The Lengthy story quick: You requested if mung beans will tofu. Properly. I attempted and failed. A number of commenters insisted it can work. So I attempted once more. And once more. And once more. I nonetheless don’t suggest. Why? What went incorrect? Watch or learn on…
Watch Half 1: Will Mung Beans Tofu?
Watch Half 2: Is Mung Bean Tofu a Rip-off?
Soooo…Will Mung Beans Tofu?
You requested if mung beans will tofu and I gave it a attempt (really many tries) for “Will It Tofu”; the YouTube sequence the place I exploit the standard technique for making excessive protein, low carb soy tofu and apply it to non-traditional components. The aim is to seek out out which beans, peas, seeds and nuts might be reworked right into a soy tofu various that’s comparable by texture, diet, and flexibility in cooking. Simply have a look at the completed mung bean “tofu” under. Doesn’t that look prefer it suits the invoice?
Seems to be might be deceiving.
The Technique
In “Will It Tofu”, I attempt to maintain the strategy as near the unique as doable.
- soak dry ingredient in a single day within the fridge to rehydrate
- drain, then mix the rehydrated ingredient with recent water
- pressure to separate the fibrous pulp from the milk
- prepare dinner the milk (simmer at the least 10 minutes for peas and beans)
- add a coagulant
- press the curds and refrigerate in a single day
Be aware: there are recipes on the market for “tofu” constituted of complete legumes which are blended after which cooked till set. This technique is just like making polenta and produces a “tofu” that’s fairly scrumptious. Try my Burmese Tofu recipe for extra on that. Nonetheless, doesn’t have the identical qualities that make soy tofu so helpful and versatile. To be clear, I’m aiming for tofu that’s
- bouncy,
- excessive protein,
- low in carbohydrates,
- in a position to be cooked like soy tofu and never crumble (i.e. might be boiled, braised, marinated, grilled, and so forth.)
Try my submit on profitable Soy-Free Tofu to see profitable outcomes from chickpeas, inexperienced peas, pumpkin seeds and extra.
The Mung Beans (and the arrogance!)
Initially, I meant to attempt complete inexperienced mung beans for the video. Nonetheless, it was surprisingly troublesome to seek out mung beans on the grocery shops close to me. Lastly, I discovered a big bag of cut up mung beans and pounced on it! I actually believed that mung beans would flip into excessive protein, low carbohydrate, bouncy tofu with no issues.
The Variations
In whole, I attempted making mung bean tofu 4 other ways whereas sticking to the unique technique as a lot as doable.
- Scorching Soak and coagulated with gypsum (calcium sulphate),
- Chilly Soak and coagulated with gypsum,
- Chilly Soak and coagulated with lemon juice, and
- Chilly Soak and coagulated with white vinegar.
Variation 1 – Scorching Soak with Gypsum
There are two methods to rehydrate dried beans; scorching or chilly soak. The chilly soak, taking 8 hours or extra, is extra conventional. Plus, I feel it hydrates the beans extra evenly. However with cut up mung beans being so small, I assumed a scorching soak in about one hour would suffice.
Beforehand, I did the recent soak technique with pigeon peas and it labored! The Pigeon Pea Tofu got here out bouncy and agency. Plus, pigeon pea tofu was in a position to face up to boiling with out breaking up (as you possibly can see within the picture under).
So this time, having solely been capable of finding cut up mung beans, I utilized the identical scorching soaking technique to rehydrate them: one hour soak in simply boiled water.
Afterwards, the 454 grams (1lb) of cut up mung beans had soaked up 336 grams of water.
Then like ordinary, I blended the drained beans with about double their quantity of water in my Vitamix. As a result of these have been such small little cut up mung beans, I blended the primary half for simply 20 seconds on excessive.
The milk was straightforward to pressure; too straightforward. The pulp had seen specks of yellow which tells me I might’ve blended for longer. So for the second half, I elevated the mix time to 30 seconds on excessive.
