Gingko, Barley, Bean Curd – Chinese Dessert
In Chinese cuisine, we don’t really have that many gooey puddings and at the end of banquets, a sweet soup is usually served with something of a different texture like red bean or louts seed paste pancakes or little buns. At weddings, they would usually serve a version of either a red bean soup or something with with lotus seeds served with some sweet buns made with lotus seed paste in the shape of a peach. Every item on the menu is symbolic, like lotus seed is for fertility, the colour red is for luck and the peach is for longevity.
This is one of the many different Chinese desserts and I used to have this in the wet markets in KL for breakfast and sometimes make it at home for tea. In Chinese food, every single food dish has a medicinal value. This one is a Yin dish and is meant to be cooling, an antidote to the hot weather or to balance to a Yang or heaty meal.
Gingko nut, bean curd and barley dessert
Ingredients
1 pack of gingko nuts ( or sometimes you can get them in cans)
1 generous handful of dried barley
100g of dried bean curd sheets ( nothing like tofu just in case you were wondering), crushed into small pieces
rock sugar to taste
Optional egg
Method:
Boil the barley in about 6-8 mugs of water. This recipe does not have to be exact, just add or subtract ingredients to taste. Boil for about 30 – 45 mins or until the barley is soft. Then add the gingko and crushed bean curd sheets. Boil for another 15 minutes until the bean curd is soft and melting. Finally, beat the egg and swirl it into the boiling put, like making egg drop soup.
Serve hot.

Ahh, thanks for this, reminded me of when my mum used to make it for us when we were kids. Egg compulsory in my case 🙂