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Friday, June 25, 2010

Ginger Milk Curd n a Giveaway 姜汁撞奶


*Warning!!! Long Post Ahead!! Long Post Ahead!!!! Roger.

I saw on a Hong Kong eating show showing this dessert. The man just poured milk into the bowl and the host said, she’ll have that dessert in 10 minutes. So easy? Well, I’ve had this once, made from instant preparation powders brought back by my cousin from Hong Kong. It’s nice, I like it, so let’s try making it.. since the TV says it’s so easy

From Wikipedia:
Ginger milk curd, also known as ginger-juice milk curd or simply ginger milk, is a Chinese hot dessert originated in Shawan town of Panyu District(My grandparent’s place of birth), Guangzhou in the Guangdong Province in southern China. The main ingredients are ginger, milk, and sugar. Water buffalo milk is used in the original recipe.Ginger contains protease. When milk is added to ginger juice, protease catalyses hydrolysis of the protein in the milk, changing it from a water-soluble form to a water-insoluble form, and leads to the formation of milk curd.

Sometimes you will wonder how much one can learn from kids, and I really did learn a lot from these kids’ science project. They did lots of experiments with this simple dessert, from getting the proper PH, the proper temperature for setting. Simply marvelous. But they didn’t test the type of milk used, pasteurized, UHT, homogenized and raw milk. If only they did this, then the experiment will be ultra marvelous.


When you look at the process, it seems easy, right? I made 8 times of failed curds before I saw success. I only did 125ml each time, but hey, have to eat them up even thought they are failed curds, still edible, just that either they are too soft or still in liquid. Milk is fine..but ginger. So much???? I’m not in confinement, so my body cannot take so much of that, lest overload then deep trouble.  Hey, do you know that this is the perfect dessert for that day of the month?? Maybe you want to try making this on that day :)

I read a few blogs before I did it. All had different instructions, some to pull milk 6 times, some 10 times, some never pull but just tilt pan left and right. Some look for bubbles by the periphery of the milk, some look for steam… But all are playing the guessing game. And from many of the comments I saw (from reader’s tryouts), lots of them ended up with thinned down yogurt. I failed 8 times, some as thinned down yogurts, some still as milk. 

After my failed curds, I tried searching in Chinese again. One site said,80- 85C and guarantee success. But when I did it with my pasteurized and homogenized milk, it failed. I was at 80C because I was trying different temperatures. If you want to know what brand of milk that was, it was Goodday, fresh, homogenized, pasteurized milk.

I don’t know about you, maybe you can make it, but I can’t. Until I thought of the shop that I always buy natural yogurt from. If they can make yogurt with it, definitely I can make milk curd with that. So the next day, I went there to buy my RM3 worth of raw milk (about 600ml). Worked like a charm. The surface set almost immediately (you can test it when you touch the surface and no white liquid sticks to your finger) and was fully set in 10 minutes. Out of 5 attempt, 4 set nicely and one failed* because I didn't boil the milk properly and a skin formed on top. Explanation after the recipe.

Ginger Milk Curd Recipe (do it bowl by bowl)
One rice bowl amount: 
30ml (2 tablespoons) old ginger juice (Mine are the regular ones that are imported from China)
250ml milk
1Tbsp sugar


*I always do 125ml/bowl
Or if you want to fill a 6 oz ramekin (I find this amount just nice for 1 serving)
3 tsp ginger juice (15ml)
125ml milk
1 heaped tsp sugar

1. Put ginger juice into setting bowl.
2. Bring the milk and sugar to a boil, turn off the heat .Check temperature with a thermometer. Let it cool down to 85C. (If you don’t own a thermometer, leave the milk to cool down in the pot for 10 seconds)
3. Pour milk from 6 inches above bowl.
4. Let the curd set for 10 minutes
5. Enjoy warm or chilled.

*If you want to make more than this amount, pulling the milk might be required because a larger amount may take longer than 10 seconds to reach 85C.
If you can make yogurt with that milk, then you can use that same source of milk to make this ginger milk curd, because both processes act on the milk protein.

