This is a step by step instruction of perfect homemade tofu with super easy ingredients. Tofu is a magic food. Chinese people loves almost all things from soy milk, the very basic is soy milk, then all types of tofu, fermented tofu, marinated tofu, dried tofu and tons of delicious tofu dishes. It was quite hard to buy in the past two days so I made a lot of batches myself at home. Follow the steps and you will find homemade tofu is very funning and easy.
About the coagulants
There are several commonly used coagulants in Chinese cuisine. The first group is salt coagulants (盐卤) including gypsum (石膏粉) and Nigari salts (In Sichuan cuisine we call this 胆巴). And the second group is Acid coagulants including GDL (葡萄糖内脂), mainly for super tender tofu and tofu pudding. But regular acid including rice vinegar or even lemon juice can help the soy milk becoming solid too. I demonstrate about how to make tofu with rice vinegar in this video. But other coagulants works too.
My grandmother is quite good at making tofu, douhua and fermented tofu. If you are interested in how we make large batch of tofu at home, check this video on INS. Homemade tofu, although requires times, taste better than store bought version because of the stronger aroma of soy beans. So I recommend all of the foodie trying at least once to find the small differences.
Difference based on the coagulants
GDL and gypsum can produce the most tender tofu comparing with other three types. Rice vinegar and lemon juice can make soft tofu, firm tofu and extra firm tofu.
Cook’s Note
- Soy milk should be boiled before eating. Uncooked soy milk is harmful to our healthy. But watch out the fire carefully, it overflows quickly.
- No thermometer by hand, let the soy milk cool down about 2-3 minutes. The temperature should be in the right range.
- Take time when stirring the vinegar water in and stop once the liquid turns transparent and clear. We don't need to use all of it.
Instructions
Wash the soy beans and then soak the soy beans overnight or 4 hours until softened. Transfer to a blender and add water. Blend until very smooth.
Place a gauze on a strainer and then strain the soy milk.
Bring the soy milk to a boil. Watch carefully since it overflows easily. Skin off the bubbles on the surface. Stir from time to time in the heating to avoid sticky bottom(recommend at least 15 minutes, Thanks Nicolas for the suggestion about the trypsin inhibitor). Remove from heat and rest for 2 to 3 minutes until the temperature drops around 80 degree C to 90 degree C.
Whisk 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar or 3 fresh lemon juice with 1 cup of water.
Use a small spoon and gently stir the acid mixture in. You can watch the video for the details until all of the tofu protein is firmed (the liquid above becomes clear). You don't need to use all of the vinegar mixture. Once the liquid is clear, stop the step.
Now we get the Sichuan style douhua if slightly pressed.
Transfer to a shaping tool and press a weight. I use a stone crusher in the video. You can use anything with a heavy weight. The tofu can be pressed from 10 minutes (soft tofu) to 1 hour (firm tofu). You can use wooden presser or plastic presser.
After the processing, I recommend soak the tofu in cold water for at least half an hour so the texture can be more intense and by the way, possible to remove the extra sour or bitterness caused by the coagulants.
I use this batch to made a soup with super tender Chinese style meatballs. And also an easy pan-fried tofu. Following are some ideas about how to use your tofu. The long list show how much I love tofu.
1. Mapo tofu
2. Sweet and Sour Tofu
3. Pan-fried tofu
4. Steamed tofu with chili sauce
5. Steamed tofu
6. Pan-fried tofu with black bean sauce
7.Tofu and Bok Choy Soup
8.Scrambled tofu
9.Kung Pao Tofu
10.Crispy sesame tofu
11.Minced pork and tofu fritters
Homemade Tofu
Ingredients
- 3 cups soy beans , clean and pre-soaked with water until soft
- 5 L water , for blending the soy beans and washing the pulp
- 3 tbsp. rice vinegar , or juice from 3 lemons
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Wash the soy beans and then soak the soy beans overnight until softened. Transfer to a blender and add water. Blend until very smooth. I blend the soy beans by three batches, each time with 1L water for blending and another 500 to 700ml to wash the pulp.
- Place a gauze on a strainer and then strain the soy milk. When the pulp is almost dry, add more water and wash the pulp. Squeeze the gauze bag forcefully to make sure all the liquid is squeezed.
- Bring the soy milk to a boil. Watch carefully since it overflows easily. Stir from time to time to avoid a burnt bottom(recommend simmer for 15 minutes for the consideration of trypsin inhibitor). Skin off the bubbles on the surface. Remove from heat and rest for 2 to 3 minutes until the temperature drops around 80 degree C to 90 degree C. Stir from time to time during the heating to avoid sticky bottom.
- Whisk 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar or 3 lemon juice with 1 cup of water.
- Use a small spoon and gently stir the acid mixture in. You can watch the video for the details until all of the tofu protein is firmed (the liquid above becomes clear). You don’t need to use all of the vinegar mixture. Once the liquid is clear, stop the step.
- Transfer to a shaping tool, you can use a rectangle strainer. Press with a weight. Set aside for 15 minutes for softer version or 30 minutes for firm version.
- After the processing, I recommend soak the tofu in cold water for at least half an hour so the texture can be more intense and by the way, possible to remove the extra sour or bitterness caused by the coagulants.
Christina
Thank you, this is such a simple recipe! I love that you showed us how to make tofu with normal ingredients. I am going to try this!
Elaine
Christina,
Making tofu at home is really interesting. Enjoy!
John Rhoe
I have always bought preformed ready to use blocks: this was fascinating. I will still do it that way.
Elaine
Haha, lovely. That will make the process very enjoying.
Sarah
Could I use regular white vinegar instead of rice vinegar?
Elaine
Yes, Even lemon juice works.
Agustina
The nutritional information is per 100 grams?
Elaine
Agustina,
The nutritional information is based on 150g tofu.
Carey Ann Pickford
Hi, Thank you for the recipe - can I use shop bought soya milk? If so is it a certain kind/type?
Elaine
Carey,
I am not sure whether store bought soy milk works or the quality may differ from brands.
Sarah
Hi! I'm really excited to try this, but I'm wondering if you measure the 3 cups of soybeans before or after soaking?
Elaine
It is before soaking, Sarah!
Carrie
Hi! How long will this homemade tofu last after the last step (soaking finished tofu in water for 30 min) ? And how should we store it after its complete if we make a big batch?
Elaine
Carrie, soaking 30 mins is enough. Don't recommend making a very large batch since it turns sour very quickly. You can store the tofu in air-tight container for up to 2 days. If you really get a larger batch, try to freeze it to make frozen tofu.
Benjamin Dumouchelle
Looking forward to trying this so I'll always have fresh homemade tofu. Approximately how many blocks of tofu does this make?
Elaine
Benjamin,
Around 3 cubes from the supermarket.
Rinn
I did everything seemingly right, but its not curdeling, what coukd be going wrong? I feel like I added so much vinegar and lemon ahh
Elaine
Rinn,
Change your type of vinegar. And pay attention to the temperature.
Mia
Do you have any recipe ideas for the soy pulp?
Elaine
Mia,
Currently no, but I will happy to test some one.
Pier
You could use it to make tempeh if you get the spores
Lesedi
Is there a way that I can use the oven instead of using the oven and the boiling water? I am wondering if this is like Seitan where you can steam, bake, or boil the seitan. Thanks!
Lesedi
Can you bake the tofu instead of doing that boiling? Like how Seitan can be steamed, boiled, or baked?
Elaine
Sure, tofu can be baked, boiled, steamed or braised.