Almond Tofu Dessert

Summers in Atlanta are hot. I used to dread those heatwaves in the Bay Area when I was growing up until I moved here. At least that was dry heat. In Atlanta, the humidity plus the heat sometimes really make it unbearable. I end up staying indoors for most of summer with the AC turned on and try to keep cool with “cooling” things to eat.

Chinese people know how to stay cool. Here is a Chinese dessert which one can often find in dim sum restaurants. I like this recipe a lot because it’s easy and fail-proof. I tend to prefer gelatin over agar-agar for the texture. Contrary to the name, there is no tofu in the dessert. It sort of looks like tofu, but it’s not tofu. The traditional way of making this is using canned fruit cocktail. Since the almond gelatin is already sweet, adding some fresh fruit is a nice substitute from canned fruit cocktail.

 

Almond Tofu Dessert

Serves 6

 

Ingredients:

2 cups milk of choice (cow, almond, coconut…etc.)

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons almond extract

2 packets of Knox unflavored gelatin (1/4 ounce powdered gelatin per packet)

 

Directions:

1. In a large pot, add all of the above ingredients except for the gelatin. Bring to a small simmer under medium-low heat. Turn heat off once the mixture begins to simmer.

2. Sprinkle gelatin evenly over the mixture. Stir gently to dissolve while trying to not incorporate bubbles into mixture.

3. Carefully pour into a 9X13 baking dish. Once cool. Cover with plastic wrap and move to refrigerator. Chill for at least 4 hours or until set.

5. Serve with fresh fruit of choice.

• almond
• Asian
• chinese
• fruit
• gelatin