*When this attempt failed when all others succeeded with raw milk, the only difference was the layer of insoluble milk skin. Then I suspected that the proteins that are necessary for coagulation are all in the skin. I checked the internet and truly enough, I found on wisegeek, that when milk is heated, it forms a skin/membrane on top. The skin is comprised of solid proteins that combine with the milk’s fat molecules, which begin to evaporate as the milk is heated. These proteins, casein and beta, clump together when the liquid reaches a temperature of around 113 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit (45 to 50 Celsius). As the heating continues, the soft protein layer begins to dry out, which is why the milk forms a skin on the liquid’s surface. (So, when the protein is no longer in the milk, it cannot react with the ginger’s enzyme, protease). To avoid the skin from forming, just remember to stir it from time to time. And this does not happen with skim milk because skim milk does not contain fat. There is nothing for the protein molecules to bind with.


About pulling/stretching the tea (teh tarikking):
Some recipes call for this step, but I find that, the temperature’s way too low after pulling. From the lab experiment report, the optimum temperature for setting is between 62-67C. When I finished pulling it for 6 times, my temperature was at 50-60C (From various attempts). The temperature of the ginger juice has to be taken into account, the absorption of heat into the setting bowl has to be taken into consideration as well. And don’t forget, the pouring of milk from a distance into the ginger juice will reduce the temperature further. So, I don’t pull it anymore. And I find that, if I do it 125ml at a time, the moment I turn off the heat, I put in the thermometer to check, by the time the reading is stable, it’s already 85C, and it takes about 10 seconds. Larger amounts of milk may take slightly longer. So, I don’t find it necessary to pull the milk. Just turn it off, wait til all the bubbles go away and there, 85C. So, when it’s 85C when you pour it down, by the time it mixes with the ginger juice, touches the bowl and getting cooled by the pouring action, it’ll settle to a nice 62-67C.

See the spoon floating????

See the curd don't fall back in place... it stays put


About adding vinegar to the ginger juice,
Although my attempt with Goodday was fine with vinegar, but it is not with raw milk. It curdled up, not in a good way. Click on the picture to have a larger view.







Ok, so here goes the giveaway..

It is open to all residing in Malaysia and Singapore only with a valid Malaysian and Singaporean address.

Let us help out the blogosphere by trying to make ginger milk curd, with any brand or source of milk.
To join, you must make ginger milk curd and do a post on it. It doesn't matter you failed or succeeded, as long as u tried.

Send in a link to your website/blog to this page (through comments)
Or if you don’t have a website, email me (wendyinkk at yahoo.com) the pictures and details of the milk used to me. I'll post the emailed in try-outs in the other page.

One type of milk per entry, means if you tried out 4 types of milk, 4 entries, even though it's just one post.

Details that must be included in your post or email:
1. Pictures of milk curd that shows
     i. floating spoon on top to show that the curd has set firmly
     ii. a spoon of the curd or the eaten area of the curd to show the texture.
2. Brand of milk used, and if possible picture of milk carton/bottle
3. Type of process: Pasteurized/Homogenized/UHT/Microfiltration/Raw/Recombined/Sterilized
4. Type of milk: Fresh/Full Cream/Low Fat/Skim milk/Raw Milk
5. Fat and protein content on label by g/100ml (leave this if it’s raw fresh milk)
*If using raw unprocessed milk, just include information on where you got your supply, and skip step 2,3 and 5.
And any other information that you think may be important.

This is to help others who are interested to make ginger milk curd. Makes life easier for everyone when information is easily available.

Others who are not from these 2 countries may also submit your curd “report”. It’ll be so nice of you to do that. We’ll learn from your experience too.

Dateline is 15th July 12.00noon GMT+8.00

Oh yes, what’s for the giveaway?
Actually it’s not a Kitchenaid or an expensive book or some fancy bakeware….just 2 sets of bamboo bowls and spoon, like those in my pics. So, there'll be two winners.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you the one I’ve used, they will be brand new. I’ve bought quite a lot of these few years back, and they’re not from Daiso :)

Oh ya, I've actually tried out a few brand of milk from supermarket shelves. So far, one brand gave me fair result, not as good as raw milk, but it set with spoondable curds. I won't spoil the fun... but will spill the milk for you on result day.


