Tau Foo Fah (GDL)

Every week, I make about 500gram worth of soy bean milk since Piglet and I are a fan of it.

Previously I have been using gypsum powder which is actually food grade magnesium calcium sulphase. It is a material used for plaster ceiling. I prefer not to use it as one of the health risk is kidney stones.

A few weeks ago I bought GDL at the baking shop to try making tau foo fah. According to Wikipedia, GDL (Glucono Delta Lactone) hydrolyses to acid on addition to water and is 1/3 the sourness of citric acid.

I started off using the recipe from Wendy and made adjustments along the way. After about 3 weeks, I have figured it out.

Tips

1. Require exact amount of GDL. It is adjusted according to the soy bean content. Too little: breaks into brittle pieces. Too much: A thick layer of water on top and taste sour.
2. Small amount of water to dissolve GDL.
3. Optimal temperature  80-90 degree celcius
4. Let it rest (undisturbed) after stirring

Experiments

I’ve also conducted a few experiments:

1	Reducing soy bean milk batch I started with 750ml, managed to reduce it first to 500ml, then 250ml then 190ml (rice bowl)
2	Omitting corn starch
3	Pour soy bean milk technique. Pour soy bean milk Pour soy bean milk and Stir Pour soy bean milk from 1 feet high

It made no difference for all above.

My Tau Foo Fah Formula:

Formula		Example
GDL / Soy bean	2.4%	3g of GDL (1/2 tsp) for 125g of Soy bean
GDL / Soy Bean Milk	0.3%	3g of GDL (1/2 tsp) for 1L of Soy Bean Milk
GDL/ water to dilute	20%	3g of GDL (1/2 tsp) mix with 15g (1 tbs) Water
Temperature	89-90C
Technique		Mix GDL and Water in bowl. Pour Soy Bean Milk

Tau Foo Fah Recipe

1. Boil 1L soy bean milk
2. Leave soy bean milk aside for 5 minutes or until temperature reduces to 90C
3. Mix ½ tsp GDL with 1 tbs Water in a bowl
4. Pour soy bean milk into bowl
5. Cover with a cloth and cover for 20-30 minutes
6. Scoop it and enjoy with sugar syrup

The ‘lazy’ way

I take about 200ml of soy bean milk from the fridge, microwave it in a mug until its bubbling. Pour it into a rice bowl containing less than 1/8 tsp & ½ tsp water. And it’s a single serving of tau foo fah.