Sweet Tofu Pudding / 豆腐花

I don't often make Chinese desserts (coz translating Chinese recipes take so much time) but I've been wanting to make this classic Chinese dessert for the longest time. I managed to find a good English recipe for it, however, I could not get all the ingredients needed until recently... gypsum powder was really hard to find! And you'd be surprised but freshly made unsweetened soy milk is not that easy to come by either. I'm just lucky that I remembered this tiny place nearby that I used to buy fresh soy milk from almost every morning. I only stopped going coz I switched jobs and didn't walk in that direction anymore.

And yes, I know I "cheated" by using the tofu fa recipe from Christine's Recipes since it allows me to skip a LOT of steps. Using soy milk that I purchased rather than making it from scratch is just so much more convenient! And I know this coz I used to help my mom make soy milk from scratch and it took more than a day to make it. The traditional method is that you start with dry soybeans and soak them overnight... then blend the beans until they become mush and the liquid comes out... then filter the liquid by hand using a cloth bag. The blending and filtering is repeated a good many times and even done on the mush itself (to make sure the beans are drained dry of as much liquid as possible). Filtering is necessary to remove the impurities from the liquid and also makes for a smoother tofu pudding! The final step is to boil the liquid (with more water) and when it's cooked, it becomes soy milk.

Phew... just the soy milk summary was tiring to type... so you can imagine how much I don't actually want to make soy milk from scratch! ;-) Oh and my mom now has a machine which does all of this... which is good for her, but not helpful to me since I live halfway around the world from her. =P Anyway, moral of the story, if you're lazy like me then just buy soy milk... It's SO worth it!

I also decided to half the ingredients of the original recipe so I wouldn't end up with too much tofu pudding. I know it's suppose to be good for the skin but it is possible to have too much of a good thing... ;-) I added a bit more info to the steps based on my own experience too... like that part about skimming bubbles off the mixture before letting it settle. I didn't quite get the syrup working too well though... I don't have a small pot or saucepan so I ended up heating the syrup until it turned almost candy like when cooled. Errr... maybe you'll have better luck with it than me... Or you could just sprinkle in some brown sugar instead.

Ingredients (makes around 4 servings):
Sweet Tofu Pudding:
4 1/4 cups unsweetened soy milk
1 tsp gypsum powder
1 tsp potato starch (or potato flour)
1/4 cup water

Syrup:
140g rock sugar (to your taste)
10g dark brown sugar (optional, to your taste)
3-4 slices ginger (optional, to your taste)
1 cup water

Method:

1. For the tofu pudding, start by slowly bringing the unsweetened soy milk to a boil. Stir regularly as it may get easily burnt at the bottom.
2. Mix the gypsum powder and potato starch with the 1/4 cup of water. Stir until well combined and then put the mixture into a pot (or container). The pot will be used to settle and store the tofu pudding so make sure it's big enough to hold all the soy milk. Also, make sure that the pot has a lid!
3. Once the soy milk is boiled (i.e. bubbles and foams rapidly), pour into the pot containing the gypsum powder and potato starch mixture, from about a foot above. This action will cause all the ingredients to mix together on its own. Don't unnecessarily move or stir the mixture after adding the boiled soy milk.
4. If there are any foam bubbles on top of the mixture, carefully skim off as much as possible with a spoon.
5. Cover the pot with a cloth to absorb the steam and place the lid on top.
6. Let the mixture stand for 40-45 minutes and it will settle and solidify into tofu pudding.
7. Prepare the syrup by boiling the sugars, ginger and water together. Cool.
8. To serve, gently scoop out some tofu pudding into a small serving bowl. Pour in some syrup.