Click here to see the entries and the brand that they used,

60 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I first tried this at one of the old dessert shop at Outram park (Singapore) and immediately I fell in love with it. One small bowl costs us like S$5.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wendy, I have been looking to buy this kind of wooden spoon and bowl, but dont know where to buy. Just like to re-confirm with you, every entry also entitle to get a set of this wooden spoon? or you will need to draw for a winner?

    ReplyDelete
  3. neyeeloh,
    s$5?? I can make 10 bowls with that amount of money :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sonia,
    Wah... every entry one bowl, I sure die mailing all the bowls. Hahahah.

    I'll draw the winner, but if you try out a few brands, then you get few more chances.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ok, Thanks. Usually i have no luck in any kind of draws..

    ReplyDelete
  6. the pictures with the spoon look delish!! * licks lips* :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sonia,
    The main objective of this giveaway is to encourage people to try making ginger milk curd and to gather information for the benefit of others.

    It's ok :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've heard of this, but never tasted any before...
    This looks fun!!! I want, I want to play-play!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mel,
    Great, you're the first and only one so far.
    Hahaha, if you remain as the only one, u're the definate recipient of the bowls and spoons :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wendy,
    Kudos to you for making it and all the write-up about it. I find it very informative. It's good I've learn more about it. Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I have tasted this before in Hong Kong and fall it love with it, I tried a few times myself but only succeeded once. Will try again :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Min,
    Do try to make this, and provide the neccessary information and pictures and you'll be in the running for the gifts :)
    Remember one brand or type of milk, one entry :)
    So, do more:)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wendy...I will pass on this. I have a dislike of steamed milk. Ate this when I was in Macau.And both my boys are allergic to cows milk. They are brought up on soya milk powder.

    But your photos esp the 1st one looks so good.

    ReplyDelete
  14. To be honest I've never eaten this before, because I don't really like ginger but seeing all these technical stuffs, I may give it a try. Is the texture like tau foo far ??

    ReplyDelete
  15. I always saw this dessert from HK show but nvr try it b4, shd give a try hmmm....

    ReplyDelete
  16. WOW... Obviously I can't enter..but I will try your recipe!!! I'm going to make your 'Esquire Kitchen" pork tomorrow..with home made mantau. Thanks for sharing again!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. This looks exactly like 'dou hu hua'! Much better & healthier because it's not using 'sek go' powder. And sounds pretty easy to make. Must try it one day. Thanks so much for sharing. Have a great weekend.
    Cheers, Kristy

    ReplyDelete
  18. Vien,
    Yeah, one needs to like ginger and milk to like this.
    Glad you liked the pic.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Swee San,
    It's much much softer than taufufah. Slides down the throat totally.

    I'm so glad that someone is finally challenged by the technicalities of this dessert. Do send in your entry/entries ya.

    I was challenged too, so I did experiments with a few other types and brands of milk. Hahaha, I am always challenged by so many things.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Jess,
    Please do, and don't forget to send in the details of your try out before July 15th.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Mott,
    I'd love to know how it turns out for you, do send it a link to the "page". Maybe I can't put you in the running for the giveaway, but it'll be really nice of you to let us see your results.

    Haha, and your dong po pork too :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. My Little Space,
    I prefer this over tofufah, but cannot consume too much in a day, ginger leh.

    Don't try it one day .... but as soon as possible, and send in your entry :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Looks really good! I love tou fu fa...but have yet tried ginger flavored kind. :) Thanks for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
  24. would love a try on this :) yayyy...
    i just baked the soft pumpkin cake from ur site. hope it turns out nicez ^^

    ReplyDelete
  25. Honey Bee,
    This is not a tofufah, it's made with milk. And the only thing that we are familiar with and can relate this to compare texture is tofufah, but this is not a tofufah.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Ai Wei,
    I hope it turns out nice for you too, I mean the pumpkin cake.

