Foody Mommy: Ginger Milk Curd (NO EGG) / 薑汁撞奶

I'm very fond of custards! This is a Hong Kong dessert which is silky soft like bean curd if made just right. All you need is old ginger, milk and sugar. No, actually you also need a grater and a candy thermometer, which unfortunately my domestic help broke recently (after I'd just used it for this recipe).

Anyway...

Basically, grate a knob of OLD ginger (I use plastic grater with big round holes surrounded by "teeth") & squeeze for 1T of juice. Put juice in a ramekin.

Microwave ½ C full-cream (at least 3.8% protein) milk for ~1 min or boil on stove till small bubbles appear. I find that Meiji fresh milk works very well. Add 1-2 tsp sugar (to taste). Cool to 80C - 85C. If you have no thermometer, when it is frothing & giving off steam (no need full boil), take it off the fire, add sugar & stir it ~20 times ... it will be about the right temperature.

Just before pouring into ramekin, stir up the ginger juice (it would have separated into juice & starchy white sediment). Pour milk into prepared ramekin from a slight height of maybe 6" above table (takes a bit of skill not to make a mess!) then cover it & wait for it to set undisturbed - it should take just 5 mins.

Note: the set is extremely soft & fragile, not like bean curd or custard or even set yoghurt. Apparently this is it! If you get the very firm version at those HK cafes, it's probably steamed egg white custard with ginger juice instead. Speaking of which ... if your ginger milk curd did not set, all is not lost. Simply stir it up and beat in an egg (or 2 egg whites). Microwave on 10% (defrost) for 12 minutes. Voila! A nice, silky Chinese ginger custard :-)