Making yuba and tofu

[JasonTrue]

Most of the ones that are promoted as some sort of milk substitute, by which I mean 99% of what you see in mainstream U.S. supermarkets, are too low in solids content to be of use for making yuba.

The best is to make your own, but if you have a local Vietnamese, Chinese or possibly even Korean tofu maker nearby making fresh soymilk, they will be selling thick-looking, completely opaque (and most importantly, unsweetened) soy milk which works for the purpose of making yuba. They are usually selling exactly the same kind of soy milk they use for making tofu because their equipment produces it in the process of making tofu.

If you can drink the soy milk warm and think "hey, that sure tastes like soybeans" instead of a more ambiguous "hey, this tastes nothing like milk", you're probably on the right track.

I'm not sure if there's a particular name or label information that tells you if it would work, but if it looks like it's marketed for drinking, and especially if it comes in a tetra-pak, it's probably not the right thing.

The ones I buy from the tofu shops are usually in transparent plastic milk-jug style containers in 1/2 gallon sizes. I'll see if I can post a photo, but it might be of little use in your neck of the woods since it will be from a local tofu maker.

You want  soy milk that is richer than the regular soy milk for making tofu.

←

What is the name for that kind of soy milk?

←

[Kiem Hwa]

I used the Kikkoman Pearl Organic Soymilk (original flavor).

This is my favorite soymilk to drink (actually the green tea flavor is my favorite), but it is sweetened, so in the end I had sugar crystals in the pan after making the yuba, but it still tasted yummy! This brand seems to be pure soymilk also, as opposed to the soymilk substitutes JasonTrue discussed.

[JasonTrue]

actually that's probably one of the "milk substitute" type soymilks I'm thinking of, based on the ingredient list :)

But you'll get what Kyoto folks really mean by yuba if you start with a soy milk that's thick and has only the ingredients soybeans and water.

I used the Kikkoman Pearl Organic Soymilk  (original flavor).

This is my favorite soymilk to drink (actually the green tea flavor is my favorite), but it is sweetened, so in the end I had sugar crystals in the pan after making the yuba, but it still tasted yummy!  This brand seems to be pure soymilk also, as opposed to the soymilk substitutes JasonTrue discussed.

←

[merrybaker]

Thanks for the help. No tofu makers nearby (that I know of), so I'll see what's available at the new Hong Kong Supermarket. I'm sure they'll have Kikkoman soymilk. If I had more energy I'd make my own.

[Kiem Hwa]

I just bought another soymilk made locally. It doesnt have an ingredients list, only it says "made from water and organically grown soybeans".

I'll try making the yuba again (and the gudofu) and see if I can tell a difference in texture versus the Pearl soymilk.

[Kiem Hwa]

What is the best way to rehydrate those delicate dried yuba skins? I just want to do something simple like eat it with shoyu/yuzu koshou or ponzu sauce.

Also, someone mentioned frying the yuba....if it is fried, do you reconstitute it first or can you just fry the dried piece?

I want to eat the yuba my sister just brought me from Japan

[Hiroyuki]

What is the best way to rehydrate those delicate dried yuba skins?  I just want to do something simple like eat it with shoyu/yuzu koshou or ponzu sauce.

Also, someone mentioned frying the yuba....if it is fried, do you reconstitute it first or can you just fry the dried piece?

I want to eat the yuba my sister just brought me from Japan

←

I'm not qualified to answer your question; I'm not a fan of yuba and rarely eat it.

Anyway, here is what I found by googling:

There are two ways to rehydrate dried yuba:

1. Soak it in water for one to three minutes.

2. Spread a loosely wrung cloth, place yuba, and wrap it to soften.

For deep-frying, you must use either fresh or rehydrated yuba.

[JasonTrue]

Kyoto Yuba, or fresh yuba, is a different texture than the dried yuba. When you rehydrate the dried yuba it will be much more chewy than the nama-yuba you would find in Japan.

You can rehydrate yuba just by pouring hot water over it per Hiroyuki's suggestion.

If your yuba is rolled up in a spiral shape, it would work well in soba or udon after being rehydrated, and maybe briefly simmered in kakejiru (dashi with mirin, shouyu and salt). If the yuba is more stick-like, I think it's more suitable for nabe or something like that.

If you rehydrate sheets of yuba you can also wrap it around something (maybe natto and shiso?), hold it together with a toothpick, and fry it, then serve it with some dipping sauce.

