Making Tofu

From all-creatures.org
Vegan - Vegetarian Recipe Book

How Mary and Frank and Friends Eat

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Making Tofu

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups Soybeans
2 tbsp. Lemon Juice
OR
2 tbsp. Vinegar, distilled white

Preparation

(Step - 1) We find that a large part of the joy of cooking is experimenting with new recipes. Making tofu was one of them.  Making your own tofu this way is about 1/3 to 1/4 the cost of buying tofu in the store, and it is wonderful for any tofu recipe that does not call for sliced or the actual block of tofu.  To learn more about soybeans, see Soybeans in our ingredient section.

This recipe will make the equivalent of two 1 lb. blocks of firm tofu.

We begin the evening before we want to make tofu with measuring 1-1/2 cups of the soy bean and place them in a colander for cleaning and washing.
(Step - 2) Place the cleaned and washed soybeans in a bowl or pot, and add 1 quart (4 cups) of water. Cover, and place in the refrigerator over night.
(Step - 3) As the soybeans soak in water, they begin to swell.
(Step - 4) By morning the beans have doubled in size and are ready for being made into tofu.
(Step - 05) Place a colander in the sink and pour the soaked beans and water into it to drain off the water.  Then rinse the soaked soybeans thoroughly under running cold water, and let drain.
(Step - 06) Place the soaked and rinsed soybeans in the container of a high speed blender, and add 4 cups of cold water.
(Step - 07) Cover the container, and run the blender at high speed until the contents are creamy smooth (about 1-1/2 to 2 minutes).

(Step - 08) Pour the contents of the blender container into a large pot for cooking on the stovetop or into a large bowl (at least 4 quarts) if cooking in a microwave oven.

(Step - 09) In cooking in a pot on the stove top, heat soy "milk" slowly to boiling with occasional stirring to prevent sticking. When it begins to boil, lower the heat to simmer.  As it begins to boil, it will get thicker and become foamy.  If you are cooking in the microwave oven use high heat and watch continually to make sure it does not boil over (when it foams up to near the top of bowl, stir until it settles).

(Step - 10) Once the soy "milk" begins to boil, cook for another 15 minutes and you will see the tofu beginning to form a thick paste.

(Step - 11) Add the lemon juice or vinegar and mix thoroughly to get the tofu curds to form.  Remove from the heat.

(Step - 12) If you want the tofu thicker for use in making a Pizza - Tofu "Cream" Sauce, let the tofu cool and some of the liquid will drain out.  If making something like a tofu scramble, this step is not necessary.

(Step - 13) This is the 4 quart microwaveable bowl that we use to cook and mix the tofu.  In this example, we did not let the tofu cool and drain, but just added turmeric and nutritional yeast in preparation for making a tofu scramble.

Ingredients Information


Lemon Juice, Reconstituted

Soybeans

Vinegar, Distilled White

Utensils and Equipment Information


Bowls, Glass Baking, Mixing, and Serving

Colander

Measuring Cups, Dry

Measuring Cup, Liquid

Measuring Spoons

Pot, Glass

Pot, Large Stainless Steel

Spoon, Large Mixing

Vita-Mix
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