When I was in pune tofu was easily available in any super market in Aundh  and almost all parts in pune . when I came to delhi somehow I couldn’t find it ,So I thought of making it at home only …tofu is a soybean paneer and has lot of health benefits.its also called as bean curd.  Due to high protein content in tofu it is considered as vegetarian meat. Its tastes like paneer and are low in fats as compare to paneer made from milk. There r lots of nutritional benefits of tofu which I come to know from lots of health magazines and internet gyan which are enough for me to give an extra effort to make it at home only. Well soya beans are easily available in any grocery stores … I make soymilk from soya bean and then make tofu from it. You can make almost every dish from tofu which you make from paneer from milk. You can make tofu paneer  , palak tofu , stir fried tofu , tofu salads , parathas with grated spicy tofu filling and you can use it in lots Chinese ,Japanese and Korean cuisines. To make soy paneer or tofu we have to coagulate soymilk ..coagulation of soy milk can be done in many ways , like by adding magnesium chloride, salt ,vinegar ,lemon etc….i prefer to coagulate from lemon juice … for me tofu taste better when it is coagulated by lemon juice …lemon also removes beany (soya bean ) taste from soy paneer  … Well beany taste of tofu can be removed by whisking soy milk when its boiling  and removing the froth from it & I had also dehull (removing the shell or skin of soybean) soybean after soaking it into water,  this also helps to  make tofu taste good.. [ingredients title=”Ingredients”]

• 1 cup soya bean
• Water for cleaning and soaking soya bean
• 8 cups of water to make soymilk
• Muslin cloth or any thin cloth to set tofu
• ½ cup vinegar

[/ingredients] [directions title=”Directions”]

1. Wash soya beans with water and Soak it for 14-16 hours in clean water …
2. Cook this soaked soya bean with water for 9 – 10 minutes in same container and let it cool down, this will make easy to remove hulls (skin or shell) of soya beans. Now knead the soya beans and flush the loose hulls with water . this will take 10 minutes and is the only tedious procedure in making soymilk . One alternative method is to crack the soya beans in pieces before soaking, in this procedure kneading is not require as hull come loose easily and you can wash them off. One more benefit is if you use cracked soya beans there is no need to soak soya beans for 16 hours  in 6-8 hours its get soaked  nicely ..but the only thing you remember is don’t make small pieces of soya bean before soaking otherwise it will wash off with hulls…personally I prefer  cooking  the soaked soybean with water for 10 minutes and knead it to remove the hull.

3. 

   

4. 

   

   In a grinder put all the dehulled soya beans and grind with 2 cups of clean water to make soya milk … now grind it until smooth..

   

5. 

   Then pour soyabean mixture into muslin cloth or thin cloth and hold it over a big pot and squeeze out soy milk as much as you can, now put the soyabean pulp back in the grinder and with 2 more cups of water grind it again and strain the mixture again in the same pot using muslin cloth and squeeze it nicely you have to repeat this procedure with  all 8 cups of water

   

6. Now your raw soya milk is ready for …put it on flame and cook it on high heat , stir the mixture continuously  as soymilk sticks to the the bottom of container while boiling whisk it with spoon  while boiling and remove all  foam and layer from the soymilk

   

7. 

   Now add ½ cup of vinegar the soymilk should begin to curdle , if its not add little more vinegar in it  and remove it from the flame & strain  it with muslin cloth or cheese cloth …now wash All the cuddled soybean  collected in the cheese cloth with fresh cold water 3- 4 times ,  bring the muslin cloth together  and while doing this squeeze the curdled soymilk .Now place a heavy weight on the top of the muslin cloth with curdled soymilk i.e. tofu for at least 1/2 hour  so that the all the particle of tofu will come close together to form a firm block of tofu .

   

   

8. 

   

   

   Now remove the block of tofu from muslin cloth and cut into any size or shape you want for your further preparation or keep it in water and cut when it is required..

   

9. Tofu should be kept in water otherwise it gets dry and keep it in refrigerator ….

   

10. This procedure sounds little big but once you make soya paneer  / tofu at home you will find it very easy , inexpensive and healthy . you can even keep this soymilk plain and use it to drink plain soymilk or any other flavor you want to add in it

[/directions]

Tips for making soymilk tofu

1. Use fresh soymilk to make tofu.
2. When you curdled soymilk by using vinegar wash it 3-4 times to remove all the vinegar flavor from it
3. Remove all the foam from soymilk when its boiling and remove the layer formed on the milk Whisk the milk with spoon when its boiling , this will make foam and you can remove it off easily.
4. By removing the foam you can reduce he beany taste of tofu and it taste good Tofu can be stored in refrigerator for 2 – 3 days.
5. Use fresh tofu .