Tau Huay (tau fa), the easy way

Since moving to Montreal, my diet has been pretty lacking in asian food. Although stir-fries and other simple dishes are easy enough to cook on my own time, one thing that I usually CANNOT replicate (without a great amount of time/effort/money spent on ingredients!) is asian desserts!

Well, after some exhaustive research, I finally found a bit of a cheater's way to whip up a quick, delicious dessert that I haven't had since Malaysia last summer - tau huay/tau fa!

Ingredients:

1 package of soft tofu (3 grams)

4 cups of water

2-inch piece of ginger

1/2 cup of brown sugar (or more, to taste)

1. Take the tofu package out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature.

2. Thoroughly wash the ginger; peel the ginger (if you think it's clean enough, this is optional) and slice finely.

3. Combine the water, brown sugar and cut ginger in a pot and bring to a boil

on high.

4. Once the mixture begins to boil, cover with a lid and reduce heat to medium. Continue to cook at this temperature for at least 15 minutes; the longer you cook it, the "spicier" the soup will become. More sugar can be added as desired.

5. Open the tofu package and cut into small squares; distribute amongst four bowls.

6. When desired, remove the ginger soup from heat, strain, and pour over the tofu.

7. Enjoy!!!!

Key Lime Pie

It's almost summer time, and that means light, citrus-y type desserts! We had a lot of key limes at home, and the best thing I thought to make was good ol' key lime pie! Normally you would need condensed milk, but this recipe doesn't require it. It's said that it brings out the lime flavour more if you don't use condensed milk. It was really easy, and it turned out great! Here's the recipe:

-------------------
What you need

1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
3 eggs
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup key lime juice
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons white sugar
2 drops of green food colouring


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Separate the eggs. Beat the egg yolks and set the whites aside.
3. Combine the white sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Gradually stir in the water. Cook over medium heat until it has become very thick.
4. Gradually stir the cooked sugar mixture into the beaten egg yolks, beating constantly. Return the mixture to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Stir in the butter, lime juice, lime zest, and green colouring. Let mixture cool slightly.
5. Beat egg whites until light and frothy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Gradually beat in the 6 tablespoons of white sugar and beat until the meringue is stiff and glossy.
6. Pour the lime filling into the prepared pie shell or graham cracker crust (see below). Then pile the meringue on top, spreading it until it touches the edges of the pastry to prevent the meringue from shrinking. Bake pie at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 2 to 6 minutes or until meringue top is golden brown.

Here's what the final product looked like!





For the graham cracker crust, you'll need
1 1/4 cup ground graham crackers
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine

Pour melted butter over graham crackers and line pie dish. Bake in oven (~300 degrees) for about 5-10 minutes until firm.

Enjoy!