Homemade Tofu: part II Okara

Making tofu really doesn't save any money. Sure, it's great to have very fresh tasting tofu. It's nice to be able to control the firmness of the tofu depending on how it's going to be used. But, the real reason to make tofu at home is for the okara (the left-overs after making the soy milk).

Yes, okara (in the US) is most often used as animal feed or fertilizer. But, in Japan this humble food merits the honorific "o" for the start of its name.

The okara can be used as a healthy, nutty-tasting filler for veggie burgers, sauces, chili, soups, etc. I use it just as I use texturized soy protein. But, the best way to use okara is in the recipe below:

Okara (unohana)

Ingredients:
Okara
Onion
Garlic
Ginger
Carrots, sweet pepper, gobo, or other veggies
Tofu
Shiitake and other mushrooms
Shoyu
Mirin
Sake

1. Hydrate dried shiitake mushrooms. Slice onion; cut up other veggies, mushrooms, and tofu.
2. Mix soy sauce, ginger, garlic, mirin, and sake. Soak tofu and mushrooms.
3. In a wok with a little oil, add onions and carrots. Cook until transluscent.
4. Add soy sauce mixture with tofu and other ingredients. Add okara and mix well.
5. Serve hot or cold.

  

Homemade tofu

Nothing beats the clean taste of tofu fresh from a tofu shop, especially from those little neighborhood shops in Japan. The tofu sold from tubs in the Korean green grocers may be a distant runner-up but are still miles ahead of the mass-produced tofu that one can get sealed in plastic containers. Unfortunately, in my neighborhood chain store markets that are displacing the little Korean-owned shops.

All those people who say making tofu is easy must be from from a different planet but they are right in saying that the taste is so much better than commercial tofu. Nostalgia may be clouding my taste buds but it'll still take me some more practice before I can come close to quality of the little Japanese neighborhood tofu-ten shops.

It is a time-consuming process even if you don't count the time it takes to soak the soy beans and the time to press the tofu. It took me about three hours my first time. I think I should be able to do it a little faster with practice but the many steps just take time.

After soaking, the beans are ground. I used a food processor. A blender will also work.

Then boil in water (use a big pot so it doesn't boil over).

The straining took a while but yielded lots of okara (don't throw this away; I'll post some recipes for using this).

Then add nigari, the coagulate magnesium chloride, naturally extracted from seawater.

Now you don't need a fancy wooden frame but what fun is a new hobby if you don't get to buy cool equipment. One could use a sieve or punch holes in a plastic container instead. But, I got my box which is from www.soymilkmaker.com via Amazon.

Line the frame with muslim cloth and pour the mixture in. Put on the cover and add a weight on top to press the tofu.

Then, enjoy!!!

Japanese Heritage Night, August 28, 2013

OK, it’s no secret that I’m a die-hard Yankees fan…even when we are languishing behind the Red Sox (and Tampa!). In all my years here in New York I had never been to a Mets game at Citifield or even at Shea Stadium. Actually, I had been a little proud of that (it was proof that I really am a loyal Yankees fan).

So, the world seems to skip a beat when I boarded the #7 train to Citifield on August 28th.

Photo by George Hirose

I made the trip for the Fourth Annual Japanese Heritage Night at Mets’ Citifield. The Mets has special nights to appeal to various audiences: Irish, Filipino, Taiwanese, Greek, Latino, etc. These are nice ways to reach out to the community and build small bridges.

There was a pre-game show which consisted of some dancing (Japanese Folk Dance Institute), presentations and singing (Men's Glee Club of New York). And, the crowd was excited that Daisuke Matsuzaka was pitching.

Photos by Francois Bonneau

George, Marianne and Donna did an amazing job in organizing volunteers for the evening.

Photo by Francois Bonneau

This year a portion of the game's proceeds went to the Japanese American Association (JAA) Committee on Aging Issues. The Mets Spirit Award honoree was the Japanese Clinic at Hamilton Madison House which provides bi-lingual outpatient mental health services for people of Japanese descent for over 30 years.

I spread the word looking for volunteers and on short notice gathered Mike, Tracy, and Kazue to join me out at the ballpark. We helped to staff the information tables, answered questions and demonstrated origami.

I have to admit that I didn’t catch much of the game (surprise: Mets lost to Philadelphia) but it was a fun evening. Next time, though, I will need to practice more origami and my katagana (パトリッシャー , that would be my name).


Photo by Francois Bonneau

A historical note: Japanese American baseball teams have existed throughout the US since the 1920s even in the WWII concentration camps where 120,000 Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans were incarcerated. The first Japanese professional league was formed in 1936.

