How to Make Patbingsu (팥빙수)

Using a Blender

Place a plastic zip-up bag in a large cup, and pour milk into the bag. For best results, use organic milk.

Keeping the filled plastic bag inside the cup, carefully squeeze most of the air out, and zip the bag up tightly. Make sure that not too much milk has been poured; if this is the case, it will later be more difficult to remove the frozen milk from the cup.

Place the cup upright inside the freezer. Wait for the milk to completely freeze. Leave it in the freezer for about 3-6 hours, depending on your freezer.

Remove the cup from the freezer. Let the frozen milk thaw for about 30 minutes (this is the disadvantage of using this method; the patbingsu will be more liquidy)

After thawing it, remove the plastic bag from the cup. Open the plastic bag and pour the frozen contents into a blender. Blend until the consistency is of shaved ice (for 1-2 minutes, depending on your blender).

Serve in a bowl. Put a spoonful of red beans (or red bean paste) on top of the shaved ice, and pour condensed milk. The condensed milk will give a sweet taste. Adjust the amounts of the toppings according to your preference. Additional toppings also include chopped fruit, nut powder, and tteok. Enjoy!

"Shake and Crush"

Fill a plastic sandwich bag with milk about 1/3 of the way up. If it helps, place the plastic bag in a cup while pouring the milk; this is optional.

Carefully remove most of the air from the bag, and zip it up tightly. This is very important, as we later do not want the milk to leak or the plastic bag to pop.

Place the plastic bag(s) on a flat surface in the freezer.

Take the plastic bag out of the freezer after about 30-45 minutes. Gently shake it and crush any of the big chunks of ice for 30 - 60 seconds. Place the bag back into the freezer.

Take the bag out again after 30 minutes, and this time, just crush it with your fist for about 30 seconds. Place the bag back into the freezer.

Repeat step 5 for about 2-3 hours.

Take the plastic bag out of the freezer, crush it for the last time, and pour the contents into a bowl. Add the desired toppings. Enjoy!

"Fork and Ice"

Start by pouring milk into a small plastic bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap if preferred.

Place in freezer, and leave it there for 4-6 hours.

Take the bowl out of the freezer after 4-6 hours.

Use a fork to scrape off the ice into another bowl. Repeat this process until fully scraped. Add your preferred toppings. Enjoy!

Salt and Shake

Pour some milk into a sandwich plastic bag and zip it up tightly. Make sure that it is closed very tightly, as you may end up with salty patbingsu if the bag is not completely zipped.

Fill about 1/4 of a larger (gallon sized) plastic bag with ice. Pour a decent amount of salt in that bag as well. The salt will lower the freezing temperature, and will make it colder.

Place the small plastic bag inside the larger plastic bag, and zip up the larger bag tightly.

Shake the large bag vigorously for about 5-10 minutes. You may want to wrap the bag in a towel, as the bag will become extremely cold and there will be some water from the condensation.

Remove the small plastic bag from the large one after 5-10 minutes. Wipe the small bag with a paper towel, to get rid of any salt that may get into the bag.

Pour the small bag's contents into a bowl, and add the preferred toppings. Enjoy!