Tofu!

[thistlebloom]

Come on Steve! If you can grow, harvest and make tofu from soybeans , yogurt you could do one handed and blindfolded! My dad always made yogurt from our goats milk and mom made soft cheese and ice cream. But I'm just sayin', if my dad(God bless him), was successful .....!

 

[flowerbug]

i didn't see this thread but this gives me a good reason to bump it.

when i've made soy milk in the past, after grinding the beans up into as fine a mess as possible i've always cooked it like that before straining it. this way i'm extracting the most i can from those beans and the resulting cooked bean particles are edible. i've enjoyed eating those too or using them for things (including worm farm food of course!). saving an extra step of having to bake them.

about the only difference or concern in the process is making sure to not burn them as they settle to the bottom of the cooking pot.

considering the price of soy milk at the store this was a great way to offset some expense, but i eventually stopped drinking soy milk. not for any health reason, but i ended up not growing soybeans any more. i had such a huge crop one season that i never used all of them up via making soymilk/tofu but eventually they all got used up by putting them in the buckets for the worm farm (at the beginning of the season i'd put a nice layer of them on the bottom of the bucket where they'd ferment and then turn into prime worm food.

i used lemon juice as my coagulant.

 

[digitS']

Oh, bother.

Those pictures would be a bother to replace. I believe that it was an eastern European investment outfit that bought photobucket after millions uploaded their pictures to that gallery and linked them in a multitude of forums. Then, they tried to extract $$$ from everyone who had used their service.

At least, they are now allowing a blurred image.

I didn't continue to make tofu more than a few times. Soon, with a change of garden locations, didn't continue to grow soybeans because the best variety I had, didn't like the new location. Also, I discovered edamame. Yum!

At least, that was a good use for the few beans that the plants produced. I'll try a new soy variety in 2020 while replenishing the seed from the old - so that I won't have to say bye to Bei @Zeedman

This is sorta related to my recipe for tofu and I was just wondering where to put this idea on TEG :

We don't need to have much concern about excess calories in tofu but mushrooms and onions, etc. are good with meat, like ground beef, right?

Didya know that 100 grams of ground beef has 304 calories while 100 grams of mushrooms has 22 calories?* 14:1 !!! What a suitable way to reduce calories in our dinner.

Steve
*USDA FoodData

 

[digitS']

digitS'

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

Not counting the overnight soaking and clean up, the following takes about 1 hour. Having a "kitchen assistant" is helpful.

Rinsing the soybeans actually removes about half of the skins which is probably helpful but not of necessary importance. About 3 cups of soybeans:

The next morning, half of the beans go into the food processor at a time:

The processing takes a minute or 2 until the consistency is nearly the same as pancake dough:

The cotton dish towel is gathered about the soybeans and squeezing takes out the juice and water. DW always turns over the job to me at this point because I do such a "good" job with this task. I have to pay attention not to tear the fabric:

The liquid goes into a deep pot and stirring is constant over medium high heat.

As a full boil is reached, the heat is turned down to medium and a water mixed with vinegar is slowly added, a ladle at a time. The water mix is about 2 cups/4 tablespoons of rice vinegar:

As the water & vinegar mix is added, curds begins to form. Scorching and foaming is no longer likely. Not all the water & vinegar mix needs to be added - too much and the tofu will be too sour. How much is necessary is determined by the clarity of the liquid. As curds develop, the liquid is no longer "milky."

The curds are placed back in a clean dishtowel to drain:

Steve's digits

Here in the Philippines, There's an abundance of tofu. I'll give one of the best dishes for tofu.
www.tablefortwoblog.com › pan-fried-sesame-garlic-tofu

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

Not counting the overnight soaking and clean up, the following takes about 1 hour. Having a "kitchen assistant" is helpful.

Rinsing the soybeans actually removes about half of the skins which is probably helpful but not of necessary importance. About 3 cups of soybeans:

The next morning, half of the beans go into the food processor at a time:

The processing takes a minute or 2 until the consistency is nearly the same as pancake dough:

The cotton dish towel is gathered about the soybeans and squeezing takes out the juice and water. DW always turns over the job to me at this point because I do such a "good" job with this task. I have to pay attention not to tear the fabric:

The liquid goes into a deep pot and stirring is constant over medium high heat.

As a full boil is reached, the heat is turned down to medium and a water mixed with vinegar is slowly added, a ladle at a time. The water mix is about 2 cups/4 tablespoons of rice vinegar:

As the water & vinegar mix is added, curds begins to form. Scorching and foaming is no longer likely. Not all the water & vinegar mix needs to be added - too much and the tofu will be too sour. How much is necessary is determined by the clarity of the liquid. As curds develop, the liquid is no longer "milky."

The curds are placed back in a clean dishtowel to drain:

Steve's digits

Tofu is all fine, but don't forget to cook it right. Heat up some tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat in a skillet. In a single layer add tofu to the saucepan. Don't over-crowd your cup. Enable tofu to cook, unhindered for about 4-5 minutes or until golden brown and crispy on the underside. Best way to serve tofu if you're gonna ask me. D

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

^^ fried tofu with Oyster sauce. YUM!!

 

[Zeedman]

The resurrection of this thread is timely. I'm having a "changing of the guard" in my soybean stocks, purging some of my backups from previous years, and was thinking about using the older stock to make tofu. DD is vegan & would certainly use it (if palatable), and DW might even use it if I give her some guidance. The funny thing is, I grow soybeans to supply others with non-GM soybeans to grow for tofu, but have never made any myself. Time to correct that omission - back to school.

It will be an interesting experiment, since I have about 70 soybean varieties of various colors, with excess stock for about half of those. Provided that the older soybeans still prove to be useful, I should have enough tofu to supply the whole family.

Your method is interesting, @digitS' . I had read that the Japanese used salt as a curdling agent, but would prefer any residual vinegar flavor to saltiness. DW uses vinegar in a lot of her cooking anyway, so I'm used to that. Lemon juice sounds interesting as well, I've substituted it for vinegar in some of my canning.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

You made homemade tofu!!! How cool is that? I can't wait to plant my soybeans!!!! Did it taste any different than "store bought?"

can someone teach me the best way to make this? I lack the tools. is there any other way?

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

So it's basically like making a simple cheese out of beans instead of milk. Interesting!

I'm not a tofu fan at all, but it's neat that you can make it at home so easily.

That will be a very nice addition in the kitchen, especially when we decide to go-to veggies, May I know how?