Legit Tauhuey

Petunia's Legit Tauhuey

My family's ultimate compliment for any dish I make is, "It tastes legit." The word "legit" holds within it the notion of comparison. When compared with the real thing, is my dish real enough? In the case of tauhuey, you obviously need to compare it with that made by expert hands in Chong Pang Food Centre. 

So it is that my home made tauhuey has been pronounced legit. Apparently, my braised pork is still NOT legit. I am told my braised pork has a different kind of charm than that which Chuan Kee makes. That is just the nice way of saying that my braised pork is NOT legit. 

My mutton soup is even worse. At least, when something (aka, my braised pork) has a different kind of charm, it is still charming. My mutton soup is simply vile. 

It has got to the point where I eyeball my favourite hawkers to see if they will die before I do. The braised pork guys are all much younger than I am, so I think I am safe. I should be able to eat their braised pork right up until I die. The mutton soup guy looks a bit iffy. I do hope that he has children that he will hand his recipe over to, because he does not look young enough to stick around till I die.

Here is my legit tauhuey recipe:

250g of soya beans soaked overnight, skinned and drained

1 litre of water

1/2 teaspoon of cooked (vs raw) calcium sulphate

75 ml of water

(1) I found a way to remove the soya bean skins easily. Just pop the whole lot into the kitchen machine (with a bit of water) and use the cake mix attachment to process everything till all the skins drop off. The skins rise to the top of the washing water. So, just pour them out. This is much faster than manually removing the skins. 

(2) Blend soya beans and water.

(3) Strain and press the blended mixture through a cheesecloth, to get the raw milk.

(4) Bring to a rolling boil. Stir vigorously when boiling because the bottom burns easily AND soya bean milk can bubble over within seconds. I use a large thermal pot so that when the soya bean milk bubbles over, it has to climb up 4 inches of pot sides before it boils over. Once the bubbles start a quick climb up the sides of my pot, I remove the thermal pot from the fire.

(5) Slide the thermal pot into its insulation sleeve and let rest for 30 minutes. This allows the milk to continue cooking and also lets bubbles inside the milk rise out of the milk. If there are bubbles in the soya bean milk, your tauhuey will be spongy instead of silky.

(6) Mix 1/2 teaspoon of cooked calcium sulphate and 75 ml of water. This forms a suspension. Pour the suspension into the bottom of a small 1.5 litre thermal pot. Do not allow the suspension to settle before you quickly pour in the steaming hot soya bean milk from the 5 litre thermal pot.

(7) Do NOT stir. The tauhuey sets almost immediately so if you stir, you will get curds.

(8) Insert the 1.5 litre thermal pot into its insulation sleeve and let the mixture set for 50 minutes.

(9) Scoop and serve with maple syrup.

Make sure you get the right calcium sulphate. Show the TCM Hall this picture from ieatishootipost.

Use a big 5l pot so that when the soya milk boils, it has space to climb up the pot sides.

My 1.5l vs 5l thermal pots.