Na Dofu Seasonal Vegetable Tofu

Name: Na Dofu Seasonal Vegetable Tofu
Prep time: 480 min
Cook time: 70 min
Total time: 550 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: dried soybeans 500 g; potable water 2500 ml; powdered nigari coagulant 12 g; Heike kabu greens or mustard greens 80 g; carrot 20 g

Quick answer

Total time: 550 min
Level: Hard
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients: 5

About this dish

Slice into na-dofu and the cut face is flecked with chopped greens and carrot, set right into the curd.

In the mountain village of Shiiba in Miyazaki, cooks stretched precious soybeans this way, adding rape blossoms or mitsuba in spring and the pungent leaves of Heike turnip from autumn on. Mustard greens stand in for the turnip leaves here. The tofu is never soaked in water after pressing; it is cut and eaten right away with soy sauce or yuzu miso.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmount

powdered nigari coagulant

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Heike kabu greens or mustard greens

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Instructions

8 steps

1

Sort and rinse 500g dried soybeans and soak in at least three times their volume of cold potable water for 8 to 12 hours.

When doubled and soft through the center, drain and discard the soaking water.
2

Blend the soaked beans in four batches, sharing 2.5L potable water among them, for 1 minute each until very fine.

Transfer to a large pot and heat over medium while stirring the bottom.
3

When foam rises rapidly, lower the heat and keep stirring to prevent overflow.

After the mixture reaches a full boil, cook 10 minutes more to remove the raw-bean aroma, then turn off the heat.
4

Pour the cooked soybean mixture into a clean tofu bag and press with tongs to separate soy milk from okara.

Do not squeeze the hot bag by hand; collect the milk in a clean pot and hold above 75°C for 2 minutes.
5

Wash 80g greens and 20g carrot carefully.

Hold water at 75°C, pass the vegetables through for 30 seconds, drain and squeeze in a clean sieve, then chop no larger than 3mm.
6

Cool the soy milk to 60°C while stirring.

Dissolve 12g powdered nigari smoothly in 100ml warm soy milk, stream it into the main pot, and fold bottom to top only three times.
7

Scatter the chopped vegetables evenly, fold only twice, cover, and let curds form for 10 minutes.

When clear whey separates from white curds, ladle into a clean cloth-lined tofu mold.
8

Fold over the cloth and press with 1kg weight for 25 minutes.

When whey nearly stops and the block holds shape, unmold, cool 10 minutes, and cut into four portions without soaking in water.