For this recipe, I wanted to do anmitsu, but make it pink, as I was inspired by the new Barbie movie. My sister had Barbie dolls growing up, and we totally Kate Mckinnon/Weird Barbie’d her dolls a lot. That and my only other real Barbie-related memory was that my sister owned that Barbie car toy, and we would used to drive that around the neighborhood like we owned the place. Hilarity aside, it was all in great fun, and I still laugh that we had those kinds of childhood memories thanks to Barbie of all things. Anyways, I went with anmitsu specifically as a reference to the jelly desserts that were popular in the 1950’s, when Barbie first came out! In a lot of ways, anmitsu is quite similar to fruit and jello salads, albeit with some differences. Anmitsu is a Japanese dessert, which transliterates from the word “an”, which means sweet bean paste, and “mitsu”, which refers to a sweet syrup. The bean paste is typically made with red bean, which is called “anko”. The syrup, it can vary, as I have usually seen versions with kruomitsu, a sweet dark syrup made with Okinawan rock sugar, which has this gorgeous earthy taste, but I have seen varieties that use white sugar simple syrup instead, just so that the fruit has a more pronounced presence. I usually prefer the kuromitsu, but since I wanted my syrup to have a pleasant pink color, I went with a version more akin to the white sugar simple syrup instead. Beyond sweet bean paste and syrup, anmitsu also features fruits, dango(chewy glutinous rice dumplings, similar to mochi, but are steamed/poached instead), and clear cubes of kanten(seaweed) jelly. Modern versions of anmitsu also include ice cream, which my version does as well! Without the ice cream, anmitsu is 100% vegan, since unlike regular jello, kanten jelly is made with seaweed, similar to agar but firmer.

In my recipe, I wanted to keep that vegan thread going, so I opted for a vegan strawberry ice cream instead of the usual vanilla or matcha you would see on an anmitsu. For my fruits, canned peaches are a typical fruit used, and while canned fruit cocktail was all the trend back in the 50’s as well, I went with white peaches, but tinted them pink by making a simple syrup using the peach peels, and then poaching the peaches in that pink syrup until they took on the same color. I also went with strawberries, half to add a more tart fruit to contrast the pleasantly sweet flavors we have in all of the other components, but also since I made the ice cream with strawberries as well. For my bean paste of choice, instead of anko(red bean), I went with shiro-an(white bean). My reason for this mainly lies in the aesthetic. I felt like the intense purple color of the red bean paste would take away a lot from the bright, pastel-like colors of the other ingredients, whereas a more neutral color like the off-white shiro-an would be a lot more complimentary, and let all of the pink colors really pop a bit better. Especially since I was already going with a white and pink aesthetic with my dango, which are both the same plain flavor, but half of them were dyed pink using beet powder, just to introduce a pleasant, pastel pink color to the plate. This dessert was light, refreshing, and very summery, so it was the perfect thing to eat right before or after watching the Barbie movie!

For the strawberry puree:
4oz fresh strawberries, hulled
2oz water
a pinch of salt

Puree everything together in a blender, then pour the mixture into a pot. Stir constantly over medium heat until the liquid has cooked down by about half. Allow this to cool down before incorporating into the ice cream base.

For the vegan strawberry ice cream:
1/4 cup soy milk
1/4 cup strawberry puree*
2/3 cups granulated sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp xanthan gum*
12oz soft tofu, water drained
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

In a pot, mix together the soy milk, strawberry puree, sugar, canola oil, salt, and xanthan gum. Heat up the liquid on low, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened slightly. Allow it to cool down to room temperature. In a blender, puree the soy milk with the soft tofu and vanilla bean paste. Pass everything through a sieve to remove any lumps.

If you do not own an ice cream maker, freeze the mixture solid, about 4 hours in the freezer, then puree it using a food processor. Then re-freeze it for another hour before attempting to serve.

If you do own an ice cream maker, churn the ice cream base to the maker’s instructions, then freeze the ice cream for an hour before attempting to serve.

For the pink peaches in syrup:
1 white peach, peeled, and cored – reserve the peels
peach peels
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
reserved peach peels
1 tsp lemon juice
a pinch of salt

Slice the peeled peach into wedges(you want 16 in total), and store in cold, salted water to prevent it from oxidizing after you have peeled it. With the remaining ingredients, place into a pot and bring to a simmer. Once the liquid has taken on a vivid pink hue, and the sugar has dissolved into the water, strain out the peach peels and place in the peach wedges, allowing them to simmer in the syrup for 3 minutes. Take the peaches and syrup off heat and transfer to a heatproof container. Store, covered and refrigerated, for at least 1 hour so that the peaches have time to take on that pink color from the syrup.

For the pink dango:
1/4 cup mochiko
1 tbsp cold water
a pinch of salt
.5oz blended silken tofu
a pinch of red beet powder

In a bowl, mix together the mochiko, cold water, salt, and tofu to form a dough. Divide the dough in half, and mix the beet powder into one of those halves to form a pink dough. Divide up the two batches of dough into 8 balls of each color. Boil the dango in water over medium heat in a covered pot for 5 minutes, or until they begin to float. Transfer to iced water.

For the kanten jelly:
2 tbsp pink peach syrup
a pinch of red beet powder
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 tsp kanten jelly powder

In a pot, bring everything to a simmer. Once the kanten jelly powder has dissolved into the liquid, pour it into silicone bar molds and place in the freezer for just 10 minutes. Cut into smaller cubes, and place in an airtight container in the refrigerator until time to serve.

For garnish:
Strawberries, hulled and halved
Shiro-an(sweetened white bean paste)

In a bowl, start with a scoop of white bean paste. Arrange the pink peaches and strawberries around the white bean paste, then garnish the other side with the dango and the kanten jelly cubes. Place on top a scoop of the strawberry ice cream, and serve with 2 tbsp of the pink peach syrup.