Smooth Tofu with Palm Sugar

Tau Fu Fah also known as ‘douhua’, is a delicate dessert that shares the ancient link with tofu, which is believed to have been in existence in China for more than two millennia. Tau fu fah is made of soybean curd. The taste is bland on its own. Because it doesn’t have much taste of its own, classic tau fu fa is often served in a bowl with sugar syrup.

Making the beancurd with just the right texture requires a lot of practice, but preparing a serving is a very straightforward process; fill a bowl with generous dollops of the tofu, pour in the syrup and it is ready to serve, either warm or chilled.

Generally, Asean has a sweet tooth when it comes to taufufa — Indonesia’s ‘Kembang Tahu’ or ‘Tahwa’ is served warm or chilled in palm sugar syrup flavoured with pandan and ginger; in Thailand, the vendors offer a choice of ‘taohuai nom so’ (tofu in sweet milk), ‘taohuai fruit salad’, or ‘taohuai nam khing’ (tofu in hot ginger syrup); the Vietnamese version comprises the Northern Region’s jasmine-scented syrup, the Central Region’s sweet and gingery soup, and the Southern Region’s warm coconut water, with lychees; while in the Philippines, the ‘taho’ with its sweet brown syrup, is consumed as a beverage and sold by hawkers usually in the morning.