It’s compilation on the tofu topic…I add data regularly.
3 main tofu textures :
You have Japanese tofu that is :
kinu-dofu, silky tofu
momen-dofu, cotton tofu (translated as *firm tofu* in English)
Both are soft and watery. The first is very soft like egg pudding, the second is soft like starch pudding.
Really firm and dry tofu, the one that has a texture closer to meat is popular in China. It’s uncommon in Japan, except ….Bottom line : If you like firm tofu…
Tag Archives: nigari
Pressed tofu from beans, the Okinawan way (day 2)
Let’s make this delicious 島豆腐 Shima tofu. Okinawan tofu, so we can eat it in 15 minutes.
You have all the material and ingredients ready ? If not, read the previous post. Let’s make that tofu in 15 minutes.
1 : rinse the soaked beans, place them in a blender, add 2 or 3 volumes of clear water (what is easier for your blender, anyway the water won’t stay)
2 : juice it (not too thinly if your blender is powerful)
3 : transfer in a sauce pan, bring slowly to near-boiling heat and cook 1 or 2 minutes
4 : pour into the cloth, squeeze to extract as much milk as possible*
5 : add a little amount of nigari (about 1 ts per liter) and stir a little
6 : wait till the milk curds well (about 5 minutes)
7 : pour into the box and cloth, let the water pass, fold the cloth on top and add the lid of the box
8 : press very strongly during 2 minutes. DONE !
*the grounds left in the cloth are okara (click here for ideas to use it).
You can open, it’s ready. It’s flat. Well, I have made only a small amount for the tutorial, but your can make big blocks with the same recipe.
As you can see, it takes exactly the shape of the fabric.
Inside, it’s very grainy. It’s firm too. You can use it to cook an Okinawan dish.
Or just pour a little soy sauce and enjoy :
Pressed tofu from beans, the Okinawan way (day 1)
That’s a tutorial to make VERY firm tofu. (read about tofu texture, types, recipe of soft tofu, click here)
In Osaka, this tofu from Okinawa is quite expensive as it seems it travels by plane in first class, or just because it is uncommon so there is a rarity tax. I wanted to make mine. It’s not complicate, that takes 5 minutes to soak the beans and 15 minutes to make it later. I wonder why I have not done it years ago.
This is not a personal recipe, I have taken it here and even if it’s in Japanese you should go to see the photos. The author is the owner of a store selling Okinawan products.
Shopping list :
-Dry soy beans
–Nigari, the curding product
-Cotton gauze or cheese cloth
-Pressing box (optional)
You will also need a simple blender (or a very good hand-cranked vegetable mill).
I use medical cotton gauze (sterile, pure cotton, no added product) because they sell it cheaply in any pharmacy. Cheese clothes, well tofu clothes or similar pieces of fabric work too.
The box is optional. You can squeeze the tofu in the gauze and press it in any spring form mold for cake or whatever box you have. And if you have no box, squeeze the cloth strongly, and you will get a ball of tofu.
Mine is not a specific tofu press, it’s a box to make oshizushi (pressed sushi) and I already had it. It’s very similar to a wooden tofu press :
These days makers also use metal boxes.
This, below, is a vegetable press, to make tsukemono (Japanese pickles), Sauerkraut, etc.
shop
I don’t think that would be the most convenient in this case as you can’t close it with the cloth. I’d buy it for the pickles. Confidence: I own one that I have never used in years as I squeeze them with my hands and then I remember the existence of the gadget.
Ingredients :
You need soy beans, of course. They are called 大豆 daizu in Japanese. Here GMO plants are totally forbidden, and unless they are cheating us, all those we buy are non-GMO.
Soaking :
The night before, rinse some, and place them in a bowl with 4 or 5 volumes of clean water. The time depends on the weather and age of the beans. They double of volume and take a longer bean shape.
にがり Nigari is made traditionally from sea water. We buy it in bottles. It mostly contains magnesium chloride. From wikipedia :
Magnesium chloride is an important coagulant used in the preparation of tofu from soy milk. In Japan it is sold as nigari (にがり, derived from the Japanese word for “bitter”), a white powder produced from seawater after the sodium chloride has been removed, and the water evaporated. In China, it is called lushui (卤水). Nigari or lushui consists mostly of magnesium chloride, with some magnesium sulfate and other trace elements. It is also an ingredient in baby formula milk.
Convenient set-up :
That’s to make the soy milk : I place a cloth in a metallic sieve, an prepare a salad bowl.
That’s to shape the tofu : I wash my box (or whatever) and a cloth, and I install them in a dish-washing basin.
