Beancurd Skin Expert

By HAH FOONG LIAN

BEANCURD skin producer Goh Chin Leng is a hit among his friends as a karaoke singer, crooning love songs at restaurants at Bercham in Ipoh during the night.

But by day, the 68-year-old Goh slaves away over trays of soya milk to produce beancurd skins for a living at his factory in Jalan Bercham.

Using wood fire to heat up the milk, Goh, who has been in the business for the past 40 years, and his workers produce beancurd skins from some 500kg of soya beans a day.

“We soak the beans for at least six hours and we start producing the skins from 8am to 5pm,” said Goh, who learnt the art of making the skins from his late uncle.

He said he and his workers would start work at 6am to grind the soya beans into a paste and to squeeze out the soya milk.


'Skin' specialist: With his 40 years of experience, Goh Chin Leng knows the art of making beancurd skins like the back of his hand.

After that, they will pour the soya milk into trays for boiling. Layers of beancurd skin then appear on top of the milk, which Goh will remove to be dried under a fan.

However, he said the beancurd skins could not be made on rainy days because it would not be hot enough to dry them well.

“If the skins are not well dried, they will turn bad,” said Goh, who does not use preservatives to make the skins.

Goh said the beancurd skins that he produced were supplied to regular customers around the city.

“I have my regular customers who will come here to pick up the beancurd skins every day. They like the skins fresh from the pot,” he added.

The beancurd skins are used in vegetarian dishes, desserts or to make various types of fish paste products.

Goh said his customers liked to wrap fish paste with the beancurd skins because they would be crispy after frying.

On why the beancurd skins he makes are popular among customers in Ipoh, Goh said: “Just use first grade soya beans and make sure the soya milk is thick.”