Chilled Rice Wine Milk Pudding | Finished with Slab Sugar Syrup and Osmanthus

Some desserts need nothing more than milk, a little rice wine, and patience.

Bing su lao (冰酥酪) is a chilled milk pudding that sets with rice wine instead of gelatine. It is steamed gently, cooled, and served cold, with a pour of slab sugar syrup and a scatter of osmanthus on top. The texture is soft enough to melt on the spoon.

The sugar

Slab Sugar Syrup (片糖漿) carries the mellow, rounded sweetness of Cantonese slab sugar in a ready-to-pour syrup. Raw Cane Sugar (原蔗糖) is golden and granular, with a clean cane sweetness.

The raw cane sugar goes into the milk while it warms, so the pudding itself is only lightly sweet. The slab sugar syrup goes on at the end. Its amber colour sits beautifully on the white pudding, and its gentle cane flavour works with the rice wine rather than covering it.

Shop Slab Sugar Syrup | Shop Raw Cane Sugar

What makes it work

Keep stirring while the milk warms, so it does not catch on the pan. Turn off the heat as soon as fine bubbles appear; boiling milk will form lumps. Let it cool before adding the rice wine, and strain it first so the finished pudding has no grain.

Cover the bowl with cling film and poke a few holes in it. This keeps steam from dripping onto the surface, so the top stays smooth. After steaming, leave the lid on for a few minutes before lifting it. A sudden change in temperature can make the pudding sink.

Recipe

Chilled Rice Wine Milk Pudding

Ingredients

• Milk 200g
• Ship Brand Raw Cane Sugar 10g
• Rice wine 85g
• Ship Brand Slab Sugar Syrup 10g
• Dried osmanthus 2g

Method

1. Warm the milk with the raw cane sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves.
2. Turn off the heat as soon as fine bubbles appear around the edge. Let the milk cool.
3. Strain the cooled milk to remove any skin.
4. Add the rice wine and stir well.
5. Cover the bowl with cling film and poke a few holes in it.
6. Bring the water in the steamer to a gentle simmer, put the bowl in, and steam over low heat for 12 minutes.
7. Turn off the heat and leave the lid on for 3 to 5 minutes before opening.
8. Let the pudding cool, then chill for at least 3 hours.
9. To serve, pour over the slab sugar syrup and scatter the dried osmanthus.

Closing

Served cold and only lightly sweet, with the scent of osmanthus drifting over the top. A spoonful of it is a quiet pleasure on a warm afternoon.

Ship Brand (帆船牌) is the retail line of Yuen Tung Sugar Factory Industrial Company Limited. Sugar refined in Hong Kong since 1987. Shop the collection.