Inatei has been our family favourite Japanese restaurant lately. Their fish are always fresh and you can tell they really care about what they serve. Ho told me that the restaurant owner’s wife also works there as the dessert chef. I tried several kinds of their desserts; they are all delicate looking, unique, tasty, but not overly sweet. Out of all varieties, Ho loves their Tofu Pudding the most. It’s very smooth and filled with rich soy flavour. The syrup that comes with it gives a distinct taste that is almost like caramel but lighter. To me, it’s somewhat close to a smoky flavour. I was wondering how they made it. Then I found this recipe from a Chinese blog Oak & Bakes.
It turns out that the special flavour come from a Japanese brown sugar. The recipe is a very simple one. However, this Okinara brown sugar (沖繩黑糖) costs Cdn$13 a bag. I don’t plan to spend this much on an ingredient when I haven’t even tested the recipe before. Luckily Cherry told me about this Taiwanese brown sugar available at Chinese grocery store. It’s only $1.99 a bag. Then I won’t feel as bad even if I fail the recipe.
The original recipe is in Chinese. Here’s my translation with little changes from me:
Ingredients:
Pudding
650 ml Unsweetened homemade soya milk *
10g Gelatin powder
30g Granulated sugar
Syrup
70g Okinara Brown Sugar (or Taiwanese)
30g Maltose
50ml Water
Method:
1. Sprinkle gelatin on 50 ml of soya milk. Let it dissolve.
2. Heat remaining 600ml of soya milk in saucepan until warm enough to just before boiling.
3. Add sugar to heated soya milk.
4. Put (1) in microwave for 15-20 seconds to until gelatin is melted.
5. Stir in (4) to (3).
6. Spoon to moulds and let them cool off before putting them in refrigerator for 3 hours.
7. Mix all syrup ingredients in saucepan and bring it to boil. Simmer to consistency similar to maple syrup. About 1 minute. Don’t overdo it, otherwise you’ll get caramel.
* Store bought soya milk is fine too but you have to pick one that is rich in soy flavour. Some just taste like water with cream colour.
Inatei also serve their pudding with red bean. I did it too. It is good in either way!
How is the texture different from chinese tofu fa? or Italian panna cotta?
ReplyDeletedid you use chinese maltose or some other kind?
The texture is close to that of mango pudding. I haven't had panna cotta for a long time, if I remember it right, it's more creamy. This tofu pudding is not. It's much lighter.
ReplyDeleteYes, I used Chinese Maltose.