food : red lentil tofu

Tofu is a vegan protein that is made with soy beans and is fairly involved to make at home, though doable. This recipe is not for regular tofu, but red lentil tofu. It is much easier to make from scratch and has many similar properties. It is similar to Burmese tofu, which we were introduced to by my wife's cousin, but using masoor dal (red lentil) instead of moong dal (yellow lentil). The recipe/process is super easy and provides a nice substitute for regular tofu. We are still working out the best ways to prepare it with a meal. While this tofu can be eaten without further cooking, we have found that air frying it and having a generous portion of sauce is great over rice. I plan to try it out with stir fried veggies next.

Red lentils pack in a lot of protein, but note that it is not a complete protein the way that tofu made with soy is. This shouldn't be a problem since you are eating a well rounded diet, right? Serve it with some rice or bread and you are good to go.

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Put the water in a pot to boil
2. While the water is heating up rinse the lentils until the water runs clear and stops being bubbly/frothy
3. Put the lentils in a pyrex/glass container and pour the boiling water over them, cover and set aside for 20 minutes
4. Add the lentils/water, salt, spices to a blender or food processor and grind/blend until smooth
5. Add the ground liquid lentils/water to a large pot on modium heat, stirring continuously for around 5–7 minutes. The mixture will get pretty thick, and you should lower the heat to medium-low for the remainder of the cook time once it thickens substantially
6. Stop stirring and remove from heat when your whisk can more or less stand up on its own in the mixture
7. Immediately pour into an 8 by 8 pyrex baking dish (or similar) and put into the fridge to cool/set; leave for at least two hours, but overnight is fine
8. Turn over baking dish onto cutting board to remove the tofu, it should come out easily
9. Cut up to desired sizes for storage (in the fridge in an air tight container) or cooking

Notes

• As the mixture thickens it really does get quite tiring to stir, but keep stirring; you don't want it to burn
• The onion and garlic powder are suggestions, you can add any spices you like at the blender step
• We have a toaster oven with an air fry setting that works pretty well for cubes of this tofu, toss them in soy sauce and corn starch first
• The first time I made this it was hard to tell if I had it fully blended until it was being poured into the pot. I had some unblended lentils and it was still okay, they did not detract from the texture, as they were still cooked. That said, it is nice to have a uniform block for tofu, so maybe just blend a little bit extra to make sure
• This recipe can also be made with moong dal, split green peas, garbanzo beans, split garbanzo (chana dal), or green lentils. For the later four, you may want to presoak overnight (maybe not). Definitely make sure they are blended well and cooked thoroughly. I wouldn't try this exact recipe with, for example, kidney beans. They have toxins in them that will cook out, but would likely need much more water and a longer cook time. They would also definitely need an overnight soak.