How to make Tofu

For someone that had very little patience (so I'm told by my husband anyhow) I do seem to pick activities that require a lot of standing still and concentrating. Tofu making is one of those activities - you can't do it when in a rush - you need a good hour and lots and lots of stirring time while the beans boil. I find it quite meditative.

You will need two very big saucepans/stock pots (mine is about 10 litres); a colinder, some muslin/cheesecloth; a wooden spoon or, preferably, a silicone spatula. You will also need a stick blender or food processor, soya beans (obviously) and nigari. I get my nigari in flakes on eBay and then crush them into a finer powder before storing in a jar. This makes it easier to measure it out accurately. I also use a tofu press, again found cheaply on eBay. However the colinder I used to use works  fine too - you just don't get that nice block of tofu.

Here's how I make it:
1) soak 3 cups of beans in water for 8 hours (this makes about 500g of tofu but can be scaled up or down - this is the most I can fit in my saucepan!). Make sure they are well covered by water.

2) after 8 hours, add three litres (about 6 pints) of water and blend the hell out of them with the stick blender. You can do it in a food procesor (like most of the videos online) but I've found this works much easier.

3) put a colinder into another large pot and line with cheesecloth.

4) bring blended beans to the boil. This takes ages and will feel like an eternity. Stir constantly, and it will froth up right away but you'll know when it boils as it suddenly fills the volume of the pot. Whilst it's boiling use the spatula to break the surface tension of the bubbles to stop it frothing over. This photo is before it boiled:

This photo is after it began to boil:

5) once it's boiling, keep it on a low heat and steady boil for about 12 mins, stirring constantly still.

6) after 12 minutes take off the heat and drain through the lined colinder into the other saucepan. That is your milk, which is what we use to make tofu. The fibre from the beans (called okara) is what is left in the muslin and can be used for a whole range of foods so don't throw it away. It can take a while to drain it as it probably won't all fit in the colinder at first, you will need to drain, pour, drain, pour etc.

7) add 2 teaspoons of nigari to half a cup or so of water and very gently stir it in until the whey begins to separate from the curds. Stop stirring, cover and leave for 15 mins or so. It will look like this:

If it doesn't separate like this within a minute or so stop stirring and gently heat it again until it curdles - sometimes it takes so long to drain the okara it can go to cold to have the reaction.

8) in the meantime, line the colinder, or a tofu press, with cheesecloth. After 15 mins pour the curds into the colinder/press and drain off the whey. This might take a while as again you will have to pour, drain, pour, drain etc. This is my mould halfway through:

9) once all the curds are in the mould fold the cheesecloth over itself and either put the lid on the mould or put a plate onto the colinder. Press gently and then add a weight on top - I use a heavy pan with some water in.

10) after an hour or so you can use the tofu, pop it in the fridge (in a tub with water) or freeze for later use. Now you just need to find ways to use up the okara (I'll post some recipes for this soon!).