I used to be a die-hard fan of Lao Ban Soya Beancurd 老伴豆花 since an ex-colleague recommended it to me. Read my Lao Ban’s review here. I was so addicted to it, I would travel all the way to Old Airport Road Food Centre, queue for at least half hour just to buy a dozen home. Now I can’t remember when was the last time I had it.
I found a recipe that chanzhf had shared on Singapore HardwareZone a long time ago so when I finally went to Phoon Huat to buy instant jelly powder, I tried making soya beancurd at home with varying amounts of soya bean powder, sugar and jelly powder and here’s the final product which I think have the best taste, texture and sweetness. The husband is always asking me to make for him!
Cold Soya Beancurd Recipe
Ingredients (makes 2 bowls)
30g Unisoy Instant Organic Soya Milk Powder (no cane sugar added)
15g Polleney Pure Soy Bean Powder
15g Nestle Coffeemate Creamer
13g white sugar
350ml water
7g instant jelly powder from Phoon Huat
Instructions
1. In a saucepan over low heat, add water and then dissolve the Unisoy and Polleney powders in it. Warm it up, do not boil.
2. Stir in creamer and sugar till fully dissolved.
3. Stir in instant jelly powder till fully dissolved.
4. Turn off heat and run the soya mixture through a sieve 5-6 times and pour into 2 bowls.
5. Use a small skimmer to remove any surface bubbles. Leave to cool, then place in fridge to chill.
I had swapped the amount of Unisoy soya milk powder with that of the Polleney soy bean powder from the original recipe as I felt the former had a smoother texture than the latter, and with a nicer flavour too.
Also, you’d be surprised at how every gram of instant jelly powder makes a difference to the beancurd texture. I tried 5g which was too watery. 6g was still too soft. 7g was just perfect with the right amount of firmness.
Final result should be a smooth, jiggly soya bean pudding. Best eaten (very) cold. The taste and texture are almost similar to that of Lao Ban’s but the only difference is that there is no ‘skin’ on top of mine whereas I feel Lao Ban’s is special because of that extra skin. I’d continue to experiment and see if I can create this ‘legendary’ skin which will definitely give this dessert a little more depth.
Bon appetit!