How To Make Tofu (Kawashimaya Version)

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Freshly made tofu have deliciousness that can not be found when you normally buy tofu from supermarket or other places.

The temperature of the soymilk adds the bitterness that can greatly influence the tofu quality.
The recipe from Kawashimaya is a summary under the advice of a tofu store. Feel free to use it as a reference for making tofu at home.

We will continue to revise this recipe. Therefore, please let us know if there are better methods and tools that are useful. Let’s both hope to make a delicious tofu from this recipe.

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Ingredients & Tools

In this section we would like to introduce you what kind of ingredients needed to make tofu. We would also give you the list of tools needed. Please note this ingredients can be used to make 2 blocks of tofu.

Ingredients

Soybeans 280g (9.8oz)

You will need 280g(9.8oz) soybeans to make 2 blocks of tofu. We recommended you to use high quality and pesticide-free soybeans for a better tasting tofu.

Nigari 20ml (0.6 fl oz)

You will need 20ml (0.6 fl oz) of Nigari to make 2 blocks of tofu. Nigari, also referred to as tofu bittern, is known for being the coagulant for traditional tofu making in Japan.

Nigari is made up of the minerals in salt water that do not become part of the salt crystals.

Tools

Tofu Box

We recommend using a tofu box that can disassemble and assemble the parts easily, so it would be easy to wash.

Cooking Cloth

You will need 2 pieces of cloth. One for filtering, and another one used for the final step of making tofu.

Thermometer (Optional)

It would be more convenient if you have thermometer to measure the soymilk temperature when making tofu.

Recommended Products For Making Tofu

How to Make Tofu

How to Make Tofu

DIY tofu doesn't have to be difficult. All you need is good quality soybeans and tofu nigari.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 15 hours
Cook Time 3 hours
Servings 2

Equipment

  • 2 Cooking Cloth
  • 1 Thermometer (if you have it)

Ingredients
  

  • 280 g Soybeans (9.8 oz)
  • 20 ml Nigari (0.6 fl oz)

Instructions
 

  • Clean the soybeans with clean water
  • Soak the washed soybeans about 3 times of its weight in the water
  • Drain the water from the soaked soybeans
  • Grind the soybeans with a blender
  • Simmer the soybean juice until boiling while constantly stirring. Once it boils turn the heat to low and stir more for a couple of minutes.
  • Set the filtering cloth for the soybean
  • Strain the soybean into the cloth
  • Squeeze the soybean milk. This liquid is soymilk. We will use this to make the tofu.
  • Warm the soymilk in a pot until it reaches 75-80°C/167-176°F
  • While warming the soymilk, dilute the nigari with lukewarm water. Add 50ml/1.6 fl oz of hot water (in 50°C/122°F temperature) to 20ml/0.6 fl oz of nigari.
  • Pour the nigari water slowly and stir gently for 2-3 times. After that, cook for 20-30 minutes in a pot. At about 10-15 minutes, the soymilk will curdle.
  • Line the tofu box with a cloth (different cloth from the one for filtering).
  • Pour the hardened soymilk into the tofu box
  • Close the tofu box with the tofu box lid. Add weight on top of the lid. The tofu softness will depend on the weight. Let the tofu set for about 15-30 minutes.
  • When the tofu gets hardened, gently pull it out with the cloth on the box. Submerge the tofu in clean water for 30 minutes to get rid of nigari scum. After this, the tofu is ready to eat.
Keyword tofu

1. Clean the soybeans

Please clean the soybeans carefully in a bowl filled with water. Wash off the soil and dirt and take out the bad soybeans if necessary.

2. Soak the soybean in the water

Soak the washed soybeans about 3 times of its weight in the water (840ml/28.4 fl oz of water for 280g/9.8oz of soybeans.)

When dried soybeans absorb the water, the weight will be twice or three times heavier and the volume will be 2.6 times bigger.

The soaking time would be different for each seasons.
・At winter (water temperature about 0-5°C/32-41°F): 20 hours.
・At spring and fall (water temperature 10-15°C/50-59°F): 15 hours.
・At summer (water temperature 20-25°C/68-77°F): about 8-9 hours.

But the ideal time is 15 hours soaking at the water temperature of 15 °C/59°F . This is the picture of soaked soybeans.

soybeans that has been soaked

After being soaked for enough time, the soybean’s size will be 2 to 3 times bigger. Take the soaked soybeans, and split it in a half with your nails. If you can split it in half without too much force and the bean is not too mushy, then it has reached the perfect softness.

tofumaking

3. Drain the water from the soaked soybeans

Transfer the soaked soybean to the strainer and drain it firmly.

4. Grind the soybeans

grind the soybeans

Put the soaked soybeans into a mixer or blender and add approximately 6 cups of water (the water has to be 1.2 times the weight of the soaked soybeans). Please divide this process into 3 batches, and blend or grind it about 2 minutes each until smooth.

If you use mineral water and tap water, the taste of tofu will be mellow and delicious.

tofumaking

5. Simmer the soybean juice

Simmer the soybeans milk

Transfer the soybean juice from your mixer into a pan. Stir it gently at every edges so that it will not burn. Turn off the heat once it boils. When the bubbles settled down, simmer it again for a couple of minutes with a low heat.

