I’m not quite sure how I came across this dessert…I think I was looking up something with almond milk and came across this Asian delicacy that is served in many restaurants. I’ve never come across it personally in any restaurant that I frequent, so I was really curious from the start. I’m a huge fan of good Chinese food and I know that there aren’t many dessert offerings on restaurant menus – you will get the usual plain cheesecake, rice pudding or almond cookies – if you’re lucky, you might find the fried sesame mochi balls, but that’s about it. In reality, there are so many that I never knew about, and frankly, I don’t know why many of the restaurants don’t offer them, I believe they would be a huge hit.
One of these desserts is known by many different names depending on where you are in the world. Ther are versions of it in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Phillippine’s, Indonesia, Thailand and even Vietnam. It can be called annin do fu, dou hua (tao huay in Cantonese), dou fu hua and even spelled dao fu fa (tao fu fa in Cantonese). This is kind of an old school Chinese jello, but the recipe has evolved from the earlier documented versions.
Essentially, it’s a dessert made with the silken version of tofu. Generally, when you mention desserts made with tofu, most people run for the hills…
Is anyone still out there? I hope I haven’t lost you yet because there are alternatives…
I was always a fan of tofu but can no longer eat it because of a serious thyroid condition that developed from raw soybean consumption while I was a vegetarian for many years…and tofu falls into the raw soybean category.
I found a few alternative recipes for this dessert made with either gelatin or agar as the thickening agent and milk options that included almond milk, coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, powdered milk, heavy cream, half and half, regular milk and even 2% milk. So if you’re not a tofu fan, there is still hope for you to try this delicious little dessert with whatever combination of milks you would like.
In the Sichuan province of China, this is made without sugar and served as more of a savory item with soy sauce, chili oil, peppers, scallions, nuts and sometimes rice.
Today, I’m going to focus on the dessert version since everyone is always looking for delicious low carb desserts that also fit into the paleo lifestyle. Traditionally, this is served with adzuki paste, roasted peanuts and topped with ginger or almond syrup. My version included the roasted pieces of almonds that I dried out in the oven after making fresh almond milk, along with some beautiful organic fruit from the market. You can sweeten it if you like with some regular sugar or stevia – but since I’m not a fan of stevia, I prefer to use a low glycemic sugar, like coconut nectar, but there are many others out there.
I made a small batch because I was not sure whether I would like it or not, but I’m happy to report that I simply LOVED it, and will be making it regularly.
The beauty of this dessert is that you can make it as rich or as light as you want. If you want to make it richer, you can add just about any combination of the above mentioned milks in place of the quantity of almond (or coconut) milk stated in the recipe. You may also want to add a smaller amount of sugar in the actual pudding and reserve the bulk of the sweeteners to add as toppings. It’s strictly up to you, but whatever you end up doing, I really hope that you give this delicious dessert a try.
Homemade Almond Milk
2 cups almonds, preferably blanched without skins
4 cups filtered water
Add the nuts and the water to your food processor and blend together until the nuts are finely ground and the liquid looks like milk.
Pour this into a container lined with cheese cloth or pick up a nut milk bag at the health food store. This is a fine mesh bag that is made especially for people who prefer to make their nut milks at home. You can use this over and over again, so if this is something you would like to do, it may be worth investing in. Allow the milk to drain into your container and squeeze the contents of the bag to get out all of the milk that you can. From this, I got about 3 ½ cups of milk. I then poured out the finely ground nuts onto a paper line tray and baked them on a low oven until they dried out…so don’t waste anything!
Annin Do fu
2 cups unsweetened almond or coconut milk (you can use store bought)
2-4 tablespoons coconut nectar (or sugar)
2-4 tablespoons almond extract
1 ¼ teaspoons of gelatin
1/2- 1 cup additional milk when serving
sliced fresh fruits of your choice (lychee and apricots are traditional)
Add the almond, coconut or any variation of milks that you prefer into a small pot and heat gently. Add in the sweetener of your choice, the almond extract and the gelatin.
Make sure that everything dissolves completely and then pour into a dish that has been sprayed with some pan release (then wiped to leave a little greasy feel) so that the pudding won’t stick after it has set. This quantity can be put into a small 6” x 6” container.
Cover it with plastic and place it in the refrigerator to firm up. You can use a spoon to break up the sections, or you can cut it into little cubes with a knife. Scoop out some pudding pieces and place in a bowl. Add some fresh fruit, dried almonds and your favorite toppings and dive in.
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