Legume Tofu

There is a way to preparing legumes doing the rounds at the moment which can add another dimension to your diet. I am not sure you can really call it tofu, but it is similar enough and can be used in the same way, and it also open to added flavours during the process in a way that buying tofu from the shop is not (you add them afterwards in that case).

It is also surprisingly simple.

Legumes are a staple of many cultures’ diets around the world, and are associated with good gut health, and longevity. They are a good source of plant protein. There are so many types. I have only tried this recipe so far with red lentils, however I have seen people using many other types of legume as this craze spreads.

There are many variations of this method, and some include soaking the legumes but blending without cooking. You can try that too, but the way I learnt and am doing myself, involves some soaking AND cooking, which I imagine makes it much easier to digest.

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils.

3 cups water.

Optional: onion powder, garlic powder, fresh or dried herbs and spices to taste. I have so far used onion and garlic powder and a little bit of turmeric for colour.

Method:

First wash the lentils and rinse.

Pour 3 cups water over the lentils and let them sit for a few hours- overnight would be great.

Then heat the mix in a saucepan, stirring constantly, and cook for 10 minutes or so until it is thick and well cooked. At this stage, add any flavours you like.

Simply pour the thick paste into a rectangular glass or stainless steel container (no oil needed). I have a glass one that is perfect, about 22cm X 17cm.

Put into the refrigerator to cool and set.

Voila, you have the ‘tofu’ ready to cut up. You can take out the whole slab at once and cut, or slice of a slab and cut it up.

It works really well when air fried.

The tofu I have made so far is not as solid as solid soy tofu, it is more delicate, but it still works really well.

Have a look on the internet, You Tube especially has some geat videos if you are more visual.