My neighbor in the house I grew up in Old Town PJ sold “tow foo fah” on a bicycle-powered pushcart.  The dofuhua would be in a big wooden pot, and had a cover wrapped up in muslin cloth.  He would skim the water and bubby top off the dofuhua before layering out thin silky clouds of the dofuhua onto a bowl.  Smooth, creamy, and full of beany flavor.  Whenever it rained, and it rains a lot in Malaysia, he would not be able to sell his tofu for the day and would bring them over to us….sans syrup.  I always wondered why he didn’t check the weather forecast ahead of making the big pot of tofu, esp when he and his wife would hand grind the beans every night.  My family didn’t have much money either, so, instead of spending money on sugar for the syrup, we turned the “dessert” into a savory dish by adding fried shallots oil, dark soy sauce, some light soy and a sprinkle of chopped green onions.

Fast forward 30 years later, I tried making dofuhua, and omg, it is perhaps the most difficult thing I have ever made.  It’s so temperamental.  You’ve gottaa watch the temperature real closely, have a light quick touch and have loads of patience.  The soymilk part is easy, but waiting for the dofuhua to gel or not, is a different story.  And as hard as I try to be consistent, I made half a dozen batches and they all came out differently.  Some are perfect, some became a base for firm tofu.  Whenever it wouldn’t set nicely, I would place the curds into a cheesecloth, like as if I am making ricotta, and had nice sweet pressed tofu for dinner….see picture below.  Drizzle with fried shallots oil, dark soy sauce, some light soy and a sprinkle of chopped green onions.  Deja vu.

So when I ran into Minh of Hodo Soy last week and had a quick chat about making dofuhua and he said it was easy, and how he had taught chefs serving table-side dofuhua  the secret in making the dish, it dawned upon me he is the “dofuhua whisperer”.  Many years ago, when I asked him about his yuba, he went into a long discussion about soy protein brix concentration, and I suspect that might also explain how to achieve perfect dofuhua.  When I crack the code, I will share, but now, here is the recipe that most likely would work.  Good luck!

Chef’s tip: Nigari as the coagulant makes for a sweet tasting tofu.  And don’t move the dofuhua after it has set.  Frankly, I don’t know how my old neighbor is able to peddle all over town with the big vat of dofuhua and yet not make it break.

1  1/4 cups organic soy beans, soaked overnight, drained
5 cups water

1/2 teaspoon nigari
1/4 cup water

3 inches ginger, finely sliced
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Cheesecloth

Making the fresh soymilk:
1.     Pick over beans for impurities.  Rinse beans several times.  Cover beans with water, leaving at least 2 inches of water above the beans level.  Soak beans at least 8 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.  Remove skins off beans.  Drain.
2.     Place soybeans in a food processor.  Add 1 cup water.  Pulse till it becomes smoothie-like.
3.     Transfer puree into a big pot.  Rinse food processor with 3 cups water and add to  pot.  Bring to boil, stirring constantly.  When the foam begins to rise, remove from heat.   Transfer content into a conical sieve placed over a heat proof bowl.  Let the milk drain through the sieve.
4.     Transfer solids into a cheesecloth.  Add remaining 1 cups of water and gently knead into the soybean solids (okara).  Then squeeze as much milk and add to the earlier milk.
5.     Pass milk through a clean cheesecloth placed over a sieve.  Measure out the milk – you should have at least 4 cups of soymilk.  Otherwise, add a little more water to the okara and squeeze as much as you can to make up  the 4 cups.
6.     Bring milk to a boil and then gently simmer 10 minutes, stirring constantly so that milk does not burn.  At this point, the soymilk is ready as a beverage, or continue further to make dofu hua.

