INTRODUCTION
Deep fried bean curd, more commonly known as “taupok”, is an ingredient widely used in local Chinese cooking. It is also an essential ingredient in local delicacies such as laksa, yong tou hoo and rojak.
Traditional production of deep fried bean curd is both a tedious and labor-intensive process. Workers have to start production very early in the morning, manually grind the soya beans, pour the soya milk into large drums for mixing with coagulant, transfer the bean curd block into trays, drain off excessive fluid, cut the block into small pieces, and finally fry the bean curd.
However, with the latest developments in processing technology, deep fried bean curds can now be produced through automated processes, reducing the time taken to half the manpower required, and enabling consistent production of safe and good quality products.
AUTOMATED PRODUCTION
Automated productions are managed and run by system software, thus reducing our reliance on manual manpower. Production begins with the soaking process, where raw soya beans are soaked in huge metal containers with inverted cylindrical funnels. These funnels lead to grinding machines, where the soaked beans are ground and pumped into sorters for extraction of the soya milk from the chaff, which is disposed of through mechanical dispensers. The soya milk is then channeled to cylindrical tanks, where coagulants are automatically added and mechanically mixed.
The coagulation process usually takes 15 minutes, after which the supernatant is removed. The mixture is then mechanically poured into metal trays for further draining of excessive fluid, setting, pressing and cutting into the standard shape and size. The cut bean curd is eventually transferred on conveyor belts to the fryer, where it is deep fried. After frying, the bean curd is eventually transported on conveyor belts for machine packaging and dispatch.