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!!!