a mountain of extra sweet rice cake mochi. The contrast of the snowy, icy crunch with that chewy, sweet mochi is unparalleled.

Today, we are recreating that childhood magic right in your kitchen. Grab your shave ice machine, and let’s make the ultimate strawberry bingsu!

Serve and Enjoy!

There you have it—a bowl of pure, nostalgic summer bliss. It’s sweet, incredibly refreshing, and packed with that perfect chewy-to-snowy texture ratio. Make sure to serve it immediately before your edible mountain melts!

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Strawberry Bingsu

Created by Sue Mun

Serves about 4

Ingredients:

For the Homemade Strawberry Jam:

• 1 lb frozen whole strawberries 
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
• juice from 1/2 lemon 
• 1/2 cup water
• cornstarch slurry: 1 Tablespoon cornstarch plus 1 tbsp water

For the Strawberry Ice:

• 2 cups strawberry milk (any brand will do)
• substitute strawberry milk with whole milk if preferred

For the Toppings:

• Mochi sweet rice cakes
• Sweetened condensed milk for drizzling
• Fresh strawberries, washed and diced
• Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Tools That I Used:

• Hawaiian Shaved Ice Machine

Instructions:

Make the Homemade Strawberry Jam:

1. Make the strawberry jam by cooking the frozen strawberries, sugar, water, cornstarch slurry, and lemon juice in a pot. Once it begins to simmer, continue stirring and cooking for 10 minutes until the juices come out of the strawberries and the mixture thickens. If the mixture is too thick, add more water if needed. Pour into a bowl and cover and set aside to cool off completely before using. 

Make the Strawberry Ice:

1. In a pint size deli container or the container that came with the Hawaiian Shaved Ice Machine, pour in the strawberry milk until 3/4 full. Close with the lid and place in the freezer to freeze overnight or until frozen solid.

Assembling:

1. Unmold the frozen strawberry ice from the deli container and place in the Hawaiian Shave Ice Machine. Press the machine down and let the snow ice fall into a bowl at the bottom.
2. Once the bowl is halfway full of strawberry snow ice, drizzle in some sweetened condensed milk, a spoonful of strawberry jam, and a spoon full of fresh diced strawberries.
3. Top the bowl off with more strawberry snow ice.
4. Decorate the bingsu with cut fresh strawberries, a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk, and strawberry jam. Scoop a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and garnish with some mochi sweet rice cakes.
5. Serve immediately and enjoy!