There are some companies in Japan, and actually also in China, producing "fresh" yuba that keeps reasonably well either shelf-stable for a few weeks (like I found in Kyoto), or frozen (like I found from a Chinese company at FoodEx Japan). These ones are suitable for ponzu or tsuyu type preparation. But I wouldn't particularly recommend this for dried yuba, because the taste and texture is totally different. Think of it as fresh vs. dried shiitake or konbu; both are good, but you'll never get a decent soup stock out of fresh shiitake or konbu, and you'll never want to make kushiyaki from dried shiitake. Dried yuba is great for soupy applications, fresh is best for just simple dipping sauces and garnishes.

[Kiem Hwa]

My recent creation: Ono (a fish) wrapped in shiso, then yuba. A thin slice of nori wrapped around held it togeather nicely. Then it was fried briefly until the fish was cooked.

I ate this with several sauces: ponzu, a spicy miso, wasabi and shoyu, but it was best with a little bit of wasabi rubbed inside (before cooking), then dipped in ponzu:)

"Ono" is the Hawaiian name for a fish...I think its called Wahoo. What is the Japanese name for this fish?

Here is Ono:

http://www.landbigfish.com/fish/fish.cfm?ID=121

[helenjp]

It's kamasu-sawara

[mrbigjas]

how do you soften the dried yuba? i've bought packages of these a couple of times, and it seems that no matter how i soak them, parts of them don't soften--and the part that does soften always tears when i try to do anything with them. i don't think i'm excessively clumsy, although maybe i am. is there a trick to it?

[sk_ward]

A visit to Kyoto wouldn't be complete without eating yuba!

[shinju]

I like making my own tofu and yuba and make them at least every other week. Since I've been making my own tofu for over 4 years I have gotten better at knowing which type and amount of nigari works best for different types of tofu. For making Zaru Doufu I like using liquid nigari and find that it produces tofu with less bitterness and more softness to tofu. Here is what it looks like:

With some gomadare with spices:

I usually soak enough beans to make one tofu and another batch for making yuba.

Here is what it looks like simmering and cooking in the pan:

I use my finger to lift up yuba much like turning crepes with fingers and insert a long chopstick to dry out for a bit over the pot like this:

Then these are rolled one by one like this:

I've seen some reference to yuba and soy milk being added for making udon. Has anyone ever tasted this? If you have, did you like it? I've thought about making it but not sure what taste and texture I should be aiming for. I assume it's more slippery than normal thick udon?

[artal]

Do you have a recipe or steps to making your yuba?

[Hiroyuki]

Just amazing! And you have a wonderful kitchen!

As for your soy milk (tonyu) udon question, I found one site, which says:

豆乳うどん　製作秘話

小麦粉に豆乳を落とすと、ほっておいてもじわっと染み込む。じっくりと揉んでゆくと、あっという間に柔らかくまるでもち肌だ。

豆乳うどんの製造は、一度やりたいとは思っていたが、なかなか勇気がでなかった。ところが思い切ってやってみるかと、強力粉を半分、薄力粉を半分、それに豆乳を加えてじっくりと練った。固いぐらいの種に全身をこめた。手の温もりが徐々に種を柔らかくし、どれぐらい時間が経っただろうか。終いにビニールの中にくるんでその上にタオルを敷いて、足で踏むこと１0分。それを取り出して冷蔵庫に寝かすこと一晩。翌日、なんともいい感じの丸い塊を幾つかに分けて、せっせと展ばすと、実に伸びがよくなめらかに拡張された。打ち粉がまるでさびの効いた質感を呈している。いいなぁ。このままずっと、見ていたいなぁ。しかし、そそくさと折りたたんで、買い揃えた幅の広い四角い包丁でじぐじぐと切り揃えてゆくと、もうそれだけでいい感じ。ぐらぐらの湯にざっと入れると、一瞬に真っ白になりそれから15分。ついに釜揚げうどんが出来上がった。まずは、生醤油をかけていただくこと一杯。表現の仕様がないのである。

塩も入れないでこしがでるはずがない、とこの道30年の専門家に馬鹿にされたが、食べた彼はその後何も言わなくなったのである。

I'm glad I don't have to translate it for you.

Another site says it's chewy and firm.

弾むような歯ごたえとコシは今までにない驚き味です 。やさしく豆乳が香ります。

[shinju]

Do you have a recipe or steps to making your yuba?

