Homemade tofu recipe with step by step pictures. Learn how to make tofu at home using soy beans and lemon juice. This homemade tofu recipe is very simple with easy to follow steps like my homemade paneer recipe.
Homemade Tofu Recipe
Few of my readers had doubt in tofu, they keep on sending me questions about tofu. Many of them cannot find it in their place. So I decided to create homemade tofu and it is much more easier and quicker.
Many of you think that making tofu is so hard and needs so much effort, but actually speaking it is not a big deal. It is so much simple and easy to make your own. Also Check out my HOMEMADE SOY MILK.
About Homemade Tofu Recipe
Tofu is also known as soy paneer or bean curd. It is made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing it into tofu moulds to create a block of soy paneer.
Soy beans are soaked over night, ground to a fine puree, strained in a cheese cloth to extract soy milk. The soy milk is then cooked and curdled | coagulated with lemon juice, vinegar or nigiri flakes (traditional coagulant).
I have shared the procedure of making tofu at home many years back. I am updating the post with Better pictures, detailed instructions and video.
This is my second attempt in making tofu and I could say that this recipe is fail-proof and makes better tofu with easy steps. I have added few trouble shooting questions along with this recipe.
Similar Recipes,
Nutritionally, Tofu is low in calories and high in protein. It is also high in iron, calcium and magnesium. Tofu is the preferred protein source for vegetarians, vegans.
There are many types of tofu prepared depending on the coagulant and pressing time. Silken tofu is soft and silky tofu which is often used in soups and desserts.
Firm, extra firm tofu is the popular tofu used more widely. One of the most popular recipe using tofu is Mapo tofu.
Ingredients
- Soy Beans - Try to use organic soy beans for making tofu. Good quality beans is necessary. You have to soak the soy beans for atleast 10 hours or overnight which makes the grinding process easier. Sometimes when making tofu you can rub the soaked soy beans to remove the skin from it.
- Water - You will be needing 1 litre of water for every 1 cup of soy beans.
- Coagulant - Today I used Lemon Juice as coagulant
From My Experience
Soy milk can be curdled with any coagulant of choice. I used lemon juice but you can use vinegar to curdle the soy milk instead of lemon juice. Tofu is coagulated or curdled with many coagulant sources.
Some of them are Calcium sulphate (gypsum), Nigari Salts (magnesium chloride combined with calcium chloride)
After grinding and squeezing soy milk, Make sure no soy bean pulp falls into the soy milk. If you find any soy bean pulp, you can strain the soy milk through a fine mesh strainer.
Else the mix may get thick and creamy. Never discard the soy pulp, Soy bean pulp or okara can be used in baking, making pancakes, kneaded into chapati dough. There are tons of recipes online.
And If you don't have tofu press, you can buy it from amazon or use any mould to drain the tofu. The longer you press your tofu the firmer it gets.
Step by Step Pictures
1)Take soy beans. I am using organic soy beans. You can find them in health stores or online.
2)Measure soy beans. Wash them well and soak them for at least 10 hours or overnight.
3)Now beans are soaked. You can see they have expanded quite a bit.
4)Drain them and rinse them in cold water. This helps to remove the fermented smell from the soy beans.
5)Take the rinsed drained beans in a blender.
6)Add 2 litre water to it and puree till smooth. You might need to do it in 2 batches.
8)Now take a large nonstick pot in which you are going to cook the soy milk. Place a colander on top. Place nut milk bag over the colander. Pour the ground soy beans mixture into the nut milk bag.
9)Gently squeeze to remove as much soy milk as possible. You have to keep on squeezing the bag to get the soy milk. Take your time in this step and make sure you get as much soy milk as possible.
10)Once the milk is extracted, the product left in the nut milk bag is called as soy bean pulp or okara. You can make lots of recipes using it. Check my notes section for ideas.
11)This is your soy milk. Now we are going to cook it.
12)Now place the large pot of soy milk on heat. Use a silicon or wooden spatula to keep on stiring the pot since the soy milk has tendency to stick at the bottom.
13)Bring the soy milk to a boil, Keep on mixing since soy milk will boil over.
14)Also you might be seeing some scum forming on top of soy milk, you can remove it using a spoon.
15)Now once the soy milk has started to boil, reduce the flame and cook for 15 mins on low heat, keep stirring all the time. Once 15 mins is over, your soy milk is done.
If you are planning to serve it as soy milk, you might want to stop at this point. You can add honey and vanilla extract to soy milk and enjoy.
Coagulating Tofu
16)But to make tofu. In a bowl mix lemon juice with ½ cup of water. This is your curdling ingredients for making tofu.
17)Place the soy milk back on heat, once it starts to heat up, add in the lemon juice and mix gently.
18)You will see the soy milk starts to curdle instantly.
19)This is your curdled soy milk.
20)Now take a baking tray, place a wire rack on top. Now place your tofu press on top.
21)Line your tofu press with muslin or cheese cloth.
22)Spoon the curdled soy milk over the tofu press.
23)Once u transferred curdled milk on the mould. Cover it over gently with the cheesecloth.
25)Place the tofu press lid and weigh it with any heavy object. I like to use my mortar and pestle. Leave the tofu to drain for at least 1 to 2 hours.
