Tofu pudding is a Chinese dessert made from coagulated soy milk. Many different asian countries eat this, and all have their variation on it, with Taiwan/Hong Kong/Malaysia/Singapore generally eating it sweet with syrup and Northen China/Sichuan eating it savory with soy sauce or chili oil. Regardless of how you eat it, it has a very smooth silky texture and is deliiiicious.
I don’t understand why it’s called DouHua (Mandarin) if it’s made from soy milk, because it’s definitely not tofu. I guess it’s more describing the texture? Anyways.. I persuaded my mom to make this since it’s what I remember eating to cool down during the summer, along with icyplates. Mmmmmyum.
There are a lot of recipes online for this, and most, if not all, will call for gypsum powder, which you should be able to find at Chinese grocery stores.
I’ve copied and pasted the recipe my mom used, with my English translations beneath.
豆花材料
1200毫升豆漿
1200ml plain unsweetened soy milk*
1茶匙熟石膏粉
1tsp gypsum powder
1 茶匙粟粉
1tsp cornstarch
6湯匙糖
6tbsp sugar (optional)
豆花製作過程：
1. 把50毫升水的與熟石膏粉和粟粉拌勻，備用。
Dissolve the two powders with 50 mL of water. Mix well and pour into the middle of a deep container or dish.
2. 把其餘1200毫升的豆漿加熱至剛煮沸便熄火。
Heat the soya milk but do not let it bubble and boil. Keep an eye on it so it won’t burn.**
3. 把豆漿與材料(1)一同倒入木桶內，在倒入前須再次攪拌材料。
Stir the dissolved powder mix to prevent seperation. Quickly and steadily pour the hot soya milk into the container and let it sit.
4. 不要移動木桶，蓋上木蓋待20分鐘即可。
Do not agitate the container, as it must coagulate. The longer you let it sit, the firmer it will be. Cover with a cheesecloth and let cool completely. Refrigerate when cool.
* We use unsweetened because we add ginger+brown sugar syrup and toppings later, which will add the sweetness.
** If the soy milk bubbles and boils, you’ll have a burnt taste to your pudding, yuck.
You can use any type of topping you want, but typical ones are red bean, green bean, mung beans, tapioca, cooked peanuts, and syrup.
Chowtimes has a very intensive post about this also, so you can refer to theirs for step by step picture, here.
This also marks the first time I’ve had troubles picking one picture to show. They all look good (to me) haha.
