Making your own Tofu

[Guest guest]

Since I don't get tofu easily, I thought about making my own. Athens

has a few so-called 'health shops' that slowly start selling tofu and

vegetarian/vegan products, but they stock three or four packs at a

time and are often sold out.

I could get soy beans cheaper in larger portions from one importer,

and the idea of having soft tofu as well is more than tempting.

I have looked at a lot of websites and it all does seem to be more fun

than hard work.

Now, the nigari. I asked around, and everybody gave me this:

you-must-be-a-foreigner look.

One can also use calcium sulfate or magnesium chloride, which I'll

probably get at a pharmacy, but I also read, that you can take lemon

juice (1/4 cup lemon juice dissolved in 1 cup water) or Epsom salt.

How confusing is that!

Has anyone made tofu at home and what do you use?

Gabriella

[Guest guest]

Yes, I made tofu at home, using lemon juice. I used the Homemade Tofu recipe in

the Book of Tofu by Shurtleff and Aoyagi, 1975. The proportion they give is 4

tablespoons of fresh lemon juice or 3 tablespoons of vinegar (preferably from

apple cider) for 1.5 cups of dry soybeans. The recipe says that using lemon

juice or vinegar gives a stubtly tart tofu but my experience using (probably

bottled) lemon juice was that the tartness was subtle to the point of being

imperceptible. It was not hard, I did it with the children on a school holiday

and the resulting tofu was excellent. The only reason we didn't continue was

that using our largest pot, the amount of tofu produced was barely enough for a

meal. However, if you lack another source of tofu, you probably can find a

really big pot.

 

The Book of Tofu also includes recipes for using the dry ground soybeans that

are a byproduct of tofu making.

 

Shoshana

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

From what I understand, tofu can be very temperamental, and is very difficult to

make.  Perhaps there is an Asian market (Chinese or Japanese) where you may be

able to find tofu.

 

As an alternative, you can use seitan (also know as wheat-meat).  It can be used

in stir fries, sandwiches, etc.

 

Here is a recipe that I have from another group, that was modified from Vegan

with a Vengence:

 

Seitan

 

2 c. vital wheat gluten flour

1/4 c. nutritional yeast

2 tbsp. flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour and it turned out fine)

1 c. cold water or vegetable broth

1/2 c. soy sauce, tamari or Braggs

1 tbsp. tomato paste (skipped this 'cause i didn't have any)

1 tbsp. oil

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 tsp. lemon zest

 

Combine flours and yeast in one bowl and all other ingredients in another. Make

a well in the flour and stir in wet ingredients. Knead about five minutes. Let

dough rest while you combine 12 c. of cold water or broth with  another 1/2

c.bragg's or soy sauce in a large pot

roll dough into a log about 10 inches long and cut into 6 pieces of about equal

size. Place pieces in cold broth bring to a boil, then simmer on low, partially

covered, for 1 hour. Turn off heat and cool for at least 1 hour, but preferably

cool completely before using it so that it's very firm.

 

--- On Wed, 2/18/09, Gabriella <gabriella_kapsaski wrote:

 

Gabriella <gabriella_kapsaski

Making your own Tofu

 

Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 3:07 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I don't get tofu easily, I thought about making my own. Athens

has a few so-called 'health shops' that slowly start selling tofu and

vegetarian/vegan products, but they stock three or four packs at a

time and are often sold out.

I could get soy beans cheaper in larger portions from one importer,

and the idea of having soft tofu as well is more than tempting.

I have looked at a lot of websites and it all does seem to be more fun

than hard work.

Now, the nigari. I asked around, and everybody gave me this:

you-must-be- a-foreigner look.

One can also use calcium sulfate or magnesium chloride, which I'll

probably get at a pharmacy, but I also read, that you can take lemon

juice (1/4 cup lemon juice dissolved in 1 cup water) or Epsom salt.

How confusing is that!

