Lately I’ve become addicted to this dessert called 金瓜糊 (Jingua Hu�literally translated it means “golden melon cream paste”). Until I saw this interesting dessert selling at a dessert stall near my office about two months ago, I had never seen nor heard of it.
This dessert stall that I patronise on a regular basis (on an even more regular basis now ‘cos I’m just SO addicted) introduced this dessert not too long ago. Its attractive orange-gold colouring (because of the pumpkin puree) caught my eye one day and instead of buying Tau Suan I decided to give this a try. Well, I was very keen on trying it also because I love pumpkin!
If you�re a fellow lover of pumpkin, I guarantee you�ll like this dessert. It is pumpkin puree filled with bits of maize, water chestnut, pumpkin and sweet potato. Small beads of sago are also added to smoothen the texture.
The dessert’s rich mix of colours�the attractive golden orange of the pumpkin, the bright yellow of maize, the tangerine coloured sweet potato and the ivory of the water chestnut�is like a lovely sunset drawing viewers to its beauty.
The mish-mesh of textures is also something I like. Savour the smooth pumpkin sliding down your throat, hear the crunch of the water chestnuts as you bite into the bits, sink your teeth into the soft, small cubes of sweet potato and pumpkin, and pay attention to the sweet taste of the maize as you chew upon it.
According to the stall owner whom I struck up a conversation with because she had begun to notice my regular visits to buy 金瓜糊, this dessert requires a lot of work.
First you have to steam the pumpkin and straight after it is steamed, you have to puree it or else it will harden. And if it does so, the puree won�t be smooth. This has to be done very fast. After which you�ll have to add all the bits of sweet potato, water chestnut, maize, additional pumpkin, and sago. All of which need preparation time to cut and cook as well. In total, she says it requires about two hours of cooking time, which is much more time-consuming compared to the other desserts she prepares and sells. Because of its long preparation time, she only sells金瓜糊 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
I have yet to see this dessert being sold anywhere else, or if anyone knows of another place, please let me know so that I can go try it!
Soon Huat Desserts
Address: Golden Bridge (金桥), Shenton Way, Singapore
p.s. Their Tau Suan is very good too! And the bridge isn’t as grand as it sounds. In fact, it is a very old bridge! But it has good food, and that’s all that matters. Hehheh.