    Oh please do try to make this.. and send in your entry :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Wendy, I'll come back to read more about yours in detail ... Gotta go prepare to "challenge" my patience with the officers at the Immigration Office tomorrow morning. Haha! Let's go to Singapore together lah ... Bring your girls lah ... Haha! (Just got back from the doctor btw. On 5-day medication now.)

    Shoot, how? I'm not planning to talk about 薑汁撞奶 this soon ... Already got plans zor ... How ... Your giveaway is trying to tempt me leh ... =_="""

    Btw, nice thing about having so many backlogs ... Haha! Eenie-mynie ... I can choose to talk about whatever I want out of what's available. Then, I can still tahan till like mid-2011 ... or even beyond ... Haha!

    ReplyDelete
  28. PeiLin,
    I can't even go shopping with 2 girls in tow if Mike is not around. what about travelling? It's totally insane to even think about it, and I already know the answer from my hubby, "You never think, is it?" Hahahaha.

    Cheh, you just squeeze in a post only ma. and if you don't feel like posting it, just email me the results, also can. Acceptable.

    Hey, hope everything is fine ah.

    Oh ya, if you're going to Spore, don't forget to grab a few cans of condensed milk. It's the real thing over there. Can't get it here.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Oh, I know this dessert. It originated from Shundak (顺德)near Guangzhou. Thanks for experimenting with this and save us the long route to get this. Too bad I will be on the road for 2 weeks. So no cooking and trying out this!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hi Wendy. I've been busy late days & only managed to update some posts & chow for others things in the house without visiting much. I never heard or tasted milk curd before. If its is so difficult then it need to worth the effort. I love the wooden bowl & spoon but don't think can afford to try out... good luck for everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Shirley,
    Awwww......
    Too bad then, the entry time is for 3 weeks, maybe by the time you're back it's not yet July 15th yet:)
    Where u'd be going this time? Enjoy ur trip :)

    ReplyDelete
  32. HomeKreation,
    It only take less than 10 mins of prep:)
    Just that I wrote so much to explain it.
    Nothing more than grating ginger, squeeze the juice, boil the milk and pour. Just that.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Wendy, I just came back from Melaka today :-)

    I fell in love with ginger milk curd/custard when I first tasted it in HK during winter. I love ginger and had been searching for a recipe, found a few recipes but never had a chance to try making it. Also, being a lazy person, I always find the easiest recipes, ie no pulling milk needed. Hope to get a chance to make this one day.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Blessed Homemaker,
    Oh, I really hoped you had a good time in Melaka :) Ate a lot, right?

    I tried pulling milk in the beggining, but because I have a candy termometer, hahaha, I can try out this recipe because it's rather temperature sensitive, too hot or too cold also cannot. But I found that if done in small quantities, just let the bubble go off and you have the correct temp oredi. Noo need a lot of hoo hoo ha ha.

    Make it soon la, and send in your entries:)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Oh yummmy - I love ginger milk curd when I go to HK...esp during winter too ;)

    ReplyDelete
  36. Vivienne,
    You don't need to go to HK to have this :)
    Just make your own :)

    ReplyDelete
  37. This sounds so fun!!! I'm not a steam milk nor any type of milk related fan. Let me ask Hubby first, if he's ok to wallop my experiments I'll join in as well! Cool!!!

    Ronni

    ReplyDelete
  38. Ronni,
    You're most welcomed!!!!
    Can't wait to see your results.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Wendy, ya know what, I've decided to talk about 薑汁撞奶 this soon ... Maybe in mid-July or something because I really have too much thing going on for my blog ... Haha! So lo-soh ...

    Actually, the last time I made this was like over a year ago in the States. I don't intend to remake this as for now as there are many more things for me try ... In total, I've made this three times. With success each time as I did research and study extensively before jumping into the whole deal. Wow, seriously, there's so much of science going on! I learned a lot during the process. =)

    OK, will resume our gingery topic in July. Haha!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Pei-Lin,
    If one uses farm fresh unprocessed milk, it's definate success. I'm sure you must have chose the right milk to work with.

