Making Tofu
A few years ago, we received a tofu press to make tofu at home. I think it was Jen's sister Julie who got it for us. Thanks, Julie, if it was you.
We were excited; as vegetarian soon to be vegans, tofu was and is a staple at our house. We eat it a few times a week, seven or eight different ways. We could now make it ourselves so, cool. We order a five-pound bag of organic yellow soybeans from amazon, put the tofu press in the cupboard, and waited.
The soybeans came in the mail, but the time was not right, so they sat. Then they sat some more, and then we forgot about them in the pantry for months. The soybeans were moved around the pantry so many times it stopped being a bag of soybeans and became something we just moved around. Our brains stopped connecting the green bag to what was inside it. They should have been turned into soymilk and tofu, but they didn't exist in that world anymore. Eventually, one of our cats got a hold of the bag and destroyed it. The little yellow soybeans were swept up and made their way to the compost bin.
The tofu press moved further up the cupboard and was forgotten until recently. A few weeks ago, Jen and I watched a youtube video by emmymadeinjapan; she was making tofu. She was making tofu with our tofu press. Not the one from our cupboard, but it was the same kind and brand. It had been up in out cupboard for years, and now, here was the exact same one with the exact same instructions—the Mitoku Home Tofu Kit.
We checked to make sure we still had it because I have a habit of getting rid of things that I want and think I can find later. This was food-related, so we kept it, though. Before the video was over, we had ordered a new five-pound bag of organic soybeans.
It came on Thursday. I pulled out the instructions from the Mitoku Home Tofu Kit on Friday night, read the first bit about soaking the beans. Weighed out 300 grams into a bowl, covered them in water, and Saturday morning, woke up, glanced at the instructions quickly before pulling out the instantpot to cook those soybeans, and have fresh tofu for dinner.
That's where I screwed up. emmymadeinjapan also had a video about making natto in an instant pot. I confused the two. In the afternoon, when I settled in to become a tofu maker, I took the lid off the instant pot filling the air with the smell of cooked soybeans, which is not a pleasant smell. Then I pulled out the instructions, and they did not say to cook the beans whole. You are supposed to blend the soaked beans, then cook the slurry, and then all the other tofu making steps.
We now had an instant pot full of cooked soybeans that smelled a bit like farts that we didn't know what to do with. We had never had soybeans as a soybean before. Sure edamame, but that's different; those are green and fresh; you eat them steamed. These were white and beans.
I ate one, and it was ok, creamy, not really beany, I dropped a little soy sauce on some, and it wasn't bad. We were not going to toss them into the compost bin again. They would be dinner.
We made rice, fresh pickled daikon, and carrots. Then we fried up some thin-sliced shitake mushrooms, five cloves of garlic, a knob of ginger in some sesame oil. In the end, we added some soy sauce and some agave making a sauce before throwing in a few cups of the cooked soybeans. We heated everything up, finished it off with some green onions, and it was dinner.
After we ate, I weighed out another 300 grams of dried soybeans, because I read the instructions I measured out eight cups of water to begin soaking overnight. I also started soaking the tofu press because that was something that needed to be done, and I hadn't. Tomorrow we will try this again.
We were excited; as vegetarian soon to be vegans, tofu was and is a staple at our house. We eat it a few times a week, seven or eight different ways. We could now make it ourselves so, cool. We order a five-pound bag of organic yellow soybeans from amazon, put the tofu press in the cupboard, and waited.
The soybeans came in the mail, but the time was not right, so they sat. Then they sat some more, and then we forgot about them in the pantry for months. The soybeans were moved around the pantry so many times it stopped being a bag of soybeans and became something we just moved around. Our brains stopped connecting the green bag to what was inside it. They should have been turned into soymilk and tofu, but they didn't exist in that world anymore. Eventually, one of our cats got a hold of the bag and destroyed it. The little yellow soybeans were swept up and made their way to the compost bin.
The tofu press moved further up the cupboard and was forgotten until recently. A few weeks ago, Jen and I watched a youtube video by emmymadeinjapan; she was making tofu. She was making tofu with our tofu press. Not the one from our cupboard, but it was the same kind and brand. It had been up in out cupboard for years, and now, here was the exact same one with the exact same instructions—the Mitoku Home Tofu Kit.
We checked to make sure we still had it because I have a habit of getting rid of things that I want and think I can find later. This was food-related, so we kept it, though. Before the video was over, we had ordered a new five-pound bag of organic soybeans.
It came on Thursday. I pulled out the instructions from the Mitoku Home Tofu Kit on Friday night, read the first bit about soaking the beans. Weighed out 300 grams into a bowl, covered them in water, and Saturday morning, woke up, glanced at the instructions quickly before pulling out the instantpot to cook those soybeans, and have fresh tofu for dinner.
That's where I screwed up. emmymadeinjapan also had a video about making natto in an instant pot. I confused the two. In the afternoon, when I settled in to become a tofu maker, I took the lid off the instant pot filling the air with the smell of cooked soybeans, which is not a pleasant smell. Then I pulled out the instructions, and they did not say to cook the beans whole. You are supposed to blend the soaked beans, then cook the slurry, and then all the other tofu making steps.
We now had an instant pot full of cooked soybeans that smelled a bit like farts that we didn't know what to do with. We had never had soybeans as a soybean before. Sure edamame, but that's different; those are green and fresh; you eat them steamed. These were white and beans.
I ate one, and it was ok, creamy, not really beany, I dropped a little soy sauce on some, and it wasn't bad. We were not going to toss them into the compost bin again. They would be dinner.
We made rice, fresh pickled daikon, and carrots. Then we fried up some thin-sliced shitake mushrooms, five cloves of garlic, a knob of ginger in some sesame oil. In the end, we added some soy sauce and some agave making a sauce before throwing in a few cups of the cooked soybeans. We heated everything up, finished it off with some green onions, and it was dinner.
After we ate, I weighed out another 300 grams of dried soybeans, because I read the instructions I measured out eight cups of water to begin soaking overnight. I also started soaking the tofu press because that was something that needed to be done, and I hadn't. Tomorrow we will try this again.
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