Finally found the halo-halo mix

July 16, 2008

As far as I can tell there are no Filipino restaurants here in Nashville. The one thing I’ve really been missing is halo-halo. But on Monday I finally found a local store that sells the halo-halo mix. I am so happy now.

It’s not pronounced like the video game, it’s “hollow hollow”. Literally in tagalog that means “mix-mix”, a desert that’s actually fairly common in tropical Asian countries. I’ve seen variations in Bangkok and Taipei.

It’s basically a mix of candied fruits, beans, and jellies. Served with a generous heaping of shaved ice and then a sweetener like sweetened condensed milk or sweet coconut milk. It’s delievered in a big glass stacked with the candied bits at the bottom, ice on top, and the sweetener poured over it. The “mix mix” part is that you have to mix the bits all together before you can start eating it.

Yesterday I bought an ice shaver so that I could produce the shaved ice. In theory you can use a blender to grind up some ice but that method tends to leave chunks. The ice shaver produces a finer granular ice which I prefer in my halo-halo.

I am a happy camper now that I can make this at home. But I still wish we had a Filipino restaurant here, because now I miss the other things like pancit and chicken adobo.