Ube gains popularity in UAE cafes — The National
Filipino purple yam ube is increasingly appearing on the menus of cafes and restaurants in the United Arab Emirates, in desserts, cookies and drinks. Establishments in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are using it, and the product’s popularity is linked to its vivid colour, sweet taste and creamy texture, The National reports.
Ube in Abu Dhabi desserts
Nina's Bakes owner Kristina Tamayo said that ube is connected to her childhood memories from the Philippines, where it was added to halo-halo, ice cream, leche flan and cakes. At Nina's Bakes, she makes ube cookies with white chocolate chunks for 25 dirhams.
For the filling, Tamayo boils and mashes the yam, then stirs the mixture for about an hour until it turns into a smooth ube halaya jam. She said the product’s photogenic quality is one of the main reasons for its popularity. Nina's Bakes cookies can be ordered via Zomato and Talabat in Abu Dhabi.
Drinks and pastries in Dubai
The Franco-Japanese restaurant Nette in Dubai offers an ube matcha drink for 36 dirhams, as well as cloud ube, coconut water with a creamy mixture of ube and oat milk. The menu also includes a crinkle cookie with coconut cream cheese filling for 30 dirhams and a Basque ube cheesecake for 50 dirhams.
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The cheesecake is served with coconut-vanilla Chantilly cream, miso caramel sauce and toasted coconut flakes. Nette culinary director Craig Small called ube “purple gold” because of its natural colour and flavour. He also noted that the product contains anthocyanins, fibre and other plant compounds, and believes that the use of ube in the UAE will grow.
Filipino flavours at Jun's
The menu at Jun's includes an ube and calamansi spritz, a gluten-free coconut cake with ube, the signature Ube Kelvin cake and cookies with flan and ube. Chef Kelvin Cheung cautioned that artificial ube flavourings or essences can be too intense, so they must be used carefully.
Cheung believes ube has the potential to become popular worldwide, including as an option for caffeine-free drinks. He also believes that global attention to ingredients associated with a particular culture can encourage people to learn more about the cuisine they come from.
