Home-made Tofu

Homemade Tofu

I've been trying for a few months now to buy tofu from the tiny Chinese shop here in Modena - sans succès. They get their tofu from another Chinese shop somewhere else and during the warmer months, they can't sell it fast enough causing much wastage from spoilage. Out of desperation I've decided to make my own Tofu, using homemade soy bean milk and Nigari (bitter sea salt) bought from the organic food store here.

Homemade Soybean Milk

If you are thinking of using a shortcut with store-bought soybean milk, forget it. I have tried using even the organic ones and they don't work - principally because the content of soy in the milk is too low. In fact, the soybean milk we buy in bricks contain very very little soy, it's best to make your own.

Basically you need to boil (e.g. 1 litre) soy milk and then let it cool down to between 75°C and 85°C. Dissolve 2 Tsp of the Nigari in 200ml of warm water and pour it in a big bowl. In one go, and at about 30cm above the bowl, pour the soybean milk in the bowl and let the mixture set for 5-10 minutes.

Curd formation

Prepare your tofu moulds lining them with clean cheesecloths. I didn't have the fancy stuff so I used plastic boxes that the supermarkets sold their fruit in. They just need to have holes in them for the drainage. If you want to offer me something next, I could do with a small wooden tofu mould :-).

Drainage in the mould

Scoop the soy curd into the moulds and fold the ends of the cheesecloth over them. Put some weight on top and let it sit for between 25 and 35 minutes depending on how firm you want your tofu to be. Nigari is a little bitter so you may want to rinse your tofu before consuming it. The Japanese usually use this while the Chinese prefer calcium sulfate (gypsum) which has the added advantage of containing calcium, of course. And I think it also gives a better result than Nigari when home-made as it makes bigger curd. You can also use lemon juice and will need to add it in (e.g. 2 Tsp) without diluting it in water and to do it when the soybean milk is about 40°C.

Texture is similar to the organic tofu they sell at NaturaSi here

If not consuming this tofu immediately, keep it in an airtight container and immerse the tofu in water that has to be changed daily. Home-made tofu doesn't keep for very long since it doesn't contain any preservatives. Truth be told I prefer the tofu we find in Singapore supermarkets. I didn't like the texture of my tofu. Will have to work on it, I guess.

Meanwhile I have just finished a 20-chapter Hong Kong TV series (War of the In-Laws 2) starring Liza Wang. I must say that nothing is better than watching a show in Cantonese. And I still prefer the veteran actors as the new generation of HK actors look weird and can't act as well. 4 more days to go be fore the Hub comes home. Just 4 more days of playing the zombie in front of the computer.

PS : If you're very hardworking you can also make your own soybean sheet...It's just the layer that forms on the top of the soybean milk as you are heating it.