New Yorkers always have an opinion and aren’t generally shy about expressing it (but, of course, lots of non-New Yorkers also attend the games). Some people just thought we were trying to sell them something [hmmm, how much could one charge for a shuriken (ninja-star) or tsuru (crane)?] so we had to invite them to come to the table.

I tend to recoil at stereotypes. So, when well-meaning people came up to say how clever, nimble and resourceful Japanese are at paper folding, etc., I wanted to say that not all of us are. We at the table might be able to do origami deftly but then maybe we self-selected. But, as I reflected on my heritage, Japan is very clever, nimble and resourceful. Whenever I am able to travel there or even when I go to Daiso (Japanese $1.50 shops in California and Seattle like the 100-yen stores in Japan), I’m in awe of the amazing variety of useful gadgets that can be had for $1.50. Some Japanese people have developed solutions for problems I didn’t even know I had before I went into the store.

So, I guess if Japanese can collectively take credit for this ingenuity and other positive traits, it’s only fair that we bear the burden of the negative stereotypes. Therefore, the real value of Heritage Nights is to provide some balance so that there will be a broader understanding of a country and a people not just prevailing stereotypes.

Photo by Francois Bonneau

Caribbean Ultra Bodacious Adventure: the final chapter, 5/2-3

If you want to read about my C.U.B.A. trip chronologically from the beginning, start in Jamaica at  http://peacefulroadwarrior.blogspot.com/2013/05/ya-mon-saturday-420.html and read the 12 posts in reverse order moving up the navigation bar.

As I wind up the tales of my wonderful journey, I am so thankful that Alisa invited me along. Alisa has decided that taking photos is not living in the present. She believes that photographers are so busy setting up the shot and viewing life through a len or viewfinder that they are missing the moment themselves. She thinks that if we take photos to share with others, we are robbing them of the opportunity to live in their own moments by forcing ours onto them. If we take pleasure in looking at our own old photos, we are living in the past and missing out in the present. So, I tried purposefully during this trip to take in the present moments but nevertheless managed to capture 800+ points in times. I have culled through these and posted just a small fraction on this blog.

When I returned to NY, I met a woman who had just gotten back from her own awesome Caribbean Ultra Bodacious Adventure. Her story is very different from mine. She had gone on a sanctioned cultural mission. She talked about the cuisine at the fancy restaurants, the nice hotels, seeing the Buena Vista musicians and going on guided tours. She didn't see the local markets, ride the truck/buses, eat the street pizza, sway to the plaza musicians, or use toilets without seats but had a just as memorable time. We all experience the same reality in our own ways.

Thursday, 5/2: We celebrate Guillermo's birthday with a cake and two coco glaces (coconut ice cream made with coconut and condensed milk served in a coconut shell). We had seen people walking down the streets with elaborate cakes out in the open air. The bakery we went to put it in a box. Maybe we needed to go to a peso bakery.

As if we hadn't had enough sweets, we seek out the "best" ice cream shop in La Habana where one scoop costs one peso (4 cents).  It seems that each city has its own "best" ice cream. While there are not a large number of obese people here, there are a lot of ice cream afficionados.

Yes, it was excellent ice cream. We walk it off along the Malecon back to our casa particular:

Friday, 5/3: Even bodacious adventures must come to an end. So, sadly, I say good-bye. Alisa will stay a couple more weeks and then join the crew of Die Stahlratte as it makes its way to Mexico, Panama and then Colombia where she will have completed the circle in mid-June that she began in mid-April.



 And, I too complete my circle and find my way back home with wonderful memories (and 800+ photos).

El Primero Del Mayo, Wednesday, 5/1

We woke up early to make sure we didn't miss any of the May Day parade. It was a long hike from our casa particular but we walk most of the way there and back except for a short hop on a bus that was headed in roughly the right direction. We think it was the largest march that we had ever been in. Besides the size, the biggest differences were there were no anti demonstrators shouting at the marchers; the police was not a big presence and those that were there were helpful. Of course, images of Che were everpresent along with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

It was a festive but short day as many people quickly headed to work and we continued to enjoy the sights.

Capitolio Nacional:

Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisdo de Asís:

 

 

After visiting a couple of markets to buy fresh ingredients for dinner, we looked for a place to buy some rice. Alisa asked a couple of men on the street and they lamented that the stores were closed at 5:30. But, after chatting with Alisa, they invite us to their home where they will give us some rice. We meet the aunt of one of the men. She had studied dance in NY, had many relatives in Canada and US, but has no desire to live anywhere but where she is. They shared some rum with us and would not take any money for the bag of rice that they give us.

Enjoying our homecooked meal of rice, squash, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cheese, fruit, etc.