Soybean Galore!

This is not an attempt to teach how to make soymilk and tofu. It is merely a record of things that I've learned as I finally tried my hand in making this fave tofu. The milk produced was just a bit since it was just a side-trial and the main target was the tofu.

The tofu is still "solidifying" right now so the I am waiting for the final verdict.

So what did I do? Here it is. Without pictures though. I have yet to get myself familiar to be confident enough to take time to take pictures while actually making it.

1. I soaked to 2 cups of soybeans last night. Rinsed it this morning and left it in the fridge for the remaining part of the day coz I had to go out this afternoon. (10 P.M.-9:30 AM, 10 a.m. - 9 pm in fridge). After the soybeans "grew," I divided it in two parts; one part for the Kong Jang and one part for the tofu. So that makes it just about 1 C of soybean for the tofu.

2. Around 9 pm, I started to grind the soybeans using the blender. Measuring 1 C of soaked soybean and 3 C of H20.

3. Strained the blended stuff into a pot using my son's unused nappy. (The nappy was not really used, just bought it but ended up using disposable. I took it out of storage, rinsed and microwaved for 3-5 minutes under med high to sterilize.)

4. After all the stuff are in the pot, I had it boiling for 10 minutes and forgot not to put the lid on. It ended up spilling over a little. That I should keep in mind NOT to do next time.

5. Ten minutes low fire while stirring, then bring to total boil. Turned off. (I tried to set aside some part for the soy milk but ended up with a mere less than a cup.)

6. I let it settle for a while to lower the temp a bit before spooning in 6 T or so of vinegar. I tried it 2 T at a time. It didn't look like it was doing the magic. Read somewhere that it coagulates with 1 C of vinegar is to 500 ml of soymilk (I am liking the term coagulate, reminds me of laboratory works back in college.)

7. After waiting for about 10 minutes, hoping that it would still coagulate more, I finally poured it in the waiting cloth-covered plastic tray mold. (Ah! My mold was way too big for the final tofu. Must try more soybeans next time. Maybe about 4 C of soybean to soak if I want to fill it up well.)

8. And now I must stop. Time to check how my tofu is doing. Is it a pass or fail for my first try?

Hmm...since it was just so little, it didn't "solidify" very well. I have yet to try the perfect ratio of soy milk and vinegar. Really just got to get some more reading on that last ratio part. That is quite crucial in producing the proper texture of the final tofu.

Getting late, I'm saving those thoughts about improving my tofu for the next day. ;)