I was introduced to this just recently through the beautiful Tess Masters who runs (amongst many other amazing things), an amazingly thorough, nurturing and supportive eating plan called SK60. She lives in both the US and Australia and apparently this tofu is THE THING in the US, but can't be found here in Australia yet - and who wants to miss out on that?
I've had a making tofu 'era' so hopped to it. A fun thing for dabblers is that you don't need any coagulant - the ingredients are simply Pumpkin Seeds and Water. You do need a blender for this - and soaking time. And won't end up with a lot of 'tofu' compared to the amount of pumpkin seeds you put in. But. This is GORGEOUS, bouncy, creamy, nutty and full of protein. It's easy to coat this and flavour it as a snack or as you would any tofu. But it is bouncy, and soft and creamy and very good for you.
This is now on rotation in my kitchen. We have gorgeous Raw Pumpkin Seeds from just down the road near Myrtleford here in Victoria - Pepo Farms!
Ingredients
Pumpkin Seeds
Water
EQUIPMENT
Bowl for soaking
strainer
blender
slotted spoon
nut bag or finely woven cloth
saucepan
container with holes (tofu or cheese press)
HOW TO
Soak pumpkin seeds overnight
Strain and rinse pumpkin seeds
Put the strained seeds into the blender with enough water to cover them by about an eight
blend until smoothe
Pour this mash into a nut bag - it shouldn't be thin - but also pour fairly easily into the nut bag
squeeze this bag as hard as you can - we are catching the juice into a pan or bowl. You'll want to keep going -this is the labour intensive part. Keep squeezing until it is like silky damp sand, or clay. The liquid is what makes your tofu - so you want to spend some time getting as much liquid as possible.
There is quite a lot of left over 'mash'. I save this in a zip-lock or a container in the freezer for another time. This is great for crackers or veggie burgers! (We made a batch of miso with the first round (26/01/25) and are still waiting to see how that turns out. Will let you know - so far it smells SO SO good.
You will likely need to do this in several batches.
Once you've pushed and squeezed every bit of liquid out possible - sit the liquid for 10 minutes or even an hour to have a rest and then when you're ready - carefully pour the liquid into your saucepan.
Now for the fun bit! Heat the pan - keep stirring - I use a flat ended wooden spoon - and keep stirring until it starts coagulating - it won't take that long - but if waiting makes you nervous and you have a thermometer - use that as a guide because it generally starts to coagulate at about 75 - 80c.
It will coagulate to the point that you can pick it up with a flat slotted spoon and into the awaiting cloth lined press.
Pop it all into the press, pushing down and making sure to get it into the corners. When it's all in there - get the back of a spoon and push it and spread it and when you're happy with that - cover it with the rest of the cloth and put the covering lid on and weight it. I use a container to keep the pressing tofu in as there'll be more liquid overnight.
I leave mine on the kitchen bench overnight - but if you prefer - pop it into the fridge. Pull it out gently - enjoy the block! Pop into a container - I have wrapped mine in paper and in layers in a plastic container.
I leave mine in a solid block until I use it.
