FRESH TOFU USING LIQUID NIGARI (Part 1)
FRESH SOY MILK (Part 1 of the two-part Tofu Recipe)
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Category
Ingredient
Cuisine
asian, vegan
Fresh soy milk is delicious and is the base ingredient for making our homemade tofu. You need to
allow for time to complete the process as dry soy beans require at least 8 hrs to soak, depending
on ambient room temperature (the colder it is, the longer it takes for the beans to plump up). The
actual cooking and pressing also require constant attention, but the resulting product is far
superior to processed soy milk.
This recipe is developed by Chef Trystan Petrash (Ontario, Canada)
Ingredients
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Colander or fine mesh strainer
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Heavy bottom pot such as cast iron Dutch oven
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Blender
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Cheese Cloth
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170 g/6oz raw dried soy beans
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8 cups cold filtered water
Equipment
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the raw (not roasted) dried soy beans in 8 cups cold filtered water overnight or until they split apart easily and look smooth on the inside.
Stirring in a figure 8 motion add 1 tsp of Nigari and continue to stir for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and cover with a lid. Allow to sit for 5 min.
Remove the lid, add the last tsp of Nigari while stirring in a figure 8 motion. Cover and let sit for 10min.
Line the tofu mold with muslin cloth adding a touch of water to allow the cloth to stick to the sides of the mold and place inside a baking dish to allow whey to drain out.
Carefully ladle curd into mold a little bit at a time allowing whey to drain out before adding more.
After all curd has been placed in the mold, gently tap the mold to even the curd out and dispel air bubbles. Gently fold over the sides of the muslin cloth until the tofu is fully covered.
Place mold cover on top and add a small weight, like an aluminum can, this will help to drain excess whey.
The longer the tofu sits in the mold the firmer it will be. Allow at least 12 hours for a medium tofu and 1-2 days for firm to extra firm. Following this recipe, our yield was 340g, roughly 12 oz of very firm tofu.
Recipe Note
- Yield should be 7.5 -8 cups plus 150-170g/5-6oz okari (soybean pulp).
- Soy milk is thick compared to nut milks and will take longer to strain through a cloth bag/sieve.
- Fresh soy milk heated to an almost boil is required to make firm (block) tofu so we recommend proceeding with making the tofu recipe immediately after making the soy milk.
- To make silken tofu, you will need to cool down/almost chill the soy milk before adding the nigari, and then pouring the mixture straight into molds that will go directly in a steamer (no pressing involved).
- Fresh soy milk will keep 3-5 days in the fridge (to drink).