So put the beans to soak and come back tomorrow (or jump here if you are reading from the future).
Tofu and faux tofu
It’s compilation on the tofu topic…
Tofu is soy milk curded with nigari. But some other products not based on soy milk are called tofu because of their texture and appearance.
Tofu ? dofu ? toufu ? doufu ? The only proper spelling is 豆腐. It’s a matter of transcription. The “t” tends to become a “d” in second part of words in Japanese. And in Chinese it’s written “d” and you read “t”. And the “o” is long.
Choosing tofu :
There are huge differences of quality. It can be delicious or absolutely terrible. I wouldn’t want to eat again in this life time all the weirdly packaged tofus I have eaten in Europe and North-America. Maybe I had bad luck. Also in the US, the soy is GMO.
The second thing is you have to buy the right type.
Most Westerners don’t really understand the different types, and I’ve been there too. So maybe this can help. It’s a simplification, but start here :
3 main tofu textures :
You have Japanese tofu that is :
kinu-dofu, silky tofu
momen-dofu, cotton tofu (translated as *firm tofu* in English)
Both are soft and watery. The first is very soft like egg pudding, the second is soft like starch pudding.
Really firm and dry tofu, the one that has a texture closer to meat is popular in China. It’s uncommon in Japan, except in Okinawa, were Japanese and Chinese traditions cross their path. So here it is called 島豆腐 shima tofu, “island tofu“, and in Osaka, I have to buy in “ethnic stores”.
The 3 are made with different recipes.
Bottom line : If you like soft tofu, buy it from a Japanese maker (well, a maker making ingredients for Japanese cuisine as of course it’s not a question of nationality). If you like firm tofu, buy it from a Chinese or an Okinawan maker. Other Asian countries tend to make the firm varieties traditionally.
Gourmande’s home-made tofu :
Basic recipe :
ultra fresh torori tofu (from soy milk and nigari)
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Gourmande’s home-made faux tofu
home-made sesame tofu (gomadofu)
yellow tofu or Shan tofu (from chick pea)
edamame tofu (from green soy beans)
Tofu bought in Osaka :
It’s a small sample. I can find many sorts. There are 3 tofu makers just in my street…
kinu-dofu (silky tofu)
momen-dofu (cotton tofu)
koya-dofu (freeze dry tofu)
abura-age (usu-age type, fried sheets of tofu)
goma dofu (sesame flavored soy milk tofu)
goma dofu (sesame tofu, not a real tofu)
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RECIPES WITH TOFU
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yudofu (Kyoto boiled tofu, hot pot)
mabo dofu (Sichuan style, several recipes)
inari sushi (in abura age pockets)
champuru (Okinawan tofu with scramble egg)
chigae (Korean spicy tofu soup)
u no hana (tofu fibers in tabouleh)
Tofu can also be an ingredient for desserts.
Torori ! The tofu that melts in the mouth…
You have never eaten tofu if you have not tried this. It’s is tofu prepared on the table and served still hot and extra-fresh. Torori expresses the filling of melty and soft like egg pudding. Even if you re-heat silky tofu, it doesn’t get back to the particular texture.
The taste is also deeper, a little greener.
Easy : You need tonyu soy milk and nigari. Natural nigari is made from sea water. There are substitutes. I have not compared.
The difference between tonyu (the real soy milk) and the *soy milk* in supermarkets in the West can be as wide as between orange juice and fanta. So, if you can’t buy the good one, make it. That’s not only a matter of taste, the “soy milk drink” wouldn’t curd.
To make soy milk (easy recipe), click here.
I bought it because I’m lazy, I find some easily and my blender is so basic that I’d produce batches of 1/2 cup.
Take 150 ml of soy milk, beat. Don’t make foam ! Well, that works if you make some, but that’s not pro.
Add 1/3 teaspoon of nigari. Stir gently by turning 50 times.
Pass 2 minutes in the micro-wave at 500 watts. Check it’s getting curded around (but not completely). Wait 5 minutes and spoon to another plate, or wait 8 minutes and serve in the bowl.
You can have a brasero on the table in front of guests. For instance, fill a pan with boiling water and bath your covered bowl in it. I can’t tell the exact time.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm !
There are many ways of serving it. Today, that was yuzu ponzu (soy sauce with green yuzu juice).
Made too much ? I know that seems silly, since it’s so good… but as you’ve opened the pack of soy milk, you can as well finish it. As it cools down, the tofu releases water, so put it a zaru (basket), keep in the fridge. The next day you’ll have tasty zaru-doufu to serve chilled.
GOURMANDE in OSAKA 