Monday, January 30, 2012

Soy Free Homemade 'Tofu' (Burmese Chickpea Nofu)

  With so few options for meats, I find myself looking to vegan recipes alot lately (since they don't include eggs or milk either). Invariably, they call for some form of tofu or textured vegetable protein, and with soy now off the table that was posing a problem for us. But then I found out that there are actually many types of 'tofu'. Tofu is made from soy bean curd, but there is also Nofu (or Tohu) made from chickpeas, Goma-Dofu made from sesame seed, and even some made from peanuts, peas, and even rice.

  Anyway, soy free 'tofu' products are not something many people know about, and it's definately hard to find in even the most open minded specialty grocery stores. But that's ok, because I found a recipe on The Republic of Bunny for homemade chickepea nofu, and it is great! Bob's Red Mill sells chickpea/fava bean flour mix that I actually found at Walmart of all places, so it shouldn't be something that is too hard to get ahold of. Bob's also sells a black bean flour that I am really interested in trying with this recipe!

  This recipe takes a day (with only 25 minutes of active time though), but it makes a whole lot so if you start in on Saturday night you'll have at least enough to get you through the week! You can use this in much the same way as you would use regular tofu; I cut some into 1 inch cubes and fried them with olive oil, bell peppers, onions, and a little salt and served them as a protein rich version of country homefries, and it was GOOD! You could also bread and bake it for 'chicken' parmesan, crumble it in fried rice to take place of the egg, use it to replace ricotta in a lasagna, etc. The possibilities are vast!

Burmese Tofu (Nofu)

1 1/2 cup chickpea flour (I used a chickpea/fava bean flour mix from Bob's Red Mill)
4 1/2 cups water
a pinch of tumeric (if you don't have any don't worry, I don't think it's really necessary at all)
1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
You will also need a 6+ cup container with a lid and a loaf pan.

Mix the flour and water together in the container, stir to combine. Cover and let sit 12 hours. If you used a transparent container, you will see that the mixture has seperated into a light colored liquid on top and an opaque 'sludge' on the bottom.
Lightly oil a large saucepan and your loaf pan. Pour off the liquid part into your saucepan, reserving the sludge for later. Add salt and tumeric, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and stir continuously for 15 minutes. I'm sorry there is so much stirring involved but it really is important to keep this moving or it will get lumpy!
Once the 15 minutes are up, pour the 'sludge' from the container into the saucepan and stir for another 5 minutes. It's going to thicken up quickly and, if you are a wimp like me, near the end it'll take two arms to stir, but keep it moving!
Pour the mixture into your loaf pan and refrigerate for 12 hours to set. Once it's set, slice it and use it as you would regular tofu.

This is only about 1/5 of the amount this recipe makes.

I sliced mine into 'steaks' and put them in a Tupperware container to keep them from drying out.

29 comments:

  1. For someone who never had an interest in cooking as a kid I am always just floored by the talent you seem to have for this. Your recipes kick butt!!!

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  2. Sweet Abby
    You are helping other parents in ways you cannot imagine !
    Your determination and ingenuity are an inspiration even to this
    "old granny".
    <3

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  3. I was tentative, but made it this morning! not a fan of tofu, but this Nofu was pretty tasty! Mine did not turn out super smooth since I ground my own bean flour in the Ninja, but next time I will use super fine...

    Got a dairy free,soy free,nut free, seed free, gluten free cheesecake in the pressure cooker right now! Between your Nofu and sour cream made from coconut milk cream- the batter was amazing! Fingers crossed it tastes as good cooked!
    Thanks for sharing! http://mitochondrialdepletionsyndrome.blogspot.com/

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    1. I'm so glad the Nofu worked out for you! Thank you for taking the time to comment, and please share your cheesecake recipe if it works out!!

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    2. I have vitamix myself. Just sift your flour through a fine sieve and grind the rest again!

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  4. I tried out this recipe and it turned out absolutely delicious! So glad to have found it as I have been trying to go off soy. Its a wonderful way to add variety

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  5. Vishalini, I'm so glad to hear it! Thank you for commenting!

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  6. when you are letting the flour/water mixture sit for 12 hours, is that in the refrigerator?

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    1. Gianna, no, I just let it sit out on the counter. It may work just fine in the fridge but I've never done it that way and can't say for sure!

