Makes 200g block
Ingredients
175g
dried soya beans, soaked in water overnight in the fridge
100ml lemon juice
Method
Drain and rinse the soya beans thoroughly.
Put half the beans with 600ml of water into a liquidiser and blend together
until
smooth. Repeat with the remaining beans and another 600ml of water.
This mixture is called GÔ.
Line a colander with a double layer of muslin and place over a large
bowl and set aside.
Bring 1.5 litres of fresh water to the boil in a very large pan and
add the liquidised
beans. Bring back to the boil. It will boil up like milk – to
prevent its boiling over, sprinkle cold water over it (a clean plant mister
is ideal) – the liquid will shrink back.
Repeat this process three times, stirring constantly, as the mixture
sticks to
everything. Boiling three times is important to kill off the trypsin
inhibitor in the beans. Drain the boiled mixture through the muslin
lined colander to give SOYA MILK. Using rubber gloves, twist the muslin
tightly and squeeze out as much soya milk as possible – this
will help get maximum yield from the tofu.
CAUTION! The muslin is very
hot to handle and can burn you if you are not
careful!
Note: the pulp left in the muslin is called OKARA and is the bran of
the soya
beans. The protein is in the milk.
Rinse everything very well and quickly, as the process makes everything
very sticky!
Return the soya milk to the cleaned large saucepan and bring back to
the boil. Pour
the soya milk into a large bowl and stir hard. While the soya milk
is in motion add the lemon juice, then using a wooden spoon stop the
movement by standing the spoon upright in the milk. Leave the milk to
curdle.
In 3-5 minutes the curds will start to separate from the whey – look
for a faint green line on top of the curds. If there are pockets of
milk which are not curdling, then very gently poke a spoon handle in
to distribute the coagulant. Do not stir hard or you will break up
the curds and cause the finished product to be uneven in texture.
Once the curds have formed, use a fine sieve and press it gently against
the curds
to release the whey. This will allow you to remove the whey with a small
ladle.
If any flavouring is required add it now – try herbs, chopped
nuts such as almond or
hazelnuts, green olives etc – experiment!
Line a 450g loaf tin with muslin and carefully spoon the curds into
it. Fold the muslin over the top of the tofu and place another 450g
loaf tin on top and weight
this down. Tip out excess moisture from the tofu. (Suggest using 2
x 225g weights – the longer it is left and the heavier the weights,
the more solid it will be.) Leave for at least 30 minutes for a softer
firm tofu or at least 2 hours for a really firm tofu.
NB a lined colander can also be used to form the curds – line
the colander with
muslin, spoon the curds into it and fold the muslin over the top. Place
a plate on top
and weight it down – the whey will drain through the colander.
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