Making Lao Ban Beancurd

I'm not a fan of Tau Hauy but came to like the modern version of it in pudding form after trying the famed Lao Ban beancurd.

Our interest in it was fuelled with the opening of its rival 51 beancurd pudding at Tampines Mall. So convenient to get beancurd pudding now!

And then I stumbled upon a friend's facebook post about a recipe which claims to replicate the texture of Lao Ban beancurd, with a highly similar taste. And the recipe looks very easy!

So I told Dear that we have to try it out for ourselves and learn to make a new food.

Here's the recipe from Hardwarezone forum that I used.

Makes 2 bowls of 175ml each.

To Make Soya Milk
30g of 'Polleney' Soya Bean Milk Powder
15g of 'Unisoy' Soya Bean Milk Powder
350ml of water
Stir everything together, doesnt matter if you get some bubbles.

OR

350ml of Drinho/Vitasoy/Yeo's/Seasons Soya Milk


Making The Dessert
350ml of soya milk
15g of 'Nestle' 'Coffeemate' coffee creamer
10-15g of sugar to taste(not required if using carton-ed Soya Bean Milk)
7g of Phoon Huat's instant jelly powder

1. Heat the soya milk till its hot. DO NOT BOIL.
2. Stir in coffee creamer till its fully dissolved.
3. Stir in sugar till fully dissolved.
4. Stir in instant jelly powder till its fully dissolved.
4. 350ml of soya bean milk makes 2 bowls. Pour into 2 bowls and leave to cool. Optional: Sieve out bubbles using an oil sieve.
5. Leave in fridge. Enjoy. 

While there are not a lot of ingredients to buy, a couple of items were more difficult to get.

Not all supermarkets sell Polleney soya powder. I got mine from the NTUC at Clementi Central.

The Phoon Huat jelly powder is in high demand since the recipe has been circulated over the internet. The stores run out of them often. I had to make a second trip before being able to buy one. So, it's best to call the store first to check if the powder is in stock before making the way to the shop.

 Stirring everything in over fire.

Ladling the pudding mixture into the bowls after sieving. I would say sieving is not necessary if you have already stirred in everything well with no lumps.

Leaving it to cool for a while before placing them into the fridge.

Our homemade beancurd pudding after two hours in the fridge! The surface looks uneven as we couldn't wait to scoop a spoonful to try the taste, lol.

Verdict: Texture passed. Taste passed (although it was 90 percent identical to Lao Ban and yummy enough for a cheap easy homemade version).

One tip: make sure the beancurd mixture is very hot (when there's evaporation but the mixture is not boiling) when you add in the jelly powder. This will allow the jelly to cool down and therefore, coagulate.

I'm not sure if that sounds real basic, but I, as a kitchen noob, didn't know the mixture has to be hot and had added my jelly powder to a luke warm mixture because I was cautious of overheating it. Plus, nowhere online did anyone stress this point.

Hope this is useful for you. I love how Dear was also very interested in making the puddings and we had a fun weekend trying them out.

Now, I want to try to make durian pudding! And, with my newfound beancurd pudding making skill, I can make these for a potluck during friend's gatherings. Yeah!