Silky and light tofu custard from QQ Soya Bean Curd.
(Makansutra)
By KF Seetoh, makansutra
First there was the
bubble tea craze, which
fizzled out in a flash not long after making a splashing debut some
years back. Then the pork floss bread that took us by storm fled to
make a beeline for the roti boy coffee buns. That boy exited the
business not long after making a bundle before turning into a
teenager. The doughnut chains are still making the rounds, but are
raking in much less dough as not as many people are going nuts over
it these days.
<!-- p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } -->And now something new
is curdling at the
Old Airport Road hawker
centre. A year and a half ago, one stall decided to
offer it and a slow and steady stream of customers began to stream
in daily and bear the one hour wait just for it. This form of
tau huay has many
incarnations in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan with their salty, spicy
and gingery versions. But this silky, milky tofu custard here, in
the words of some customers in the queue, is "worth the wait, every
week".
Li Hui Shing and his wife Hui Ywai Kwai set up Lao Ban Soy Bean
Curd, a humble little stall churning out fresh soy bean milk, tamed
it with a coffee-mate like milk and malt mixture with a touch of
gelatin. They steam, cool then chill it for a few hours before a
continuous line of about 30 shows up without fail each day they
open.
On average, each person in that queue buys 20 packs of the silky
dessert. It comes in two flavours -- plain and almond. Another
customer in the queue was too eager to interrupt my conversation
with Mdm Hui with a "It does not have that beany taste which I
don't like" comment, with another person offering the observation
"It's like a cream tofu crème brulee." It's not a milky version of
the regular tau huay you get at the usual top stalls sweetened by
syrup. This tofu custard comes just as smooth and is already gently
sweetened, and, I must admit, the "beaniness" is addictively
contained by the milk and malt mixture touch.
<!-- p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } -->Today, two other
stalls have slid down that smooth and silky road to milk that
success in that same food centre. And at $1.50 to $2 per portion,
they are raking it in for now. We preview them before another flood
of them pops up over the island....
