I don’t really remember how I got obsessed with making Burmese tofu. I think I was reading about how terrible soy is for women (especially if you have hormonal dysfunctions like I, and so many women, do), and I was looking around for a substitute (probably, sounds like me). I do remember this was several months ago. I have been wanting to make this recipe for a while now. I had the bag of chickpea flour, just waiting in the wings. When I started making mug cakes and waffles with the flour I knew I had to use it for what I originally bought it for (because I would end up making 101 chickpea mug cakes and no tofu). So, here’s how I started…
The ingredients:
- 1 Cup of Chickpea (Garbanzo Bean) Flour
- 3 Cups of water
- Several shakes of turmeric
- Two shakes of crushed red pepper
- As much garlic as you can stand in your cooking (I can stand a lot!)
- About four grinds of Himalayan Pink Salt
- A few grinds of black pepper
As you can see, I’m really precise (heh). The most important thing is the flour and the water – you can season this however you like. Some people use broth or stock in place of water and, hey, if I had some I’d probably use that too. So, you boil two cups of the water and, in the meantime and in a separate bowl:
- Blend the flour, and the spices, with the remaining cup of water.
Once the two cups of water have reached a rolling boil, add the flour/spice/water mixture. It’ll look like this:
So, you have to whisk-whisk-whisk away to get rid of any lumps and until the mixture looks glossy (like it goes in the picture). You are now ready to pour the mixture into your prepared pan. To get your pan ready, line it with parchment paper. I used an 8×8 Pyrex pan.
Smooth it out in your pan, using a spoon or a spatula.
Then, once it’s spread out in the pan, let it sit until it gets room temperature (so condensation doesn’t form when you put it in the fridge). Which brings us to the next step: put it in the fridge! I let it sit out for about an hour and put it in the fridge for about three hours and I got this:
After it firms up in the fridge, you can cut up your tofu in any shape you want for your dishes. I cut mine two ways – in triangles and small rhombuses (yup, I said “rhombuses” – wait, is it “rhombuses” or “rhombi”?).
Here I am frying the triangles in some olive oil:
They are SUPER YUMMY! Take a look at this:
Crisp on the outside, a little soft on the inside. Seasoned perfectly (if I do say so myself)!
So, I made some meals with it:
I will most definitely share my stir-fry on Instagram!
So this was an easy, delicious recipe. A success! I can add this one to my repertoire, change it up a bit, make different sides. A great soy substitute!
Enjoy!
Day to Day Dweeb 