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  7. Abby, can you fry or bake this? I am hoping to make a mock general tso's do you think it would work? Thank you so much for this recipe!

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    1. Katie, yes, you can use it just like soy based tofu! I'd say the consistency is similar to firm regular tofu. I have fried this both in a deep fryer and pan fried, as well as breaded and baked it and it works great! :D

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  8. Love the look of this Nofu, I ate it in Myanmar and it was magic in soups. Happy days, lee @ thebeachhousekitchen.wordpress.com

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  9. Have an odd question. Why do you need to boil this for 15 min? I made it and the broth didn't change...it didn't thicken or anything...til I added the sludge.
    I was thinking that it might be to convert the starches and things that would be concentrated in the broth...but I start out with soaked, sprouted and toasted flour...so wondering if I really need to do all that initial cooking?

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    1. You know honestly I don't know what the significance is. I got this recipe from the site The Republic of Bunny (link above) and other than using a chickpea/fava flour blend rather than just chickpea flour, I've followed the recipe as written each time. You could certainly try it without boiling it for as long, maybe in a small batch so if it doesn't come out correctly you aren't wasting a good amount. Please let me know how it turns out!

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  10. I keep asking, begging actually, DOES ANYONE HAVE A RECIPE FOR tofu made from coconut milk or almond milk or plain old rice flour? I am allergic to all these bean flours everyone seems to INSIST on using. Online searches are useless, as I get the same useless pages over and over.

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    1. I'm sorry you are having such a difficult time. You are probably coming into trouble because because tofu means "bean curd" so people don't really make it from anything else. I think if you make it from almonds it's probably closer to marzipan. I don't know what you are wanting to do with it exactly but I'll offer you a suggestion: try boiling a cup of plain unsweetened coconut/almond/rice milk and then whisk in a teaspoon or so of agar agar powder. Remove from heat and pour into whatever smooth dish or mold you want because it will take that shape. Once it reaches room temp, it's the consistency and texture of hard boiled egg whites and can be sliced, chopped, etc. You can even flavor it with salt or other seasonings before you add the agar if you want. (A bit of salt and kala namak makes it really tastes like eggs if you want to use it for that like in vegan egg salad or fried rice, check out my vegan deviled egg recipe.)
      I don't know how it holds up under heat, like if you were to bread it and fry it, but you're more than welcome to try it for yourself. :) Have a great day!

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    2. Thank you for your response. I am trying to make veggie burgers and many seem to call for some form of tofu. You lost me at kala namak. I have no clue what this is, and I am not stuck on bean curd, but it seems the veggie burger makers are. I don't care what it comes from as long as it is dairy, soy and gluten free.

      I will give your suggestion a try and I SO appreciate your noting it. Thank you so much.

      I wonder about tofu made from coconut milk, almond milk, or that So Delicious Brand of Kefir. I have always understood tofu to be kind of a tangy-bland product that takes on the taste of what you cook it in. Sort of a meat sub in something as I used to use it in my chicken soup or stir fry's - - actually I used "Lightlife" brand plain tempeh in them and it was SO yummy, but I can no longer have any soy products other than lecithin. I would think that given all the dialogue of late about food allergies that some company would develop soy free tofu, like they have margarine, parmesan and other gluten, soy and dairy free cheeses, etc. But, just my thoughts. I actually read about Thailand making rice tofu, so began my search to make this.
      You have a great day also.
      Heading for you vegan deviled egg and others now.
      thanks again.

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    3. So you need a veggie burger recipe that is dairy, soy, gluten, and bean free. Perhaps you could try a variation of my quinoa tater tots recipe http://livingwhilelivingwithout.blogspot.com/2012/05/crispy-quinoa-tots-vegan-wheatgluten.html
      replacing the 1/2 cup of garbanzo beans with cooked potato, or a few slices of ground up gluten free bread + a tsp or so of water, maybe even slightly over cooked rice? Anyway, something starchy.
      There are lots of allergen free products available for the most common allergies, but bean allergies are not very common. My son recently outgrew his rice allergy (also a rare allergy) but when he still had it we had the damndest time finding packaged foods that were wheat free as well as rice free, because rice flour is the most common commercially used GF flour. We just had to suck it up and make everything from scratch, but hey, that's why I started this blog to begin with!
      When you have lots of allergies as well as other dietary restrictions because of health concerns, unfortunately you can never just find a perfect recipe already out there. The best you can hope for is a recipe that is close that you only have to tweak a little in order to make it work for you. Or at least, that has been our experience!

