Hello Tofu Lovers!
Yes! Many of you requested me to show you all how to make fresh tofu. So I’ll be showing you my mom style by using lemon juice to make the tofu curd. Fresh, natural, and super delicious. Tofu is quite easy to make, it just takes time. There are many ways to coagulate soymilk into tofu curds. You can use vinegar, nigari, salt water, pineapple juice, tamarind juice, lemon juice; pretty much any fruit that contains acid. My grandma uses tamarind juice and it works pretty well too. We will be using lemons today since they are easy to find and also super light and delightful in this recipe. And yes, if you have a tofu press, by all mean use it! I don’t make tofu often to fully commit to having a tofu press in my pantry haha. Where do you buy it? Look online. So I hope you all give it a try. Happy Cooking! 🙂
What do you like to make with tofu?
*Just be mindful that whatever acid you end up using the ratio will be different since they all have different levels of acidity (sorry I cannot help you with the ratio if you end up using other acids)
Main ingredients
Soybeans: Dried soybeans should be soaked for at least 6 hrs before using. I like to soak mine for 24 hrs to allow the soybeans to bloom properly.
Soak in cold water for 24 hrs
After 24 hrs
Drain the soaking water and rinse well
Blend in a blender with the recommended amount of water and then put it through a colander with a mesh cloth over a big pot to strain out the soy milk.
Put the soy milk through strainer to get rid of grits and then boil to get rid of the raw soybean taste
After cooking the soy milk, add in the lemon juice & water to coagulate the soy milk. 
After 20 minutes we get tofu curds
Put the curds through a tofu press or a colander with a cheese cloth. In my case, I’ll be using my bamboo steamer with a cheese cloth to hold and drain the curds.
Fill it pretty full since it will reduce to half its size when being pressed down.
After being pressed for a good 30 minutes to get firm/extra firm tofu
Cut into pieces and cook to your liking! Super easy and delish! 🙂 
Enjoy!
-CHawjCreations
Ingredients
- 3 lbs dried soy beans (soaked in cold water overnight)
- 5 liters of water to blend the already soaked beans (21-22 cups)
- ½ cup (4 oz) lemon juice with 1 cup room temp water
- ---TOOLS etc---
- Cheesecloth or mesh cloth
- Strainer & pots
- Tofu press or a colander/bamboo steamer
- A plate & weights
- Blender
Instructions
1) In a big bowl, add in the dried soybeans. Add cold water and fill it pretty generously and allow the soybeans to soak overnight. Check the water level at round 4-6 hrs. Add more water if you notice the beans have absorb the water from earlier.
2) After 24 hrs, drain and rinse the beans well. Discard any bad looking beans.
3) Measure 5 liters of water into a big pot and have it next to your blender and soybeans. Also have a big pot with a colander and a mesh cloth or big cheese cloth over it. We will pour the blended soybeans over it.
4) In a blender, add in soybeans and water. Blend until the beans are nice and blended and the water has become milky. Depending on the size of your blender you may need to add more or less. Blend and use up all the soybeans and 5 liters of water. For each blend, strain the soybeans in the colander with the mesh cloth. Allow the soy milk to strain out into the big pot. Press the milk out for faster rate. Continue to do this until all the blended soybeans are strained out into the pot.
5) Once strained, remove the colander with the soybean pulp. You can discard the pulp or find recipes to use up the pulp. The pot should now contain soy milk. You can put the soy milk through sieve to remove any unwanted grit. Then we can start cooking it.
6) Let the soy milk come to a boil while constantly stirring it to prevent the bottom from burning. Once it reaches a boil. Let it simmer for a good 5 minutes or so to get rid of the raw soybean taste (keep stirring and keep an eye on the soy milk so it doesn't over boil). Then turn off the heat. You can again put the heated soy milk through a sieve again to keep it grit free.
7) In a measuring cup, add in the 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice and 1 cup of water. Then pour it over the heated soy milk and just slightly mix it. Then cover and let it sit for a good 20 minutes to allow the lemon juice to create the tofu curds.
8) After 20 minutes, tofu curds should have been created. Ladle the curds onto a cheesecloth over a bamboo strainer or a tofu press or any colander. Fill as much curds as you can. Cover with the cheese cloth and put a plate on top and add weights on top to draw out the excess water (I used cans). The longer you let it sit with the weights on the firmer the tofu. If you want medium to soft tofu, you may only need to press it for a good 5 minutes or so.
9) Once pressed to your desire texture, take the tofu out and cut to your liking to be used for cooking. Store in an airtight container with water for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Have fun and enjoy! 🙂
4 comments
Hello, if I’m making a smaller batch like half a cup of soybeans…. what is the ratio of soymilk to lemon juice? Is it 1 tsp of lemon juice per cup of soymilk? Thank you for this recipe!
Hmm. That’s a little harder to scale since it’s quite a small batch. I’d say around 2 tsp of lemon juice to make sure it curds.
Hi Cindy, I was curious if you wouldn’t mind giving me a couple of tips. I tried to follow your recipe but swapped dried chickpeas for the soybeans and wasn’t able to get the desired result. I believe the main problem was that I overcooked the milk trying to bring it to a boil. For some reason it just took a long time to bring to a boil (about 15 minutes on high heat). By the time I added the lemon juice it never curdled but rather just remained thick like a reduction. Would you have any tips for using chickpeas?
Also, I love the idea of using tamarind juice to make curds. I found tamarind concentrate at the store. Any suggestions to make a juice that would work in the recipe? Thank you!
Super excited to try this I’ve tried to make tofu before but the recipe called for fresh ocean water made me really uncomfortable so I’m really excited to try it with lemon