A beautiful to look at and easy to make Chinese dessert, gently scented with the flavor of almonds. It rather reminds me of elegant Chinese ladies from the 1920's, slim, pale and delicate in their silk cheongsams like flowers in a field.
This dessert has nothing to do with beancurd, despite the name. It was probably so called because it looks a bit like beancurd and the Chinese always love to put a spin on the names of things. Apparently the really traditional version of this dessert doesn't even use almond either, instead extracting the milk from Southern Chinese Almond, or 南杏, which is actually apricot kernel. You see what I mean about Chinese names. We must try to make this traditional version next time. It sounds delicious, though probably much more time intensive.
For the time being, Almond Beancurd is pretty high on our list because it is elegant enough for big people and fun enough for little people. And sooo easy! After it firmed up we plated it up kinda fancy for ourselves and then cut the rest up into smaller squares and let the baby stab away at it with her little animal forks. She loved it.
Almond Bean Curd Recipe 杏仁豆腐
Ingredients:
(Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 0 mins)
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 tbsp powdered gelatin
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 125 ml condensed milk (look for condensed milk made from real milk, not milk powder)
- 1 cup Papaya or melon, cubed (optional)
Directions:
Put 125 ml water in pan. Pour gelatin into water and let sit for a minute. Heat the mix on low heat, stirring to dissolve the gelatin.
Mix the sugar, almond extract and condensed milk in a bowl. Slowly add 625ml water stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in dissolved gelatine. Pour into a square pan or bowl and refridgerate for at least 5 hours or until completely set.
Cut into cubes, or diamonds. Serve as is or add fruit cubes on sides.
Put 125 ml water in pan. Pour gelatin into water and let sit for a minute. Heat the mix on low heat, stirring to dissolve the gelatin.
Mix the sugar, almond extract and condensed milk in a bowl. Slowly add 625ml water stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in dissolved gelatine. Pour into a square pan or bowl and refridgerate for at least 5 hours or until completely set.
Cut into cubes, or diamonds. Serve as is or add fruit cubes on sides.
Chinese Desserts at The Hong Kong Cookery:
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What's this in Chinese
ReplyDeleteIt's in the title: 杏仁豆腐 ~ellen
DeleteI remember my mother used to make this with fruit cocktail
ReplyDeleteYes, canned fruit cocktail is a favorite and classic addition to this almond beancurd. And kids love it, I remember I did! ~ellen
DeleteCan you use evaporated milk to make it less sweet instead of using condensed milk?
ReplyDeleteYes, you can use evaporated milk but it will be a lot less sweet so be sure to taste test and adjust the sugar to your liking ~ellen
DeleteMade it! I doubled recipe because it looked and smelled good. 5 hour wait and see now! :)
ReplyDelete😋 ~ellen
Delete