The recent mung bean milk had a visual layer of starch on the backside straight away.
However as ordinary on this sequence, I let the milk relaxation for about one hour to let much more starch sink to the underside. All through this sequence, I’ve examined shorter and longer settling durations and 40 – 60 minutes appears to be the candy spot. Any longer (even in a single day) doesn’t appear to assist.
Then I gently ladled the milk to a pot and reserved the starch layer for different makes use of. Leftover starch can be utilized to thicken soups and sauces identical to cornstarch. However historically, mung bean starch has been utilized to make noodles! See this submit for the time I attempted making noodles with chickpea starch.
Beans have to be cooked and Mung Bean Milk is not any exception. So I simmered the milk for 10 minutes. Throughout this time, a pores and skin fashioned on high which I took as a very good signal! Soymilk additionally simply types a pores and skin throughout simmering and it’s used to make completely different recipes.
Afterwards, I raised the temperature to 180°F earlier than including the coagulant: 1 1/2 teaspoons of food-grade gypsum (calcium sulphate) in 1/2 cup of room temperature water. After stirring the coagulant in, the temperature was simply above the 165°F that we purpose for when coagulating soy tofu.
Then I lined the pot and let it relaxation for quarter-hour on the nice and cozy range high.
The ensuing curds have been tender and jiggly. The whey was clear yellow with no trace of milkiness. Nice indicators!
Nonetheless, as I crammed the tofu press, I observed it was filling up greater than I’d anticipate. Nonetheless, I used to be assured that I’d have mung bean tofu the subsequent day!
After chilling in a single day within the fridge, the mung bean curds had compressed as anticipated.
Upon unwrapping, it was clear to me that issues had gone horribly awry.
It’s exhausting to inform simply from pictures, however you possibly can see the sides have crumbled. When slicing, the knife didn’t come away cleanly. As a substitute, the mung bean “tofu” clung on and left mushy mung bean paste on the sting. The blocks weren’t bouncy and agency. As a substitute it was simply flattened by the again of a spoon.
The mouthfeel was like very compressed mashed potatoes. And the style wasn’t nice both. It had the flavour of watered-down mung beans with a touch of bitterness.
I even tried to season the surface of a pair cubes and pan-fried them. However nothing might masks the style of failure.
What went incorrect?
These mushy outcomes resembled the time I attempted making fava bean tofu with out eradicating the starch. So to me, it appeared that an excessive amount of starch remained within the tofu.
I additionally began to suspect that perhaps the recent soak was not appropriate for mung beans in any case. Maybe I simply obtained fortunate with the pigeon peas. A number of commenters who appeared to have expertise with mung bean tofu echoed this thought. They requested me to attempt once more with an extended soak and a few needed to see an extended settling step.
Variation 2 – Chilly Soak and coagulated with gypsum
With the primary failure out of the best way, I attempted once more with cut up mung beans from the identical bundle as earlier than. This time, I soaked 1lb of dried beans in chilly water, leaving it within the fridge to rehydrate for twenty-four hours.
The following day, the cut up mung beans have been good and plump. Plus, there was a visual layer of starch on high of them. After draining, the rehydrated beans weighed 891 grams, which means they soaked up about 100g extra water than the recent soaked mung beans.
I continued on to mix the beans with double their quantity of water, in half batches, for 30 seconds within the Vitamix. Then I used my nut milk bag to separate the milk from the pulp. This time the pulp got here out effective and easy with out seen chunks; simply what I prefer to see!
This time, I let the milk sit for two hours to permit the starch to sink to the underside of the bowl; greater than double the standard period of time. Nonetheless, after evaluating the footage, it doesn’t appear there was a distinction.
I gently scooped out the milk to keep away from disturbing the starch. After isolating the leftover starch, it measured about 90 grams; quite a bit lower than the 233g of starch anticipated from 1lb of those mung beans.
