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Ginkgo Barley (Fu Chok)
Ginkgo Barley (Fu Chok) Recipe
Make sure you buy the soft type of beancurd skin to make this dessert. The other type, which is harder and oilier, is more suitable for making savoury Chinese braises and stews.
Ingredients:
- 100 grams soft beancurd skin sheets (三边腐竹) soaked in water until soft
- 1800 ml water
- 50 grams barley (薏米) rinsed
- 3 pandan leaves tied to a knot
- 20 pitted red dates
- 100 grams canned or vacuum-packed (boiled and shelled) ginkgo nuts (白果)
- 130 grams rock sugar (冰糖) to taste
Directions:
- In a soup pot, add water, barley, pandan leaves and red dates. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes or until barley is soft.
- Add gingko nuts and soaked softened beancurd sheets (do not add the water used to soak the beancurd sheets), and continue simmering for another 10 minutes, or until the beancurd skin reached the consistency you like (big pieces or congee-like fine consistency; I like somewhere in between).
- Add rock sugar, stir until the sugar is fully dissolved. Discard pandan leaves. Serve warm or chilled.
Noob Cook Tips
- Get the finer type of barley, usually labelled as pearl barley. They are easier to cook and softer to eat.
- You can substitute gingko nuts with lotus nuts, or use a combination of both.
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where can I buy holland barley?
Can I use Pearl Barley instead?
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Hi!
I’ve a problem getting the beanskin to be soft & silky. After my first attempt years ago which had the beanskin dissolve to tiny bits (and soft), I tried again cooking this dessert several times & somehow the beanskin just doesn’t turn soft, no matter how long I cook it.
Sometimes I add it when the barley is half done, sometimes together at the start of the cooking process. The beanskin is still rubbery when everything is cooked. Could you help? What am I doing wrong? I’ve used the same brand as you do too…. Thanks so much!
I really have no idea since I don’t encounter it. Perhaps you want to try cooking this for several hours in the slow cooker?
Hi Rosalind! Not sure if you’d see this but I encountered the exact same problem, even cooking it for hours over the slow cooker, double boiler etc and I finally found the solution! *excited* I’m using the same brand of fu chok, and the key is not to soak the fu chok for too long, not even more than 3 minutes I believe. I tried soaking until it turned pale (5 minutes?) and by then, it’d be too rubbery when cooked. I soaked it overnight thinking maybe it have to be soaked longer but it was the same. So In fact, just rinse it to make sure it’s clean enough and it may be cooked directly in boiling water until the desired texture. I like it mushy so I put it in with the barley, hope this helps any others that face the rubbery fu chok problem!
So happy to read this. As I didnt have this problem with the hard crispy sheets but encountered this when I used the soft ones. So now i know. Thanks so much.
The problem. Might be due to the beancurb skin that you bought.
Buy the right kind of bean curd skin – not the ones for the soy sauce meat dish.
Soak for 3 min then put into the boiling barley.
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What kind of barley seeds are most suitable for this dish. I understand that there are a few kinds out there
Try holland barley, they cook fast. Read here for more info: https://noobcook.com/barley-water/
What brand of beancurd skin is good?