Skip to main content

Chickpea Tofu

This one is sort of like a polenta, but seems to be firmer - and, of course, it uses chickpeas.  We've modified our version from Jennifer Schmidt's.

The Ingredients:
  • 1 cup chickpea flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • at least 1/4 spice (we used ground ginger)
  • 3 cups water (divided)
  • Cooking spray or a neutral oil.

The Process:

Grease a pan or baking dish with the neutral oil.  An 8x8 is about right, but you can go smaller for thicker pieces or larger for thinner ones.

Put 1 1/2 cups water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

While your water is getting to its boil, combine chickpea flour, salt, and spice in a bowl.  Mix in 1 1/2 cups water and whisk until smooth.

Reduce heat on the saucepan to medium-high.  Add in the chickpea and water mixture, stirring constantly. 

Continue stirring until the mixture thickens.  (Schmidt claims this will take 8 minutes.  It took more like 15.  Also, if you stop stirring, your tofu mix will bubble and spit at you.)

Your mixture should be glossy and thicker than custard: you can test it by drizzling some on top of itself.  If the mix doesn't immediately reincorporate that drizzle, it's about ready.

Pour mixture into your greased pan and allow to sit for at least an hour.  It will get increasingly firm over time.  It will *not* get to a firm tofu consistency.

Cut it and use it like you would ordinary tofu.


Pro Tips:

This is a pretty basic base recipe also.  We used a bit of ginger this time, and the taste is slightly nutty and super mild.  Next time I'm putting more spices in it.  Garlic, onion powder, etc.

Apparently if you have dried chickpeas, you can run them through a food process and make your own chickpea flour.  Also a good strategy if you can't get chickpea flour.

Comments

Popular Posts

A Fall Double!

So, we've been on a short hiatus, partly because I was away on research.  (Karen did an admirable job of keeping the Queer Hipster Kitchen moving - there were doughnuts and a vegetarian shepherd's pie waiting when I got home!)  But we're back and the kitchen has been busy this week. When we travel, we are able to put a "vacation hold" on our amazing CSA, which lets us schedule a double share for a future week.  (This is an amazing feature and part of why we love this CSA.  Besides, you know, the incredible veggies.)  Due to unexpected travel, we had a forthcoming double.  I *thought* I'd scheduled it for the last week of the fall CSA, before we transition to the winter one.  But it turns out that, nope, I scheduled it for this past week. Surprise!  A double! I love a double, but it does take some planning.  Yes, that is five medium eggplant, two butternut squash, two cauliflower, two bundles of cooking greens, two bundles of kale, tw...

Kicking Coffee Up A Notch

On cold brew coffee I like coffee.  Not as much as Kara likes coffee, but I like it a lot.  I especially like iced coffee, year-round.  But I hate brewing hot coffee then diluting it with enough ice to get it cold (I prefer to use milk or a milk substitute to dilute my coffee).  So I bought a cold brew concentrate.  And that was fine, but I knew there had to be a better way. At some grocery stores and at one particular well-known coffee shop, you can find "kits" to make cold brew coffee.  Some places, especially that coffee shop, even offer cold brew coffee "machines."  Not being made of money and having a brain in my head, I decided I could do it much, much cheaper.  I remembered making "sun tea" with my mom, and figured I could do coffee almost the same way. The first time I DIYed my cold brew, I tried to make satchels using coffee filters and twine.  It didn't work great.  The grounds escaped and were a pain to try to get out ...

Pasta

Homemade pasta is easy - and you will never go back.  Our recipe comes from a cooking class taken at Sur la Table. Ingredients: 12 and 1/2 ounces of flour  (Pro Tip: use half "type 00" flour and half regular old all-purpose.) 4 eggs 1 tsp salt 1 T extra virgin olive oil Procedure: Combine flours and salt in a large kitchen bowl.   Create a well in the flour mixture; place 4 eggs and olive oil in the well. Using two fingers, swirl the eggs into the flour slowly until dough begins to form.  Stir from the center and work outward toward the sides.  When the dough is mixed, turn it out onto a floured surface.  Knead until flexible and smooth, but not sticky.  This should take about 5 minutes and you will need to add some small amounts of flour.   Shape the dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 20 minutes (up to an hour) at room temperature. To shape: Use a ben...