The mung bean milk was cooked identical to within the first variation. A style take a look at revealed that this cooked mung bean milk tasted quite a bit like soymilk with only a slight bitter aftertaste. Then I continued by letting it come to coagulation temperature, including the gypsum, overlaying the pot and letting it relaxation to coagulate.
At first look, the consequence regarded good! The milk had solidified and when pressed with a strainer, clear whey emerged.
Scooping into the curds revealed a tender and delicate texture.
Nonetheless, when filling up the tofu press, I might inform issues weren’t properly. Wonderful curds have been escaping from the material and the whey was turning into milky. Plus, the quantity was coming as much as the highest of the press as in Variation 1.
With a heavy coronary heart, I continued the method and put the curd-filled tofu press within the fridge to sit back in a single day.
The following day revealed what I feared. The unwrapped block of pressed mung bean curd was so tender that after I tapped it that my finger sunk proper by means of. It was potato-free mashed potatoes once more. This time the flavour was good although; simply freshly cooked mung beans however quite a bit smoother.
This tasty mung bean mash appeared suited to at least one factor I had been craving anyway: hummus! I blended it with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Scrumptious!
Nonetheless, after I glad my craving, I skilled a slight flare-up of my continual tendonitis signs. This tells me that the completed consequence was too excessive in starch. Although I’m not a fan of ache, this was a helpful clue as to why the tofu didn’t prove bouncy. There was nonetheless an excessive amount of starch left within the milk, and due to this fact, within the completed mung bean tofu.
Variation 3- Chilly Soak and coagulated with lemon juice
Just lately, I had a failure with chickpea tofu. I used a brand new bag of chickpeas and adopted the identical course of as I often do. However as a substitute of pretty bouncy chickpea tofu, this batch didn’t coagulate. After I tried once more with a unique bag, it labored as ordinary. All this to say, I used to be starting to suspect my specific bag of mung beans. Maybe it simply didn’t have the correct stuff for some cause. Nonetheless, it was a really massive bag and I wasn’t near being completed with it. For this sequence of assessments, I made a decision to maintain going. This time, I made a decision to check a unique coagulant.
I used the very same mung bean milk-making technique as earlier than however was much more cautious through the starch separation step. Then I cooked it up and added 1.5 tablespoons of lemon juice right into a half cup of room temperature water because the coagulant.
The consequence was even worse! The milk seemed to be separated into small chunks, resembling cottage cheese. The whey was not clear; it was milky indicating incomplete coagulation.
So I warmed the combination over low warmth for an additional quarter-hour to encourage extra coagulation.
Sadly, it didn’t assist. The milky whey was thick like a starch-thickened sauce. That tells me it’s nonetheless a starch difficulty. If that’s certainly the case, there can be nothing extra to do besides throw within the towel.
I used to be not able to throw it in although, so I added extra lemon juice and repeated the warming step. No bueno.
At this level, I used to be determined. I added vinegar an repeated the warming step once more as a final ditch effort!
After all it didn’t assist.
Variation 4 – Chilly Soak and coagulated with white vinegar
With the final pound of mung beans, I repeated the milking process. This time I used to be much less cautious concerning the starch separation step, pouring from the bowl immediately into the cooking pot as a substitute of rigorously scooping. After cooking the milk and ensuring it reached 180°F, I poured in an answer of 1/2 cup of water and 1 1/2 tablespoons of white vinegar.
We got here full circle. The consequence was very very like Variation 1. The curds regarded promising and the whey was clear. After urgent, the block appeared stable. But it surely didn’t slice cleanly. And when gently squeezed, it crumbled.
At this level, I’m half satisfied that mung bean tofu is a rip-off.
However with so many anecdotes of mung bean tofu in my remark part, I nonetheless won’t quit! Subsequent, I’ve lastly sourced complete inexperienced mung beans. And if that’s not sufficient, I’ve some powdered amylas enzyme which is used to show starch into sugar!
Please look out for the the subsequent installment of “Will Mung Beans Tofu”!
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