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Main ingredients Almond milk, water, gelling agent (usu. agar) Similar Apricot kernel, Mango pudding, Ebi chili, Tofu, Mapo doufu | ||
Annin tofu almond pudding recipe
Annin tofu (杏仁豆腐) is a soft, jellied dessert made of almond milk, agar, and sugar. It is a traditional dessert of Beijing cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Hong Kong cuisine, and Japanese cuisine. It is the Asian version of the blancmange.
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The name "tofu" here refers to "tofu-like solid"; soy beans, which are the main ingredient of tofu, are not used. This naming convention is also seen in other east Asian dishes, e.g. Chinese yudoufu (鱼豆腐), Japanese tamagodofu.
Although modern day Japanese call almond アーモンド(amondo) which is the phonetic translation of the English word "almond", the Japanese language also recognizes 杏仁 - Chinese characters for almond， pronounced "annin" in Japanese. This pronunciation is somewhat close to the Shanghainese pronunciation of the characters 杏仁(/ɦãȵin/).
Traditional recipe
In the traditional recipe, the primary ingredient are almonds, soaked and ground with water. The almond milk is extracted, sweetened, and heated with a gelling agent (usually agar). When chilled, the almond milk mixture solidifies to the consistency of a soft gelatin dessert.
Variations
Although the agar-based recipe is vegan, there are numerous nontraditional recipes that are not. Most are based on dairy products and a small amount of flavored extract. Gelatin is also a common substitute for agar.
Almond jelly can be made from scratch or using instant mix. There is an instant soy-based powder with a coagulating agent, which dissolves in hot water and solidifies upon cooling. One popular brand of mix is DoFu Delight.