←

Hi Artal - let me get all the info for posting a recipe tomorrow. Like making bread, pasta, udon, soba, ice cream and such, making tofu and yuba takes practice. Don't give up too quickly. My first effort in making tofu seemed fine (at least it looked ok), but in retrospect the taste was lacking and perhaps too bitter. The same with yuba. My first few attempts produced yuba that was very wet and not well set.

[shinju]

Just amazing!  And you have a wonderful kitchen!

As for your soy milk (tonyu) udon question, I found one site, which says:

豆乳うどん　製作秘話

小麦粉に豆乳を落とすと、ほっておいてもじわっと染み込む。じっくりと揉んでゆくと、あっという間に柔らかくまるでもち肌だ。

豆乳うどんの製造は、一度やりたいとは思っていたが、なかなか勇気がでなかった。ところが思い切ってやってみるかと、強力粉を半分、薄力粉を半分、それに豆乳を加えてじっくりと練った。固いぐらいの種に全身をこめた。手の温もりが徐々に種を柔らかくし、どれぐらい時間が経っただろうか。終いにビニールの中にくるんでその上にタオルを敷いて、足で踏むこと１0分。それを取り出して冷蔵庫に寝かすこと一晩。翌日、なんともいい感じの丸い塊を幾つかに分けて、せっせと展ばすと、実に伸びがよくなめらかに拡張された。打ち粉がまるでさびの効いた質感を呈している。いいなぁ。このままずっと、見ていたいなぁ。しかし、そそくさと折りたたんで、買い揃えた幅の広い四角い包丁でじぐじぐと切り揃えてゆくと、もうそれだけでいい感じ。ぐらぐらの湯にざっと入れると、一瞬に真っ白になりそれから15分。ついに釜揚げうどんが出来上がった。まずは、生醤油をかけていただくこと一杯。表現の仕様がないのである。

塩も入れないでこしがでるはずがない、とこの道30年の専門家に馬鹿にされたが、食べた彼はその後何も言わなくなったのである。

I'm glad I don't have to translate it for you.

Another site says it's chewy and firm.

弾むような歯ごたえとコシは今までにない驚き味です 。やさしく豆乳が香ります。

←

[shinju]

Thank you Hiroyuki for the info on Soy Milk Udon. I might give it a try next week. I've been itching to make soba and udon again. Usually udon turns out ok (my grandmother used to make homemade udon often and I learned how to make it from hearing how she made it through my mother), but the last time I made soba, it did not come out well and I want to make better soba again.

Also, thank you for your compliment on my kitchen. My husband and I gutted and rebuilt the kitchen ourselves.

[Culinista]

I had yet another disastrous attempt at making tofu over the weekend (using liquid nigari, total blind guess as to amount--guessed wrong). My husband called it "soy vomit."

I'd love to have a recipe that works.

[Dianabanana]

God that looks delicious!

I've only had fresh yuba once, but it was extraordinary. My husband and I were visiting Nikko on a freezing February day. By the time we thought of dinner it was getting dark already, and we discovered that many of the restaurants were closed for the season. After a long, ridiculous comedy of errors, stumbling around in the dark, unable to speak the language, abandoned by our taxi driver, frozen to the bone--miracle of miracles, the door to a beautiful French chateau opens and we are greeted in perfect English by a lovely young man who had been an exchange student in Kansas!

The restaurant was technically closed; I don't know what they were doing there. Somehow the topic of yuba came up and we expressed an interest--so although it was a classical French restaurant, no yuba on the menu, this lovely young man disappeared into the kitchen and began to produce course after course featuring milky fresh yuba. We were the only people in the big, dimly lit chateau. What a strange and wonderful evening.

[shinju]

I apologize for not posting the instructions earlier.

I make tofu and yuba basically following instructions from “The Book of Tofu” by Shurtleff and Aoyagi with some minor tweaks. You can make yuba either by soaking soy beans or buying soy milk. I don’t buy soy milk and instead purchase soy beans online from a farmer in Midwest.

Ingredients:

1 ½ C whole dried soybeans, washed, soaked in enough water to cover completely for at least 8 hours. I usually soak overnight

7 ½ C water

2 C hot water

2 C hot water

Instructions:

1. Boil 7 ½ C water in a large non-stick pot.

2. Divide drained beans in 2 equal portions. Blend one portion of beans with 2 C hot water and pour this into the non-stick pot containing 7 ½ C boiling water. Repeat with remaining beans.

3. Place a colander over a large bowl (I usually have two bowls ready for this). Colander should be lined with cheese cloth or preferably cotton straining bag. Extract milk. Be careful, it’s very hot. I use a canning jar pushing down on the bag to extract milk. Now you have soy milk and okara. Use okara for other uses.

