Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie 腐竹糖水沙冰

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This smooth, creamy, ice-ilicious Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie 腐竹糖水沙冰 is the most unexpected delight. Made with old style traditional Chinese ingredients, it is transformed with a modern method of treatment into a powerfully enjoyable and addictive treat.

We discovered this neato drink at a local restaurant that serves HK traditional cha chaan teng 茶餐廳 foods. But I'm pretty sure that this is no traditional HK treat. But no matter, all is fair in love and food. This smoothie was absolutely yummilicious, just the thing to cool off and soothe away a hot day. We have recreated this Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie at home for all our dear readers to enjoy as well. Cold, sweetly creamy, tofu-y, this smoothie is really far out!

This smoothie's star ingredient is the dried tofu skin 腐竹, also sometimes know as fuzhu. Dried tofu skin is made from the film that forms on the top of boiling soybean milk. It is plucked off and dried in sheets. When boiled this dried tofu skin almost completely dissolves, leaving behind a most lovely slightly tofu flavored creaminess. Chinese often use it in dessert soups, yummy! We take advantage of this creaminess today for our luscious smoothie.

Do note that this delicioso Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie is not the same as other tofu smoothies that use regular tofu. Regular tofu has no taste and is just used to add body to the smoothie. Dried tofu skin 腐竹 has its own wonderful delicate taste as well as texture and that makes it completely different and unique!

Buy dried tofu skin at the tofu vendors at the wet markets or any shops that sell tofu products. Do note that there are many tofu skin products and you must be sure to get the right one. The english names are often confusing so be sure to check it against the chinese name 腐竹. Also 腐竹 is quite delicate and brittle, easily cracked, as you can see in the above photo.

We sweeten the smoothie with chinese rock sugar 冰糖. Rock sugar is cane sugar boiled and then crystallized. It is less sweet than regular sugar and is used for many sweet and savory Chinese dishes.

So simple to make this smoothie! Just crush the dried tofu skin and add to the pot with rock sugar and water. Boil away at a simmer. The tofu skin will slowly dissolve.

See how the dried tofu skin has melted down?

We now use our stick blender to puree into a smooth texture.

See how smooth our tofu skin looks now? Nom, nom...

The sweetened tofu skin is frozen and then pureed into an icy smoothie. Here we added some powdered sugar to sweeten the smoothie a bit more as we miscalculated the amount of rock sugar needed. But don't worry, we've adjusted the sweetness level in the recipe below.

A bit of a whiz and your smoothie is ready to to pour into a tall glass. Don't forget to add a straw!

Cool and creamily thick, sweet with a delightful hint of tofu flavor, this Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie 腐竹糖水沙冰 is one of my daughter's favorite drinks! Hope you all enjoy it as much as she does!

Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie Recipe

腐竹糖水沙冰

(makes 2 smoothies) Prep time: 5 min Cook time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

2.8 oz dried tofu skin 腐竹, 80g
2.8 oz rock sugar 冰糖, 80g*
6 cups water

Directions:

Crack the dried tofu skin into pieces and place into a pot. Add rock sugar and water. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Cover and let cook for 20 mins or until the tofu skin in almostly completely melted.

Let cool. Use a stick blender or blender to puree the mixture smooth. Pour into a container and let cool completely before putting in the freezer overnight.

The next day remove from freezer. If completely frozen hard let sit at room temperature until just softened enough to scoop out. Scoop out into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour out into a tall glass, add a straw and serve deliciously chilly.

*Note: Adjust the sweetness to your liking but remember that frozen drinks require a bit more sweetness than room temperature drinks.

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