This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 10:20 am and is filed under Soy Recipes, Tofu. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The hardest part of making tofu is making the soymilk. And now even that is easy with a Soyabella Soymilk Maker.
1. Make the Soymilk
Just set the milk screen in the utility cup, pour in a measure cup of beans, add water and let soak overnight (6 to 8 hours). The beans swell to 3 times their original size to make a rich milk.
Lift the milk screen out and drain the water, attach it to the motor head, put water in the pot and lower the head assembly into the pot. Push the milk button and in 15 minutes you have soymilk.
2. Filter the Soymilk
Pour the milk through some cheese cloth or a fine mesh metal coffee filter to filter out the okara (bean pulp). I save the okara from this and the milk screen for other recipes. You can use it very much like you would tofu. Each pot gives you about 1/2 cup okara.
3. Stir in the Coagulator
Pour the filtered soymilk into a bowl so that you can stir in the coagulator or tofu starter. Prepare the coagulator by dissolving it into a small amount of water. You may want to experiment with different types. Here I’ve used 1 tsp of Magnesium Malate Powder in 1/2 cup water.
Slowly pour the coagulate solution into the soymilk while stirring. When you have half or more of the solution mixed in, stop pouring and wait a bit. Add just a little at a time until the soymilk looks like a paste. That’s it, stop, even if you have coagulator solution left over.
4. Line the Tofu Mold
Dampen the cheesecloth that came with the Tofu Kit and line the tofu box. Set the box on a dish or collecting surface. There will be liquid forced out through the openings in the mold.
5. Pour the Soymilk Mixture into Mold
Pour the tofu mixture into the lined mold. This mold box seems very small when you look at the amount of mixture in the bowl. But I assure you, it will fit. This box has been sized for one pot of soymilk. As you pour, liquid will start draining through the cheesecloth. Give it a little time to settle and you’ll fill it all the way to the top.
6. Cover Tofu with Cheesecloth
The cheesecloth with this kit is larger than it needs to be. So when you fold it over to close the top, you may not want to fold all sides. Too much cloth makes it difficult to fit the lid into the mold. So I only fold over two of the sides and leave the rest hanging out.
Now it’s time to weight it down and put some pressure on the mixture to form the tofu. So I stack my balancing act. You can find what you have that works for you.
7. Place Weight on Top of Tofu Press
I start with a can of soup and then stack a couple hand weights on top of that. My pile makes about 4 pounds. In 2 hours I have a soft to medium tofu block. In 4 hours it’s getting closer to firm.
The length of time this part takes is really dependent upon the amount of weight. A block of tofu could be complete in half an hour if you could place 20 to 30 pounds on it. So whatever rig you come up with, you’ll want to keep notes on your time schedules for soft, medium and firm tofu blocks.
8. Remove, Unwrap, Enjoy!
And as you can see from the picture of this block of tofu, I didn’t take much time with my cheesecloth liner. If you want a nice smooth looking block, you’ll want to make sure your cheesecloth is wet so you can smooth it out in the box before you start pouring in the tofu mixture.
That’s it. A fresh block of tofu. I was amazed at how much better it tasted than the store-bought. If you aren’t going to use it right away, place it in a container surrounded with water. Change the water each day until you use it and use it within seven days. Or, of course, you can freeze it.