[net.veg] how to make tofu

see1@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Cavewoman) (07/25/85)

>From: asente@Cascade.ARPA
>
>... "well, you can use store-bought tofu if you REALLY need to but you
>should really make it yourself."
>
>	-paul asente

And to that end, I am including a recipe (!!) for tofu.  _I_ have no
intention of making the stuff, but maybe some of you out there are more
adventurous than I am.  I ran across it in a religious magazine my mother 
sends me -- printed without disclaimers of "used with permission" -- but 
it is apparently from _The_Book_of_Tofu_ by Shurtleff and Aoyagi (Ballan-
tine, 1979).


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HOMEMADE TOFU

You will need the following utensils:  a blender, meat grinder, or mortar 
to crush the soaked soybeans so as to form a puree.  Two large cooking pots
of at least 6- to 8-qt. capacity, with lids.  A colander that will fit into
the cooking pots.  Cheesecloth or clean dishcloth about 2 ft. (60cm) square.
A settling container, although the cheesecloth can be used, making the fin-
ished product ball-shaped.  (If you want to, you can make a special settling 
container 4 inches (10 cm) by seven inches (18 cm) --inside measurements--
with drain holes and a lid that will fit inside and can be weighted to press
the tofu into a rectangular block.)  A wooden spoon, a rubber spatula, mea-
suring cups and spoons, a ladle, and a potato masher or strong glass bottle
for pressing will round out your set of utensils.

Wash and then soak one and a half cups of soybeans in 6 cups of water for 10
hours.  Rinse and then drain them.

You will now need 16 cups of water and a coagulant.  In Japanese it is nigari,
or bittern.  Other commonly used coagulants are:  calcium sulfate, calcium
chloride, magnesium chloride.   The first is the most common.  Lemon or vine-
gar can be used, with the result that the tofu will be slightly tart. Experi-
menting with the different coagulants will enable you to find what suits your
taste.

The making of tofu has been divided into eight steps.  It might be wise for
you to read this over several times before attempting to follow it.

STEP ONE:  Heat seven and a half cups of water in a cooking pot.

STEP TWO:  Divide the soybeans into two portions and blend each into puree 
with two cups of water (using blender, grinder or mortar) and pour into water
being heated.  Continue heating, stirring frequently until foam rises in the
cooking pot.  [A] Remove from heat and pour into pressing cloth (cheesecloth)
in colander placed in other cooking pot.  [B] Rinse the first cooking pot.

STEP THREE:  Folding over the pressing cloth and using the potato masher or
bottle, press out as much of the soymilk as possible.  [C] Return the pulp to
the cooking pot and add three cups of water.  Stir well and empty into press-
ing cloth again, and squeeze out all the soymilk.  [D] Put the pulp into the
cooking pot and set aside.

STEP FOUR:  Measure two teaspoons of coagulant and put this into a dry 1-cup
measure and set aside.  If you use lemon juice or vinegar, it should be four
and three tablespoons, respectively.

STEP FIVE:  Bring the soymilk to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook it for five
to seven minutes.  Remove it from heat.

STEP SIX:  Add one cup of water to coagulant, stirring to dissolve it.  [E] 
Stir the soymilk with to-and-fro movements five or six times, and at the same
time add one third of the coagulant and give the mixture one more stir.  After
it has settled, sprinkle one-third cup of coagulant over the soymilk.  Cover 
the cooking pot and wait three minutes.  Sprinkle the final third cup of the
coagulant over the soymilk.  Stir slowly the upper one-half-inch (1.3 cm) layer
of thickened, curdling milk for 20 seconds.  Cover the pot and wait another 3
minutes.  Finally, stir the surface layer for 30 seconds or until all the milky
liquid curdles.

STEP SEVEN:  Place the pot next to the settling container.  Carefully ladle 
curds one layer at a time into the settling container.  [F] Fold the edges of
lining cloth over the curds and place lid on cloth.  [G] Weight it with a one-
half to one-and-one-half pound weight for 10-15 minutes or until the whey no
longer drips out.  [H]

STEP EIGHT:  Fill sink with water.  After removing weight, immerse settling 
container holding tofu into water.  [I] Remove from container while in the
water, and set container aside.  Keeping it under water, unfold cloth from
tofu.  Allow tofu to remain under water a few minutes until firm.  You can
cut it into serving pieces under water.  If you do not plan to use it right
away, keep it in the refrigerator -- but change the water every day.  [J]

Now you are ready to use your homemade tofu.

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NOTE:  I just typed this whole article in before I realized what the [A] and
succeeding letters referred to -- there were sketches of those steps accom-
panying the article (which I won't attempt to reproduce here :-).  There is
also a chart which may be of interest:

Percentage of original soybean protein contained in byproducts...

  Whole dry soybeans :  100%
  Okara (pulp)  :      - 17%
  --------------------------  
  Soymilk :              83%
  Whey :               -  9%
  --------------------------
  Curds :                74%
  Soaking water :      -  0.5%
  --------------------------
  Final tofu :           73.5%


Enjoy, and please drop me a note if this turns out to be edible...

--
 Ellen Keyne Seebacher
 ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!see1                     
 x9.xes%UChicago.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.arpa