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Thursday, July 8, 2010

Ginger Milk Curd 姜汁撞奶

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, 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. (source: Wikipedia)

Though I remember I have seen this dessert in some Hongkong cafes (茶餐厅) before it had never caught my attention as it sounds too simple for me to pay for it (it is just ginger milk right?!), I would rather order my all times favarorite dessert, Mango Pamelo Sago (杨枝甘露).

Not until I saw this blog entry from Table for 2 or more. The underlying biochemical principle of this dessert make it sound more exotic and interesting.


Underlying Biochemical Principle

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. (source: Wikipedia)


In simple words, milk curd will be formed just by pouring hot milk into ginger juice. This process is called “撞” (bump). I think the chef who invented this dessert is a genius or a scientist to a certain extend.

I was very eager to witness this myself. So I decided to give it a try.

I did some homework from the Internet and found this video from Ytower which I thought was very useful.

Below is what I learnt from the video and some other websites I visited. These are the three critical factors to make a successful ginger milk curd.

1) Type of Milk
Always use full cream milk, preferably with fat content above 3.8% (i.e. 3.8g of fat per 100ml of milk).

This is the milk I used.


The fat content is 3.8g per 100ml. I checked the entire UHT milk shelf; this was the only milk that met the criteria. It's a house brand of a local supermarket chain in Singapore, SGD1.75 for one litre, considered one of the cheapest milk around.

Let's check out the nutrition information.


2) Ginger Juice
Always use juice from old ginger as old ginger contains more protease which is an important ingredient for the milk curd.


3) Temperature of Milk
Most of the sources I read suggest adding milk to ginger juice when its temperature is between 80C-85C. I do not own a thermometer so what I can do is to observe and guess but don't worry there is sign to look up for.

So here is what you need to make one serving of ginger milk curd.

What?

1) 150ml milk (min. fat content 3.8%)
2) 1 tbsp freshly extracted old ginger juice (How to extract ginger juice? Refer to
HERE)
3) 1 tbsp sugar

How?

1) Stir well ginger juice, measure 1 tbsp and add into the setting bowl.
2) Heat up the milk in a saucepan over low heat until tiny bubbles appear around the edge of the pan. Add sugar.
3) Turn the saucepan in circular motion to mix the sugar with milk (why not using a spoon to stir? I am not sure too I just follow the instruction in the Ytower video closely) .
4) Continue to cook the milk till bigger bubbles appear around the edge of the pan. Remove from heat.
5) At this point the milk temperature should be around 90C. Turn the saucepan in circular motion again for about 20 times.
6) Just before pouring the milk into the ginger juice, stir the ginger juice again (this is to prevent the powder aka protease from sinking at the bottom), pour the milk into the ginger juice bowl at once from high (Wendy suggested 6 inches above).
7) Cover the bowl, wait for 10 mins to set (the Ytower video said 3 mins but there are some sources mentioned 5 mins and some mentioned 10 mins, again “just in case”, I waited for 10 mins).
8) To test if milk curd is formed, leave a spoon on the surface, the spoon should float.


The moment of truth......

The spoon was floating!

I was very excited the moment I saw the spoon floating. I left the spoon on the surface for quite a while and it stayed put.

The milk curd was very soft and smooth. When eaten it was creamy and sort of like melt in the mouth. I like the taste too, very milky with strong ginger taste (so if you don't like ginger probably you will not like this dessert).

I was addicted to it. I had two servings on the same day, morning and afternoon. I craved for it again at night, if not that I was too lazy to extract ginger juice, I would have made this dessert the third time on the same day.

Note: I made this dessert again on the next day and I used brown sugar instead, it tasted even nicer. Yum yum!

21 comments:

  1. Congratulations, you made it! I don't, too bad..maybe I should try again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sonia,

    I saw ur post, the milk u used has lower fat content, look for the one with high fat content. 3.8g and above.

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just made this also, so coincidence ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cook.Bake.Love,
    I don't think the fat content is really that that crucial. Cos those from Hong Kong swear by Kowloon Dairy's Low Fat milk to do this.

    I think the most important this is use fresh milk.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I didn't succeed using full cream milk, and I think using old ginger is very crucial too, because I tried using young ginger and the curd I get is more to liquid side.

    ReplyDelete
  6. neyeeloh,

    I saw ur giger milk curd, your curd is very nice, very solid.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wendy,

    Thanks for sharing.

    It will be a good news to me if low-fat milk can also be used coz I actually prefer low-fat milk (I don't need any extra fat, haha!).

    When you said fresh milk, do you mean really 'fresh' milk? Is UHT fresh milk included?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Min,

    May be is the brand of the milk you used. I may try using fresh milk to make this again.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 姜汁撞奶是一个我一直觉得很神奇的甜品,我没有自己做过,只有在香港吃过。
    我之前做过的是姜汁炖蛋,
    蛋+牛奶+姜汁+糖 然后拿去蒸。
    因为有蛋,所以会凝固也不出奇。

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yuyu,

    现在你知道其中奥妙是时候动手了。

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Angel,

    I was afraid to try this since I saw many failure from various blog. It seems like a difficult recipe.

    However, I want to say that you motivated me to try after reading your detailed instructions and video (it really helps).

    Do you still remember that you teach me on full cream fresh milk (on Peach Panna Cotta).

    I used the Magnolia brand for this Ginger Milkcurd recipe with your instructions.

    IT WORKS!!! So happy... and it really tastes nice. Just want to share with you my excitement and joy when it works on my first try.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi hanushi,

    Congratulations! and thanks for sharing ur joy with me.

    Next time when I wanna do this again I will try Magnolia fresh milk.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi hi!!
    Thanks for sharing the recipe...
    I've tried this recipe ytd, failed thrice, and made it for the 4th time.
    Do u find it abit sweet? Maybe I don't have a sweet tooth..

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Coraine,

    U are welcome!

    I do think that it's a little to the sweet side but I afraid if reduce the sugar the milk curd may taste too hot (due to the ginger juice).

    ReplyDelete
  16. hi there. I'm in Aus and have succeeded making this dessert with low fat milk. I used this brand - Paul's Physical no fat milk.40percent extra calcium.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi Anonymous,

    Thanks for sharing with me.

    I went to supermarket in Singapore to look for the milk you mentioned but I couldn't find it. Instead, I found Pauls brand low fat milk, I am not sure if it is the same as what you have tried. I have gotten myself a pack and shall try it out one of these days.

    Shall share in my blog if I ever try. Once, thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I always inspired by you, your views and attitude, again, appreciate for this nice post.

    - Norman

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi Norman,

    This is the biggest compliment to me. Thank you.

    U have made day. :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi,
    Congratulations on ur success

    I've also tried using Magnolia UHT Fresh milk (Fat :3.7/100ml Protein:3.3/100ml)
    I think the milk temp and old ginger juice is crucial here.

    I make them again uses Dutch Lady Fresh Milk (both Protein and Fat 3.5/100ml) + 1 Tbs of milk powder (uses my daughter pediasure)

    The milk powder idea is from 'Sunflower Food Galore'

    The additional milk powder makes the ginger milk curd more firm, but still no where near the pudding firm

    http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m122/simonneho/baking_jan_2011/IMG_0007-1.jpg?t=1296053645

    ReplyDelete
  21. Simonne,

    Thanks for sharing the tips of adding extra milk powder.

    To me, your milk curd looks very firm. Mine is also not as firm as the usual pudding.

    ReplyDelete

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