What did I do this weekend...

...I made tofu from scratch. Bet you didn't see that one coming! We have to do an independent study project for the program I'm studying in. I choose to study tofu. My teacher asked, "What does that have to do with your major and future?" That answer was a stretch, and without directly saying, "Nothing at all, which is why I'm choosing it", I received approval. So, I'm studying tofu! For part of my project I choose to make tofu. So on Sunday I dedicated a few hours of my day to the tofu endeavor.

Armed with my at home tofu making kit:

And my Japanese instruction manual (which was filled with ambiguous directions), I was off!

First was soaking the soy beans over night:

Then blending the beans and water in a mixer or blender. Lesson learned at this point, don't put too much into the mixer, because it will overflow...

I had to blend the beans in shifts, on the left is the blended material.

Then came boiling the blended material. The directions here: You may need to scoop out some of the material, but you may need to add more water...so clear!

After the boiling, I put the soy mixture into a straining cloth

Squeezed out the liquid

This is okara, which is what is left when you make soy milk

So, I was left with okara, the bean remains, soy milk (on the left), and some of the foamy stuff I scraped off during boiling, while simultaneously adding water just to cover all of my bases.

I then had to reboil the soy milk and add nigari, which makes it hard. The directions here were also a little vague...add 80% of the nigari, and then if it's not setting, add more, but be careful not to add too much. Without any point of reference, it is a bit hard to judge what is too much...

So next, I put the concoction into my tofu shaper, so the water could drain out.

Put the lid on

Put something heavy on top to help with the draining process: beer and noodle sauce, of course

And, tah-dah, here is my home made tofu! We ate it for dinner, and evidently I put in too much nigari, because my host mother said, this is really hard tofu! But everyone ate it anyway because they were too nice to do otherwise:) Another experience taken care of!