6. Set the filtering cloth for the soybean

While simmering the soybean juice, set up the cloth for filtering process at the top of big bowl.

7. Scrape the soybean into the cloth

Scrape the soybean into the cloth

Boil the raw soybeans juice for 20-30 minutes. After that, turn off the heat and scoop the soybean juice into the cloth. Please use a spatula or big spoon because it is still hot.

8. Squeeze the soybean milk

Squeeze the soybean milk

Squeeze the cloth containing the soybean juice using spatula etc. The squeezed water is soybean milk. Let’s squeeze it carefully because it is still hot. Make sure to not wait too long as it will be too hard to squeeze when it is too cold.

It may need to be squeezed with both hands as it gets cold. You can see there are two results from the squeezing: soybean milk (squeezed juice) and okara (soybean milk residue remaining on the cloth).

tofumaking

9. Warm the soymilk

Warm the soymilk

Put the soymilk in a pot and warm it. Slowly warm it up until it reaches 75-80°C/167-176°F.

The temperature is very important at this point. If the temperature is too low, then the soymilk would not be set. But if the temperature is too high, then the soymilk will curdle up too quickly.

Let’s warm it while measuring the temperature using a thermometer.

measure the temperatur

10. Prepare the nigari

While warming the soymilk, dilute the nigari with lukewarm water.

Add 50ml/1.6 fl oz of hot water (in 50°C/122°F temperature) to 20ml/0.6 fl oz of nigari. Mix it well.

*The amount of nigari and lukewarm water varies depends on the concentration of the nigari.

11. Add the nigari

Add the nigari

Add the diluted nigari to the warmed soymilk. In this case, please pour the nigari slowly.

After finish pouring the nigari, let’s stir gently 2-3 times. If you mix too hard, the tofu will become too hard.

After that, let it cook for 20-30 minutes in a pot. Please cover the pot when steaming it. At about 10-15 minutes, the soymilk will curdle.

*As the temperature decreases, the mass will become white and cloudy. Please slow down the temperature gradually at that time. The important point is to make the liquid transparent without turbidity.

tofumaking

12. Set the cloth in the tofu box

cloth in the tofu box

As the soymilk start to curdle, line the tofu box with a clean cloth.

The tofu box needs to catch moistures coming from the bottom of the box. So, it is advised to put the lined box on a tray. You can place a disposable chopstick or any other supporting objects under the box to leave the tofu box slightly raised from the bottom of the tray.

13. Pour the curdled soymilk into the tofu box

soymilk into the tofu boxs

*The condition before being in the tofu box is called Yosetofu. You can taste Yosetofu as a dish too.

14. Put a heavy object above the tofu box

heavy object above the tofu box

When pouring the hardened tofu into the tofu box, please close the tofu box with the lid. Push the lid then put a heavy object (we use a glass cup with water on it). There will be a difference in tofu’s hardness depending on the weight of the heavy objects. We advised to use 100-200g of water on a lightweight cup as the guide. Let’s keep the heavy objects above the box for about 15-30 minutes.

15. The completion of tofu

completion of tofu

When the tofu hardened, gently pull it out with the cloth on the box. Pull it out and submerge the tofu in clean water. After that, take the tofu in the finishing cloth.

After 30 minutes soaked in the water, the nigari’s scum will come out. However, you can eat delicious tofu even without having the scum pulled out.

Delicious tofu is ready to be serve!

Handmade tofu is has an original rich flavor and sweetness of the soybeans. Once you eat the handmade tofu, you probably won’t get satisfied with the commercial tofu. Please try and enjoy making handmade tofu with your own preference!

How to Use Okara

After squeezing the soybean juice, you can use the okara (the soymilk residue) by stir frying it with olive oil, together with chopped shiitake mushrooms and carrots, etc.

Okara usage

Important Points of Choosing Tofu Ingredients

Soybean that is suitable for making tofu

There are 2 following points when choosing soybean for making tofu:

1. Contains high sugar and protein.
2. Large grain soybean.

High protein bean has a large amount of protein reacting with coagulant. In addition, using large beans can reduce the scum which makes more delicious tofu.

Nigari that is suitable for making tofu

Let’s also consider the suitable nigari for making tofu. Nigari refers to magnesium chloride, which is the liquid remaining after taking salt out of sea water. It has been used as a hardening material for tofu from long ago.

The are two types of nigari: natural nigari made with sea water, and nigari made by chemically refining magnesium chloride. Chemically refined nigari does not contain minerals, so it can reduce the umami of tofu into a half. For making handmade tofu, please consider to use natural nigari made from sea water.

Water that is suitable for making tofu

Approximately, 80% of cotton tofu (momen tofu) is made of moisture. In making tofu, we need to choose the water correctly to make a delicious tofu.

To make tofu, let’s use water that feels “mellow” when we drink it. Hard water (water that has a high mineral content) is not good for making tofu. The water with pH around 7.6-7 is said to be the most suitable for making tofu.

Recommended Product for Making Tofu

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