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    4. I also found this burger recipe that is vegan, soy, wheat, and bean free. Maybe it'll work for you! http://www.includingcake.com/recipes/?recipe_id=6050935

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    5. JMS-Joy in the Arts--how are you with lentils? If you can have lentils, the Post Punk Kitchen (think Veganomicon cook book) has a couple of recipes that use lentils for the burgers, both which I have tried and are yummy! Beet Burgers and Olive lentil burgers. In the olive burgers, instead of soy sauce, use a bit of the olive brine, and of course you'll want to use gluten free breadcrumbs. The beet burgers call for almond butter but I have to say, until I just looked at this recipe, I have forgotten to add it! They turned out fine! If you can use sunflower butter you could add this. Also, if you can't have lentils, try cooked quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat groats, even gluten free rolled oats. I know what a pain it is to try to find recipes "as is" to make, I have both gluten and dairy allergies, and I don't eat red meat. Consequently, I too have to look. I try to find something that's close to what I want, make substitutes with things I can have, say a little prayer over it and forge ahead! Sometimes works fantastically well, sometimes only okay, and rarely is it totally horrible! Hope I've sparked some ideas for you! Good luck and God bless.

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    6. Also, if you're interested, the Post Punk Kitchen website is www.theppk.com. Great vegan resource, if not gluten free. I find they spark my creativity! Also, if you comment with questions, they will gladly get back to you just as our wonderful host here, Abby M!

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  11. What are You using this for? I made it and really like it but am needing ideas to use it with....not used tofu much because of allergies here.

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    1. I'm glad you really like it! I would think it would work in most recipes that call for tofu so you may have some luck searching tofu recipes or vegan/vegetarian versions of whatever it is you are craving and then use this where tofu is called for. For instance I know if you search for vegan cheesecake you'll find lots of recipes that call for tofu. I'm sure that this would work great there! It's difficult to get used to the idea that you are searching for a recipe that is already a substitution for the 'real thing', and then you are making substitutions to that as well but, for me, I've found it to be second nature now.

      Anyway, the way we most often used this was sliced, breaded (with crushed seasonings and cornflakes or GF breadcrumbs) and then pan fried. It was delicious on spaghetti, like a tofu Parmesan! Hope that helps!

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  12. How long does this keep in the fridge?

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    1. We have never had any longer than about 4 days because we use it all, and we keep it in a sealed container in the fridge. It may last a week, but I am just guessing!

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  13. Will you be doing more with your blog? Miss reading it!!!!!

    Aliyanna

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    1. Aww thank you Aliyanna, that really means a lot to me! I haven't done anything with it in a long time because amazingly my son was outgrown many of his allergies and has been in remission of Eosiniophilic Esophagitis for almost two years now! At one point we were cooking without milk, eggs, soy, wheat, rice, oats, coconut, apples, beef, pork, or chicken...whew! The reason I started the blog was because finding recipes for such specific restrictions was pretty much impossible, but I knew we weren't the only ones in the world had to work with next to nothing for ingredients. Now the only foods he cannot eat are milk, eggs, beef and pork so I haven't had to resort to much kitchen alchemy, lol! The things we make now are easy to find on the internet so I haven't bothered to share.
      I am a little sad to have lost the reason for adding things to the blog but of course I'm way more excited that my little guy gets to eat more of a variety! I'm still here though whenever anyone comments and am more than happy to share what knowledge I gained from cooking allergen free for so long and to help anyone come up with specific recipes!

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  14. Is it normal for the Nofu to have a layer of water after it was cooked and sat in the refrig? Thanks for the recipe!

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    1. Mine will be moist but I wouldn't say there is a layer of water on it, so I'm not sure. If it still tastes ok and is a texture you can slice, i say it's no big deal. If it's not fully firming up as well as having water on top you may want to extend the cook time before you add the sludge (sounds so unappetizing) another minute or two and see if that helps take care of some of that extra moisture.
      Oh also are you covering it and putting it in the fridge while it's still hot? It could just be condensation, you could let it cool on the counter first before covering. Let me know if none if that works and I'll see what I can figure out!

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