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["Rinse the soy beans quickly, and soak them in water.", "It depends on how warm it is, but if you soak them for about half a day (10 - 20 hours) and the soy beans swell up to about 3 times their original size, that's plenty.", "As a general rule, aim for the ""ambient temperature + soaking time in hours"" to total 30.", "But it does depend on the temperature.", "Put the soaked soy beans plus some of the soaking liquid (400 ml) in a blender and blend.", "If you don't have 400 ml of liquid, add water.", "This pulverized mixture is called ""namago"" (raw soy base).", "Put the namago from Step 2 into a large pot, and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes.", "Spread out a piece of undyed coarsely woven cotton or a large cotton or linen kitchen towel in a bowl (one that's been sewn up into a bag is best suited for this).", "Add the Step 3 soy-water liquid to this, and squeeze it out very very well, being careful not to burn yourself.", "The squeezed out liquid is 'soy milk', and the fibers left in the cloth is 'okara'.", "I got 500 ml of soy milk and 120 g of okara.", "The okara is just like the okara sold at tofu stores.", "From here on are some extra things: It's really easy to make yuba (tofu skin) from the soy milk!", "Put the soy milk in a pan and just heat it up.", "A skin will form on the surface.", "This is yuba!", "To make tofu from the soy milk: Warm up the soy milk to 75C.", "Put some nigari (magnesium chloride) in a bowl, and pour the warmed soy milk into the bowl.", "After a while (don't touch the contents of the bowl in the meantime) the soy will coagulate, and the tofu is done.", "The amount of nigari to use varies, so read the package directions.", "Why does nigari make soy milk coagulate?", "The magnesium chloride in nigari coagulates the protein in the soy milk.", "Calcium sulphate, calcium chloride, glucono delta lactone etc.", "are used as coagulants too, according to a book on food chemistry.", "Can you make tofu using everyday coagulating agents?", "You can add kanten, agar, gelatin and so on to make pseudo-tofu.", "Kanten-set tofu has been popular since the kanten boom started.", "(Translator's note: kanten became popular a few years ago in Japan as a weight-loss aid.)", "However, if you simmer ""tofu"" that's set in this way it will just melt away, so you can't use it in heated dishes."]
