I love tofu, and I mean love. Not to be a stereotypical vegan, but it’s one of my favorite foods. It’s warm and satisfying and a beautiful palate for whatever flavors you throw at it.
It’s good in a creamy tomato spinach sauce. Or Jerk style. It is delicious covered in a peanut-y pad thai sauce. Or just marinate it in your favorite BBQ sauce or a light combo of maple syrup, tamari and apple cider vinegar and bake it to go into sandwiches.
It’s delicious.
But it’s sold in a plastic carton or package, and my soy milk comes in cartons… I wonder how many our family consumes in a year, and what the waste we create looks like? I wonder how recycleable those cartons are. Our town won’t recycle the soft plastic anymore.
So I decided we should try making our own!
It’s work, but a lot of it is hands off. The first step is actually homemade soy milk – you can’t make your own tofu from most store-bought soy milks because the additives prevent it from separating into curds and whey.
Will this replace our store-bought tofu and soy milk? I can’t imagine it will… but just like my homemade bread occasionally reduces our bread purchases, this is a fun way to reduce our use of plastics and make a food staple from scratch.
Andrew loved helping!
Here’s a video of the process that I created on Instagram:
You can find a lot of helpful instructions online, including this recipe from ChefSteps and this Huffington Post How-To.
Wondering what to do with leftover Okara? This Okara “Crab Cakes” recipe was recommended to me by someone in the Zero-Waste Vegans Facebook Group. Yup, that’s a group. There seems to be a Facebook group for everything! They can be an incredible resource for crowd-sourcing information and solutions from like-minded people. (Especially well-moderated ones that maintain a positive atmosphere.) I’ve gotten great tips from Plant-Powered Families, a FB group created by Dreena Burton, and I’m in some running groups and a local group for my town as well. (Coyote sightings, where to find the best pizza… it’s a source of fabulous info.)
I hope you are having a fabulous Monday, and that if there’s something in your life that’s been bugging you, you can find a solution!
Cheers, to home-made tofu.