4. Pour the milk into a wide non-stick pot and heat the soy milk to 175 F. It takes about 7 min for yuba to form. Wait until the yuba is attached to the walls of the pot. Don’t rush it. For more delicate yuba, see variation below.

5. Trim film away from the pot using a small knife and with your fingertips lift up one edge of yuba and insert a long chopstick underneath to lift up. Drain over the pot for a few seconds. Repeat until soy milk is all used up. What’s left in the pot is red film known as amayuba (a delicacy on it's own). Scrape this off too with spatula.

6. Roll each yuba into rolls.

Variation:

Half formed yuba takes 4 to 5min steaming before the yuba has had the chance to attach to the sides of pot instead of 7 min steaming . Using your fingertips lift the yuba (very delicate) and serve immediately.

[shinju]

God that looks delicious!

I've only had fresh yuba once, but it was extraordinary. My husband and I were visiting Nikko on a freezing February day. By the time we thought of dinner it was getting dark already, and we discovered that many of the restaurants were closed for the season. After a long, ridiculous comedy of errors, stumbling around in the dark, unable to speak the language, abandoned by our taxi driver, frozen to the bone--miracle of miracles, the door to a beautiful French chateau opens and we are greeted in perfect English by a lovely young man who had been an exchange student in Kansas!

The restaurant was technically closed; I don't know what they were doing there. Somehow the topic of yuba came up and we expressed an interest--so although it was a classical French restaurant, no yuba on the menu, this lovely young man disappeared into the kitchen and began to produce course after course featuring milky fresh yuba. We were the only people in the big, dimly lit chateau. What a strange and wonderful evening.

←

What a wonderful story. : My first taste of fresh yuba was also in Nikko many years ago. Were the dishes he served French or Japanese?

[Dianabanana]

God that looks delicious!

I've only had fresh yuba once, but it was extraordinary. My husband and I were visiting Nikko on a freezing February day. By the time we thought of dinner it was getting dark already, and we discovered that many of the restaurants were closed for the season. After a long, ridiculous comedy of errors, stumbling around in the dark, unable to speak the language, abandoned by our taxi driver, frozen to the bone--miracle of miracles, the door to a beautiful French chateau opens and we are greeted in perfect English by a lovely young man who had been an exchange student in Kansas!

The restaurant was technically closed; I don't know what they were doing there. Somehow the topic of yuba came up and we expressed an interest--so although it was a classical French restaurant, no yuba on the menu, this lovely young man disappeared into the kitchen and began to produce course after course featuring milky fresh yuba. We were the only people in the big, dimly lit chateau. What a strange and wonderful evening.

←

What a wonderful story. : My first taste of fresh yuba was also in Nikko many years ago. Were the dishes he served French or Japanese?

←

Sorry for not checking back in sooner . . . the yuba dishes all skewed Japanese-- for instance yuba "sashimi", then a sort of maki sushi but with yuba instead of nori and impossibly thinly sliced vegetables (no rice)--that sort of thing. We also had a few French dishes, including a corn bisque and trout amandine. The restaurant was supposedly closed for the season, yet they produced all of these highly perishable and impeccably fresh ingredients like fresh yuba and trout. I really don't understand it.

[Shaun Ginsbourg]

This recipe will produce a 12 x 19 x ~5cm, ~1kg block of chinese – style tofu that is semi-soft but able to withstand careful stir frying and deep-frying. It is perfect for ma po dofu, which in my view is one of the world's greatest dishes. The technique is adapted from The Book of Tofu, by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi.

I have used calcium sulphate (gypsum) as my coagulant. It is easy to work with and cheap. Magnesium chloride (nigari), which the Japanese use, is supposed to produce better tasting tofu, but I have found it is more difficult to get a good smooth texture because of the speed at which it coagulates.

Tofu making is a fickle process. The results will vary according to the quality of the soybeans, coagulant and water used, as well as numerous other factors such as the temperature at which beans are soaked and coagulant added, the length of time the milk is boiled, and the care with which curds are handled. A process that produces excellent tofu one day can fail the next day for no apparent reason.

A tofu forming box is highly desireable, if not essential. I built my own wooden box, based on some I saw on the internet. The quantities used in this recipe are designed for my forming box (dimensions below). The box you use should have plenty of holes in the bottom and sides to allow whey to drain away. The box should be nice and deep (high) so that it can hold all the unpressed curds necessary to make a block of decent thickness. Ideally it should have straight rather than tapered sides (as most plastic containers do) so that the lid can cover the entire top surface of tofu block yet lower as the curds are pressed and release liquid.

