Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Food In Singapore 9: Dou Hua

Introduction
Douhua is something that I’m sure you have eaten before. As you all know, it is a Chinese desert that is made with very soft tofu. Served in a bowl, it is often eaten together with clear sweet syrup. In Singapore, it is this same syrup that is used to flavour soy bean milk drinks.

Many Stall Vendors may choose to sell Douhua that has a few ginko seeds suspended in the syrup. This is to heighten the taste of the Douhua. However, the customer can still choose to eat the original Douhua if they prefer the original one.



Personal Opinion
You may have realized that this post is really short. This is because there is really, really nothing to write about it. Thus, this is going to be a very short post, even if my “personal opinion will be longer than my Introduction itself.

Anyway, Douhua was something that I have been eating since young. And since young, I have not cared if the Douhua I have eaten is soft or not. My requirements towards the softness of the tofu are very low actually, as long as it taste normal, I think its fine. But to me, what’s important is the sweet syrup. Many people may think that the syrup must be really sweet; otherwise the syrup will be useless. However, I think otherwise. I think that the syrup must not be too sweet as it will overpower the overall taste of the desert, and also people will get easily sick of it. However, the flavour must not be too blant also, because the syrup contributes to most of the taste of the desert. If even the syrup taste blant then the whole Douhua is going to taste like porridge.



In my opinion, I feel that a good douhua should not be served chilled. Serving the douhua chilled always dilutes the taste of the syrup, and the tofu will not taste as nice also. To me, a good douhua should taste nice even if it is served warmed (and it is supposed to be served warm).

Regarding the ginko seeds, I just want to state that I don’t usually add ginko seeds when I eat Douhua. Not for a specific reason like I don’t like ginko seeds or anything, but I just don’t add, full stop. However, I do add ginko seeds once in a while, so that I do not taste the same flavour of douhua all the time.

Food for thought:

Douhua comes with a large amount of the “clear sweet syrup”. Can you give some opinions about the clear sweet syrup? Generally, do you think that it is too sweet or too bland for your personal taste?

Credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douhua
http://www.grampianspyreneespcp.org.au/Image/Agency%20Logos/Food%20For%20Thought%20Logo%20Reversed.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1414/1450488069_203d00cf3d.jpg