Last updated on February 8th, 2024 at 02:56 am
Tofu is used in many recipes – be it Asian cosine or vegetarian dishes worldwide. In Austria we typically buy it wrapped in plastic. Had I known, how easy it is to make tofu at home, I’d have stopped buying it at a supermarket long ago.
Ingredients:
- 1kg soybeans (without shell and skin)
- 2 tblsp of MgSO4 OR 6-7 tblsp of lime and ½ tblsp of salt
Additionally, you need a sieve, a blender, a big pot, a piece of cloth and a bowl or plate.
Step 1: Soak the beans for 3-4hrs, make sure not to let them soak for too long, as you will get less tofu out of it in the end.
Step 2: Using the sieve, drain the water and wash the beans. This is important to get rid of the smell of the starting fermentation.
Step 3: Put beans into your blender until it is half-full, then fill it up with water. After blending them, put the mass on your cloth over the pot and knead it, until all the liquid is in the pot.
Step 4: Put the hard leftovers on your cloth back into the blender. This time use less water, the mass should be completely covered though. For easier kneading afterwards, you might want to put more water. Drain the liquid through the cloth again, then put the hard leftovers into a bowl. They can be used later as additional texture in a cake or make really good compost. But for the sake of making tofu, they are waste.
Step 5: Repeat step 3 and 4 until you have no beans left. This can be quite time intensive, I’d recommend having a second person there, so one can operate the blender and one can work on the cloth. Prepare for sticky fingers!
Step 6: Cook the collected liquid. Stir regularly to avoid burning. Remove most of the foam from the top, you don’t need to be overly precise here, just get the big junk of it.
Step 7: If you want to, you can remove some of the soy milk once its boiling. Up to this step, this is what you have created. Your own soymilk. Isn’t that cool?!
Step 8: Dissolve the MgSo4 or lime and salt in some hot water, then add it to the soymilk. This will lead to the protein separating from the water.
Step 9: Reduce the heat and check if the water has turned clean. If it hasn’t, you need to add more acid as described in step 8. If it has, it is time to put your tofu through the cloth one last time, though now, no sqeezing is required. Simply let most of the water seep through the cloth, then place the tofu, still inside the cloth, into a container with two floors, so it will not be lying directly in the water that slowly trickles out. To increase the firmness of the tofu you can place something heavy on top of it. Let it drain for about 20 minutes.
Voila, you have made your own tofu! It can be stored in some water in the fridge for about a week, for longer storage it has to be put into the freezer. Who would have guessed, that making tofu is that easy? And you even get some fresh soymilk without any extra steps! I imagine in Austria the hardest step is to buy soybeans – have you ever tried to buy them in Austria? Do you know, which stores hold them? Let me know in the comments below!
Are you unsure, what to do with your tofu? Check out our other recipes, especially the Pad Thai one for the ultimate Thai experience!
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