Quite possibly - I had not thought of this, as the Mingala "soy protein" was thicker than tofu skin I have encountered - but I see from following your link that it can be layered etc to make fake meat.   Thanks!

Further down the trail of breadcrumbs, I found this recipe for actually making the Burmese chickpea tofu.  It looks a little time-consuming but not hard, so maybe I will try it:
http://www.netcooks.com/recipes/Salads/ … .Tofu.html

The Burmese Tofu experiment is underway.   I stopped at Apna Bazaar on my way home and got a big bag of chickpea flour.  I will shortly be stirring 3 cups of it into 15 cups of water, and putting it aside to set overnight. 

The camera is working (although the other human seems to have hidden it at the moment) so I'll have pictures of the result (however it turns out) in a couple of days.  Stay tuned....

Come to Daddy, my little chickpea tofu....

ETA: He had put the camera in the top drawer of the sideboard in the dining room, where the nice coasters live.  I didn't even ask why.

Last edited by johnp (Wed 3/5/08 7:56 pm)

Thanks, japamela!   I do have Madison's Veg Cooking for Everyone and will look up that curry.  I also discovered that the Vegetarian Times ran a Burmese article a couple of years ago. 

If your friends have recipes they are willing to share, that would be great!!   Please do ask them if you have a chance.

Chickpea Tofu report:  This morning I strained the mixture.  The recipe says to use a "thin cotton cloth" - I used several layers of cheesecloth.   Very little residue was left in the cloth from the straining.  Either I needed to use something more like a dishtowel, or this step was designed for people using a coarser, less reliable grind of chickpea flour.  Unless I have a texture issue in the final product, I will skip this step in the future. I am going to let it settle today, and probably will cook it this evening.   It will then set up overnight tonight, and we'll see what we have tomorrow.

Chickpea Tofu Report:

I would have taken a photo, but a certain asparagus not only put the camera in an odd place, but failed to recharge it.  The battery is charging now, to be ready for tomorrow.

It sat out all day on the kitchen counter, settling while I was at work.  I very carefully skimmed off the top six cups of liquid and discarded (although I wonder if I could have saved it for a soup base).  I warmed a thick-bottomed pot with a little canola oil, 1 t salt, and 1/4 t tumeric.  I poured in the remaining chickpea liquid, leaving the thick sludge (of which there was a fair bit) in the bowl.  I brought it to a boil, and kept it at a medium boil for 30 minutes, whisking constantly.   A book and glass of wine helped.

It reduced a lot, and became a thick, golden, delicious, creamy chickpea sauce.  (My mind was imagining flavors to add and things to do with it.)   After half an hour of boiling, I poured in the reserved sludge from the bowl.   WARNING:  Stir energetically at once, or you will have major lumps.    I was pretty quick on the draw, but still resorted to an immersion blender to sort things out.  Per directions, I boiled this on low for 10 more minutes.  The texture was very polenta-like, although more smooth and not quite as thick.

I then lined a pyrex casserole with cheesecloth and poured the mixture into it.  It is cooling now.  Before I go to bed, I will probably put it in the fridge.  (Up to this point, I left everything sitting out at room temp, as I figured a little light fermentation and enzyme action couldn't hurt.) 

The mixture set up quickly on the spoon I used to stir for the last 10 minutes (it got too thick for a whisk).  I pulled off the bits from the spoon and ate them - very tasty, although a little plain, but hey it is tofu.  If the bits from the spoon are any indicator, this is going to be good.  When (and it is definitely when, not if) I make it again, I may add spices, garlic, etc, during the cooking process.

So it will cool and set up overnight.  I doubt I will get to it in the morning, but I will report in (with a photo, hopefully) in the afternoon/evening.

This really was not hard at all.  Mijitsu, you should risk it!

That looks beautiful and yummy!!  I once went to a Burmese festival and one of the stalls was selling a yellow bean "tofu."  They slathered it in soy sauce and cilantro which was soooo good.  Ever since then, my partner and I have wanted to have it again. We went to a Burmese restaurant and asked about it but they said that this dish is only made by home cooks.  Too bad!  That looks very close to what we had.

Wow.  That looks really neat.  I never would have thought of tofu as something possible to make at home, but I'm definitely going to try that.  (I've been trying to vary my protein sources a bit, not to rely so much on soy.)

I just discovered there's a Burmese restaurant in Boston near Grasshopper.  I'll ask them about the soy proteiny thing.

Whoa, that looks awesome!

Mijitsu wrote:

Oh wow it looks so good, and sounds like it might me mighty tasty too.

I seriously have to try this out next week...hmm, I think I'll add some condiments, too. Just a tiny little bit to start experimentig with.
And I'll leave that first straining step out based on your story, johnp.
will report back.

Yes, I suspect the person who had a mess wound up straining out too much of the flour.  The cheesecloth I used caught essentially nothing, and the end result was absolutely fine.  Don't strain.   I would let it sit out on the counter for a full 24 hours, to let as much of the flour sink from the surface as possible.

The only thing I will do differently next time is to save a little more of the liquid in the bowl with the "chickpea sludge" to mix up with the sludge before adding it to the boiling sauce.   Then I could pour it very slowly in a thin stream, making the mixing easier and reducing the need for the immersion blender.

Last night, we chopped up some of it into a cold cabbage salad with an asian dressing (soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar) - which (in a mad, cross-cultural moment) we had with Melisser's carnitas!    Both the salad and the carnitas were great.   I will probably try breading it and baking or frying today.

Adding condiments in the cooking process is definitely something I plan to do also.   It has a faintly "eggy" taste, and I am wondering if a little black salt might produce a substitute for something like the slice of scrambled egg one gets on an english muffin at certain restaurants, or the piece of egg in the midst of egg sushi.  I don't know if it will hold up for scrambled tofu - I have a feeling it would work if you chopped it small and worked fast.  (With time, it might start going liquid - not sure.)   I think you could also easily vary the texture (softer or firmer) by adding or subtracting from the amount of chickpea flour - and/or by using some other kinds of grain or legume flour in it.

Anyhow, I hope some other people make it, as it will be fun to see what y'all come up with!

CHICKPEA TOFU!? I can't believe I didn't know about this. I can't wait to try it!

iloveheeze wrote:

I just discovered there's a Burmese restaurant in Boston near Grasshopper.  I'll ask them about the soy proteiny thing.

I ate there once and looooved it.

Wow, thanks for sharing all of this info.  It looks really good.  I'd love to keep reading as you further refine the recipe.  Sounds like the technique is where it needs to be already.

I can add that it is great when breaded and pan-fried - crispy outside, soft inside.  The original Wikipedia article which got me interested has several descriptions of how it is used in Burma / Myanmar, which may inspire further experimentation.