On this week’s podcast we chatted about making homemade soy milk and tofu. Turns out, it is pretty simple and easy to make both at home. Start with non GMO dried soybeans. You can find these in ethnic markets or shop the story below to have them delivered to your home.

It all starts with making soy milk.

1 cup dried beans

5 cups water

Step One: Soak the dried beans in water in a container. I do this in the fridge overnight in a small Tupper ware style container. They will increase in volume and expand so choose a container that can hold the expansion.

Step Two: Rub the plumped beans with your hands to remove the light shell covering the beans. I have made soy milk without removing all the shells and I am still alive so you don’t have to be too particular about removing them all. The shells look like a very light coat that floats in the water. Toss the shells in the trash and place the rinsed beans into a blender.

Step Three: Add half of your water to the beans in the blender and blend until smooth. Add more water until you have added all 5 cups of your water to the blender. It will look just like soy milk, like magic. At this point you have soy milk that needs to be strained and cooked.

Step Four: Strain the soy milk through a fine mesh strainer or a nut bag or cheese cloth into a pot. I used a cheese cloth the first time I made it and it makes the process incredibly difficult and hateful. Trying to skip purchasing a nut bag, I used a fine mesh strainer. It worked, but you will need a spoon to press out the soy milk and spoon the Okara (solids) into a separate container several times. I know now why they created nut bags. You just pour all the contents from the blender into the nut bag and squeeze. The solids you remove are called Okara. You can use this to make vegan crab cakes, vegan egg scrambles (great with green onions, Penzey’s shallots (see our mocktails post), olive oil and scramble in a pan. Yum!).

Step Five: Your strained soy milk is in a pot. Bring to a boil. Here is where it gets tricky. Soy milk does not create large bubbles like water when it boils it makes a foam that just keeps rising and will flow over the pot like lava. So, you need to watch it while it comes to the boil and gently stir. Once it comes to the boil (or the foam has risen almost to the top of your pot). Take off the heat and put a lid on until it cools. Soy milk done! If it has a strong bean flavor, you can simmer it for up to 2 hours to mellow the flavor. I find just letting it cool with the lid on, I reach the flavor profile that I like once cooled. You can strain one more time if you have did not use a nut bag and have solids and you want the silky smoothness you get from the store. Once cool you can pour into a container and keep in the fridge. If you like it sweeter, you can add agave or maple syrup to taste. Enjoy your home made soy milk!

and now making tofu…..

5 cups fresh soy milk (made above)

1/2 cup water

1/2 lemon juiced (mix with the 1/2 cup of water)

Super easy, once your fresh soy milk from above has come to the boil. Take off the heat, when the bubbles/foam subsides (you can use a thermometer, let cool to about 160 F) add your lemon juice water. Using a wooden spoon pour half your lemon juice and water mixture into the soy milk . Gently stir to mix. Add the remaining lemon juice water. Gently mix throughout the soy milk. Do not over mix and do not stir like mixing a cake. Gentle swirling of the spoon to mix. You will see what looks like curdling begin to happen. If not, try adding a little more lemon juice. Cover and let sit for about 20 minutes. When you return you will have large clumps of gorgeous tofu curd and clear/light yellow whey liquid. You made tofu! You can lightly salt and gently mix in the salt. Now you need to press it.

Place your tofu press (see shop the story below) into a baking pan to catch the whey that will drain out. Line the press with cheese cloth and spoon in your tofu curds. Cover with cheese cloth, place the lid on the press and weigh it down with anything slightly heavy like a couple of small cans of beans or whatever you have in the pantry (wipe clean). The longer you press and the more weight you add, the firmer your tofu will be. This part of the process can take 1-2 hours if you like extra firm. Once it reaches the firmness you desire, take your tofu out of the cheese cloth and place in a container with cold water to cover and refrigerate for up to 5-7 days ( the video says 1-2 weeks, but we are safety girls and prefer to stay within the safe zone). You can slice and eat right away or label with date made and enjoy the fruits of your labor throughout the week! Tell us if you made it in the comments below. Enjoy!

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a video watch making tofu

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