26)Gently remove the tofu from the mould and unwrap.
27)Tofu block.
28)Slice and use as required.
29)You will be getting around 400 to 500 grams or tofu from this recipe.
30)Enjoy.
Expert Tips
- You can use this tofu in all the recipes which calls for tofu.
- If you can get your hands on store bought soy milk then great, you can use those. But for all those who cannot get soy milk, you can make your own.
- While making this, you will get the water which is left from the curdled milk. That is called as whey water, it is very healthy. you can use it to make all kinds of stuffs. Don't throw that away. You can make rasam out of it or use that water to knead chapati dough.
- Grind the soy beans in two batches. Take half of the soy beans in the blender and add 1 litre of water to blend, then extract the milk and then do the other batch for best results.
Storage & Serving Suggestions
You can store tofu in fridge upto a week. Make sure you immerse them in cold water. Change the water regularly.
Fresh homemade tofu can be used in many recipes. I have lots of recipes on the blog using tofu. Here are some of my favourites. Broccoli Tofu Sabzi, Scrambled Tofu, Palak Tofu, Tofu Nuggets.
FAQ
Making tofu at home is very easy. All you need is soy milk and lemon juice. Homemade soy milk is best for maximum nutrients.
It is very cheap to make tofu at home. For making 500 grams of tofu you need just 2 cups of soy beans. So it is ridiculously cheap making tofu at home. Also homemade tofu taste best.
Tofu is very good for health. It is rich in protein and low in calories. 100 grams of homemade tofu has just 76 calories and 8 grams of protein.
Soy beans and lemon juice are your main ingredients for making homemade tofu.
Calcium sulfate is the most traditional and widely used coagulant for tofu. Soy milk can also curdled with lemon juice and vinegar.
If your soy milk has not completely curdled and you already tried adding a few more drops of lemon juice, you may need to heat up your soy milk again. Avoiding to heat up too quickly, use medium heat and get it back up to 160°F. Then turn off the heat, cover and it should finish coagulating.
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Homemade Tofu Recipe | How to Make Tofu at Home
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups Soy Beans
- 2 litre Water
- 2 no Lemons around 4 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ cup Water
Instructions
- Take soy beans a bowl. Rinse it really well. Add lots of water over it and let let it soak overnight (around 10 hours).
- Once the beans are soaked. Drain and rinse in cold water to remove any smell from the beans.
- Take the rinsed drained beans in a blender, Add 2 litre water to it and puree till smooth. You might need to do it in 2 batches.
- Now take a large nonstick pot in which you are going to cook the soy milk. Place a colander on top. Place nut milk bag over the colander.
- Pour the ground soy beans mixture into the nut milk and gently squeeze to remove as much soy milk as possible. You have to keep on squeezing the bag to get the soy milk. Take your time in this step and make sure you get as much soy milk as possible.
- Once the milk is extracted, the product left in the nut milk bag is called as soy bean pulp or okara. You can make lots of recipes using it. Check my notes section for ideas.
- Now place the large pot of soy milk on heat. Use a silicon or wooden spatula to keep on stiring the pot since the soy milk has tendency to stick at the bottom.
- Bring the soy milk to a boil, Keep on mixing since soy milk will boil over. Also you might be seeing some scum forming on top of soy milk, you can remove it using a spoon.
- Now once the soy milk has started to boil, reduce the flame and cook for 15 mins on low heat, keep stirring all the time.
- Once 15 mins is over, your soy milk is done. If you are planning to serve it as soy milk, you might want to stop at this point. You can add honey and vanilla extract to soy milk and enjoy.
- But to make tofu. In a bowl mix lemon juice with ½ cup of water. This is your curdling ingredients for making tofu.
- Place the soy milk back on heat, once it starts to heat up, add in the lemon juice and mix gently. You will see the soy milk starts to curdle instantly.
- Now take a baking tray, place a wire rack on top. Now place your tofu press on top. Line your tofu press with muslin or cheese cloth.
- Spoon the curdled soy milk over the tofu press. Once u transferred curdled milk on the mould. Cover it over gently with the cheesecloth.
- Place the tofu press lid and weigh it with any heavy object. I like to use my mortar and pestle.
- Leave the tofu to drain for at least 1 to 2 hours.
- Gently remove the tofu from the mould and unwrap.
- Slice and use as required.
- You will be getting around 400 to 500 grams or tofu from this recipe.
Video
Unknown
Hi,
My daughter is allergic to milk and she is completely on Soy. Thank you for posting this easy and wonderful tofu recipe. Will definitely try it out.
Gayathri
Ammy
Oh, this recipe is simple and I'm sure that tasty because I have never tasted it but I cannot cook it because my child has an allergy. I thought that it's a huge problem but after reading https://stopallergyguide.com/ I understood that it's not 🙂
Sivani M
how many days will it stay good in fridge? And, do we need to change the water everyday for storing this?
Aarthi
you can keep it for a week in fridge. change water everyday to keep it fresh
Favourite
After cutting into shapes is it ready to serve or do one need to fry it..?🤔🤔
Aarthi
you can use it as it is or pan fry and use.
Mugdha
Hello! Will the lemon leave a sour taste to the homemade that doesn't otherwise come in storebought?
Aarthi
no that is why we are rinsing it.