    But here and Singapore, it's not easy to get this type of unadulterated milk. It's processed milk everywhere, and they are homogenized, emulsified just to get them on the shelves longer without separating into watery milk and cream. So, the challenge here for this, is to try out supermarket shelf milk and see which one will work, even when the technique is right, the wrong type of milk will definately spell failure.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Thanks Wendy for the highlight. Lucky you did coz i think i was out of town when you posted this.

    Going to give this a try this week. Stay tuned. Edith

    ReplyDelete
  42. Yum yum yum, I love ginger milk curd! I've tried to make it so many times and I always end up drinking warm ginger flavoured milk! My grandma says that you need young ginger for it to work properly...have you found that too? :)

    ReplyDelete
  43. Edith,
    Oh, can't wait to see yours

    ReplyDelete
  44. Nessie,
    I'm sorry I don't quite get your "have you found that too?"

    I think you might have used the wrong milk as the type of milk you used is highly influential on the result. One of my readers used young ginger and it failed, but when I told her to use old ginger, it worked.

    ReplyDelete
  45. I finally made this after all these years! But FAILED!!! Boohoohoo... Wait for my blog update.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Blessed Homemaker,
    Don't worry, failed curds are still entitled to a chance in the giveaway. I just want you to try!!
    Go for fresh milk or raw milk, no full cream, no recombined milk.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Hey Wendy, I am reading this again. Maybe still have some time to experiment huh? Let me see if I can do it this week. I stay one week at home before I need to go to India!

    ReplyDelete
  48. Hi Wendy,

    I have done a test but failed. :(

    http://preciousmoments66.blogspot.com/2010/07/test-with-giveaway.html

    ReplyDelete
  49. Hi Wendy! I just read blessed homemaker's post on this. Such a great idea to do a giveaway by asking other bloggers to try out your recipe! =) This is a great post by the way. So informative! I know I've missed the giveaway but I think I might try this anyway =)

    ReplyDelete
  50. Clare,
    Well, it's ok if they do not want to use my method and use some other method, as long as they make ginger milk curd. I just want to encourage others to try cos I read more failures than successes on the internet. And also to collect data on types of milk that can be used and how others do it. It's easier when there is a pool of information for those that is interested to make this super duper easy but super duper techinically challenging dessert.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Hi
    thanks for posting this ginger milk curd experiment, very interesting n helpful for those of use could not get hold of 'buffalo milk'

    Mind sharing which brand of Milk produce the firm ginger milk curd ?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  52. Simonne,
    There is no brand in the milk I used as it is fresh raw milk from the farm.
    You can check out "People who've tried making ginger milk curd" link in my post. THey have included all information on which brand does the jam and which doesn't.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Wendy,
    So far I've tried Fresh Milk from Magnolia and Fresh Milk from Dutch Lady

    HL Milk as u mention contain highest amount of milk protein. Goin to try that next :D

    ReplyDelete
  54. Wendy, yr wooden teaspoon so cute. Where did u buy this? Sandy

    ReplyDelete
  55. Hi Wendy, I did tried it yesterday, it ends up too runny, tried using the Magnolia Fresh Milk. Is it the milk is not hot enough,I try steaming the milk & did taste to see if it's warm enough, there's steam from the milk as well. I think you can see it's still runny... It wasn't able to set in... What abt the 'pulling' of milk? Didn't really quite understand it...
    My self-made Ginger Milk Custard Pudding. http://twitpic.com/6mpm7o http://twitpic.com/6mpmed http://twitpic.com/6mpmku

    ReplyDelete
  56. Anonymous,
    Pulling the milk is like making teh tarik.
    But I don't find that being neccesary.
    Different brands of milk yields different results. Do check out the brand that others have used with successful results.
    If your milk is not within the setting range temperature, it will not set.
    Steam doesn't indicate anything. Coffee or tea in Cameron highlands will even emit steam when it's only warm, and not hot. So, do not use steam to define temperature.

    ReplyDelete
  57. My Ginger Milk Curd Recipe: www.marecipes.com/ginger-milk-pudding. I really really really like this dessert. It's Heavenly Delicious!!

    ReplyDelete

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