Has anyone made tofu at home and what do you use?

Gabriella

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Wonderful, thank you, Shoshana! I am glad it works with lemon juice,

because the idea of using something chemical did indeed bother me.

I think I'll start wih a normal' portion first before we take the

really big pot.

Gabriella

[Guest guest]

Thank you, Robin. Yes, I have made seitan in the past, but from

scratch. I use plain, cheap flour, usually one bag of a kilo (2

pounds) and apart from two, three times where everything fell apart, I

have had very good results.

(There are several pages online, for example

http://forkable.blogspot.com/2008/07/courtesy-of-toliveandeatinla.html)

I have tried to add spices as well, but since you have to cook the

seitan before you use it, I put spices directly into the cooking

water, which we use as broth for soups afterwards.

I like it eventually, but think seitan is a bit heavy on the stomach.

Non-vegetarians are always amazed however, that the chicken is not

chicken at all.

Gabriella

[Guest guest]

I always make my own seitan.  I follow the basic recipe on the arrowhead mills

vital wheat gluten box.  Then the fun starts.  You can add whatever you'd like

for flavor.  I add it to the broth.  In addition to the basic broth I add:

 

tamari

braggs

natural hickory smoke flavor-vegan

red wine

garlic

kombu

sesame oil

ginger

 

delicious!!!!!

 

marcia

 

 

--- On Wed, 2/18/09, robin koloms <rkoloms wrote:

 

robin koloms <rkoloms

Re: Making your own Tofu

 

Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 5:31 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

From what I understand, tofu can be very temperamental, and is very difficult to

make.  Perhaps there is an Asian market (Chinese or Japanese) where you may be

able to find tofu.

 

As an alternative, you can use seitan (also know as wheat-meat).  It can be used

in stir fries, sandwiches, etc.

 

Here is a recipe that I have from another group, that was modified from Vegan

with a Vengence:

 

Seitan

 

2 c. vital wheat gluten flour

1/4 c. nutritional yeast

2 tbsp. flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour and it turned out fine)

1 c. cold water or vegetable broth

1/2 c. soy sauce, tamari or Braggs

1 tbsp. tomato paste (skipped this 'cause i didn't have any)

1 tbsp. oil

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 tsp. lemon zest

 

Combine flours and yeast in one bowl and all other ingredients in another. Make

a well in the flour and stir in wet ingredients. Knead about five minutes. Let

dough rest while you combine 12 c. of cold water or broth with  another 1/2

c.bragg's or soy sauce in a large pot

roll dough into a log about 10 inches long and cut into 6 pieces of about equal

size. Place pieces in cold broth bring to a boil, then simmer on low, partially

covered, for 1 hour. Turn off heat and cool for at least 1 hour, but preferably

cool completely before using it so that it's very firm.

 

--- On Wed, 2/18/09, Gabriella <gabriella_kapsaski@ .co. uk> wrote:

 

Gabriella <gabriella_kapsaski@ .co. uk>

[Vegetarian_ Jewish_Cuisine] Making your own Tofu

Vegetarian_Jewish_ Cuisine@gro ups.com

Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 3:07 AM

 

Since I don't get tofu easily, I thought about making my own. Athens

has a few so-called 'health shops' that slowly start selling tofu and

vegetarian/vegan products, but they stock three or four packs at a

time and are often sold out.

I could get soy beans cheaper in larger portions from one importer,

and the idea of having soft tofu as well is more than tempting.

I have looked at a lot of websites and it all does seem to be more fun

than hard work.

Now, the nigari. I asked around, and everybody gave me this:

you-must-be- a-foreigner look.

One can also use calcium sulfate or magnesium chloride, which I'll

probably get at a pharmacy, but I also read, that you can take lemon

juice (1/4 cup lemon juice dissolved in 1 cup water) or Epsom salt.

How confusing is that!

Has anyone made tofu at home and what do you use?

Gabriella