With practice, the following technique will take about 45 minutes time in the kitchen, omitting soaking time for the beans (10 hours or more) and cooling time for the finished tofu (one or two hours), but including washing up, which you can do whilst your pot is on the stove. A soymilk – making machine might reduce this time, although I have not tried it.

Sure, you can get decent, fresh tofu from a shop for a couple of bucks without all this trouble. But if you love tofu, you will enjoy the superior flavour of the home-made product.

Ingredients

420 g (2 1/3 cups) soybeans

3 ½ l of water

2 ¼ tsp calcium sulphate powder or gypsum

Equipment

Muslin or cheesecloth, preferably cut into two 50 and 60 cm square pieces

10 l heavy - bottomed pot

Forming box 12cm W * 19cm L * 13cm H

Large soup ladle or teacup

Blender or food processor

a 2 l jug and two large bowls

kitchen gloves

wide paddle or spatula

Method

Wash soybeans in three changes of water and soak them at room temperature in triple their volume of cold water for at least ten hours.

Wash the soaked beans once more then drain.

Full the pot with one litre of hot water and set on a hot stove.

Working in batches, fill the blender or food processor with beans ¼ - 1/3 full and cover well with water. Puree until you can no longer see bits of beans. Aim to leave ½ - 1 l of water. Transfer the puree to the pot and stir occasionally to prevent burning. After transferring the last batch, use some of the remaining water to rinse the puree left in the processor into the pot.

Bring to the boil, stirring. Remove from the heat immediately.

Line a bowl with the 60cm square piece of muslin and pour in the bean puree, working in batches if necessary. Wearing kitchen gloves, gather up the edges of the muslin, bring them together, and vigorously squeeze out as much milk into the bowl as possible. Leave the solids inside the muslin. Run cold water over your hands from time to time to relieve them from the heat.

Once you have squeezed out all the puree, place the muslin filled with bean solids inside an empty bowl and open out. Pour over the remaining water and leave to sit. Scrub out the pot, fill it with the milk you have already squeezed out, and set it on a medium hot stove. Gather up the edges of the muslin, and squeeze out the remaining milk into the pot.

Bring the milk to the boil, stirring to prevent it burning. Simmer for 5 – 7 minutes. Remove from the heat. Leave to cool a few minutes (to 90 degrees Celsius if you have a thermometer). Unless you want yuba to form on top of the milk, you can stir it occasionally to help it cool.

Combine the calcium sulphate with about 1/3 cup cold water and stir well to dissolve. Place the paddle in the milk and sweep it back and forth in the milk from one side of the pot to the other. The aim is to get the milk circulating around the pot without splashing it around. With your free hand, give the calcium sulphate mixture a stir and quickly sprinkle it over the surface of the milk. Gradually shorten the sweep of the paddle until bringing it to rest in the middle of the milk. Do not sweep the paddle for more than about 5 seconds after to have added the coagulant. The aim of the exercise is to ensure the coagulant is distributed through the milk without breaking the curds that begin to form once it has been added.

Leave the milk undisturbed for about 10 minutes. Carefully line the forming box with the dampened, 50cm square piece of muslin and set it in the sink or a place where the whey can drain out from the box.

Using the ladle or tea cup, very carefully scoop the curds that hopefully have formed in the milk and transfer them to the box, filling it evenly. The less broken the curds, the better the texture of the finished product will be. You should see a clear separation between translucent solid curds and clear whey. If not, add more coagulant mixed with water. Do not transfer uncoagulated milk to the forming box, as this will simply drain out the bottom. On the other hand, avoid adding further coagulant unless absolutely necessary – the less coagulant you use, the better the texture of the finished product.

Once you have transferred all the curds, carefully fold the excess muslin over the top. Try to distribute the excess muslin evenly so that the top face of the tofu block is a flat as possible. Place the lid on the box and top with weights: about 2 2-1/2 kg is ideal. Leave the weights on the tofu for ½ and hour and then check the firmness of your tofu at 15 or 20 minute intervals. The tofu is ready when whey has stopped draining out of the box or when the firmness is that of well set jelly.

Place the box in a bucket or sink full or cold water and carefully remove the muslin block from the box. Leave a few hours before carefully removing the muslin and transferring the block to a sealed contained where it can be covered with water and placed in the fridge. Change the water daily and the tofu will last at least a week.