Making the Do Fu Hua:
7.     In a small bowl, mix nigari with water.
8.     Warm a deep bowl by swirling it with hot water.  Drain.  Wrap bowl bottom with some towels to keep warm.  Transfer the nigari mixture into the warm bowl.  Place bowl in a place where you don’t move it for the next 20 minutes.
9.     Cool the boiled soymilk slightly, about 5 minutes.  Remove any milk in excess of 4 cups. Check that the soymilk temperature is 185F, warm or cool further if needed.   Pour the 4-cups of milk in one big swish into the bowl containing the nigari, creating enough turbulence so that the nigari is thoroughly mixed with the soymilk.  Do not stir.  Lance off any bubbles on top with a toothpick.  Cover with a tea-towel wrapped lid. And do not move the bowl for 20 minutes.
10.  After 20 minutes, ladle off the whey and any parts that looked bubbly.  Ladle thin layers of dofu hua with a big flat spoon and transfer to individual serving bowl.  Ladle in two tablespoons of syrup or more, and serve hot.

Making the ginger syrup:

11.  Bring ginger, sugar and water to boil.  Simmer for 10 minutes, until thick.  Pass through a sieve to remove ginger bits.

Serves: 6

Tags: Chinese, dim sum.

On a cold rainy day like this, a nice hot bowl of “tong suey” warms the body like no other.  This wonderful sweet soup is relatively high in protein and has gingko nuts which is supposed to be good for you.

Chef’s tip: Tying the pandan leaves into a knot crushes the leave cells, releasing the fragrant oils of the plant.  Poaching the eggs without heat leaves the egg nice and tender.

12 cups water
1 cup pearled barley
3 pandan leaves, tied into a knot
3 sheets yuba
1 cup gingko nuts, shelled
1 cup rock sugar, to taste
2 eggs

1. Rinse pearled barley.  Add water and bring to boil.  Simmer for one hour till the “soup” is cloudy.
2. Add in  pandan leaves, yuba skin and gingko nuts and simmer another 15 minutes.
3. Remove pandan leaves,  add sugar, still till melted.
4. Remove from heat.  Break the eggs into the sweet soup, wait 20 seconds, then stir very slowly to break the yolks to form “egg flower”.
5.     Ladle the sweet soup into bowls.  Serve piping hot.

Serves: 8

Tags: Chinese, Dessert.

Kheer is the Indian version of the universal rice pudding.  It’s the quintessential dessert item at every Indian buffet table, and the most festive of Indian desserts.  You can dress it up with some edible silver.

Here is a super, easy low maintenance recipe for the rice pudding – slow cooker aka crock pot kheer.

Chef’s tip: It’s a bitch to clean the burnt milk and rice that accumulates at the bottom of the pot, no matter how diligent you are at stirring it. (Recipe below is for slow cooker, but if you are using a stove top, the cooking times for low heat is about 1 1/4 hours).  It would take you more time to clean the pot than to cook the kheer, so I *highly* recommend using the slow cooker.  With the latter, it pretty much is a hands-off dessert, except for an occasional stir (every 30 mins or so).  The adding of the cream makes it even richer and makes up for the lack of evaporation due to the slow cooker.  I also recommend making a big pot of it, so that you will have some in the fridge to snack on for a few days!

10 cups whole milk

1 Tablespoon ghee
1/4 cup shelled pistachio meat, roughly chopped
3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons basmati rice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
A large pinch saffron

3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
Splash of rose water or orange flower blossom water (optional)

1. Heat milk in a pot till steaming, stirring occasionally.
2. In a small saucepan, heat  1/2 Tbs ghee, add pistachios, and fry till fragrant, about 30 secs – 1 minute.  Set aside.
3. Wipe clean the pan, add remaining ghee, and roast the raw rice, another 30 seconds.  Transfer rice to a slow cooker.
4. Add hot milk and cook on high for 2 hours, stirring occasionally so that the rice and milk do not stick to the bottom of the pot.  Do not scrape the bottom of the pot so that none of the burnt parts will get stirred into the pudding.
5.  Add salt, cardamon, saffron and continue cooking till pudding is thick – about 2 more hours, leaving the pot cover slightly ajar.
6. Add sugar and cream and stir to combine.
7. Splash on rose or orange water.  Serve hot or chilled, topped with the pistachios.

Makes 12 cups.

Tags: Dessert, Indian, rice pudding.