This is amazing frankly. In the UK you can buy raw pumpkin seeds for about 5 pounds a kilo. Considering a block of tofu is about half that price, this actually makes it much cheaper than buying tofu. And the extra nut milk side product is really appealing. I'm definitely going to try this.
I was thinking all the way though this would be a cheaper alternative, then she came with the price of pumpkin seeds in Canada! Wow! I was shocked. I am glad they aren’t as expensive over here! I love pumpkin seeds and when I feel I can’t run to the expense of buying my favourite nuts I oftentimes buy pumpkin seeds instead.
A block of tofu in USA is 2-3 USD. However a bag of soybean is 2-3 USD and you can make at least 5-10x that many meaning if I buy a soy milk maker and a tofu press I can make tofu in 30-45 min after soaking the bean overnight. Also tofu can be made with other type of beans. You can try "soy milk" from other bean than soy such as Navy beans or kidney beans which are sweeter and don't require sugar added as they already are sweet. Kidney bean is already sugary. Or add vanilla imitation to sweeten it for 0 sugar added kidney bean "milk".
First time watching and I’m impressed l! Thank you for troubleshooting the textures of the leftover pulp and appropriate corrections so that my version will come out correctly.
Thank you! I recently developed an allergy to soy, and it has been utterly devastating. I’m so glad to find alternatives like these! Do you happen to know if you can make aburaage skins (tofu skin used in inari) out of this?
You're very welcome! I'm sorry to hear about your soy allergy; it must be so inconvenient. I'm not sure about this particular one, but a few of the bean milks will make tofu skin. For example, fava bean milk and yellow/green pea milks. You would make it the exact same way as making regular tofu skin from soymilk.
This is a great recipe. Thank you for this. I am a big fan of tofu but sadly my girlfriend is allergic to soy. I will definitely try this out. one Question though: At the beginning, why do you throw away the water the seeds were soaked in? Just to add new water and throw that away too. Just to finally add the last batch of water to blend the seeds with. Why throwing away all this water?
generally those machines call for using much LESS ingredients with the amount of water...so no. But with some creativity and thought, you could probably make it work.
It's just fiber for the most part. Some people make it into crackers or add it to bread recipes. Add some fat and seasonings and turn it into a vegan cheese ball. Endless possibilities really
Thanks for this video. I've been making pumfu from pepitas for several years. It is really good and versatile. Three observations: First, bring the temperature of the "milk" to 200 degrees. You will get more "tofu" and the liquid will be clear or nearly so. Second, make sure the pumpkin seeds are fresh. As they age, the seeds turn brownish and the quality of the "tofu" degrades. Third, the pulp can be used as an additive to almost any dish you wish. I use it in all kinds of recipes ranging from casseroles to a variety of breads. That helps to reduce the sticker shock.
@@marystestkitchen yes although the milk is a great discovery too. I love that between these two comments almost all parts can be used. I think I would try using the starch for thickening or even baking also? It fascinated me how distinctly the starch separates out. This seed just falls into 4 separate useful products.
@@wordzmyth the starch thing is a really good idea. One day I might try this and then put the starch in my dehydrator and see if it's useful as a thickener!
If you're a gardener, try growing a pumpkin variety like Lady Godiva. They have "naked" seeds (no shell) & that's what they are grown for. They are lovely looking as well. They have produced very well for me & the seeds are delicious! They are notorious for have a bad germination rate, thus making them "diffficult" to grow, but I finally figured out wrapping the seeds in damp paper towel until they sprout does the trick.
I'm currently experimenting with using a Hydroponic garden (found one on Amazon for under $100 usd!!) to start my seeds this yr since my parents had such good luck with it last season. It would be interesting to see how it compares to the paper towel method. Other than the obvious, paper towels are waaaay cheaper lolol
I’m astounded! As soon as you said the curds were squeaky my mind was blown, you just made pumpkin seed cheeze curds! I wonder how these would work on a vegan poutine? You’re a wizard, Mary!
I had a dumb thought as she was pulling out the curds from the whey... I know cheese is made from cow's milk, usually with the curds... The line between tofu and cheese has been blurred for me... And knowing you could make this stuff from other things besides soy... The possibilities...
I've just made this from scratch following your tutorial and I also separated off a bit to make a "flavored" version (I mixed the curds with some italian herbs, black pepper and nutritional yeast) before pressing into my tofu tubs and now they are both chilling in the fridge overnight ! I think the fact that you get 2 products out of this...tofu and milk actually makes its cheaper but of course this is the time to factor in. I'm in the process of opening a vegan restaurant in Pahoa, Hawaii so things like this are really exciting to me. I'm doing a lot of tests of various homemade things to see if I can scale them and make them work in the restaurant. Things like mung bean tempeh, tofu nuggets, coconut bacon and now this pepita tofu. I'm just so continually amazed by plant foods. I can't say it enough that food companies are really sleeping on plants. They continue to amaze me, ever since I first went vegan about 10 years ago and discovered how raw cashews can replace basically every dairy product, my mind was blown and there's still so much to discover. Thanks again for sharing this detailed tutorial !
Seeds are hydrophilic so heating the milk probably separated the curds and very delicious whey. If anyone is going to try this now is probably the time since it’s pumpkin season. Another tip to find pumpkin seeds is to check at a local Mexican grocery if you have one nearby; they use pepitas (as they call them) a lot in cooking.
@@lredding9890 I am also curious about this as those would be a bit cheaper for me. I love that there are so many options though as I am intolerant to soy and that is the only kind they have where I'm from so love being able to do myself
I think it's all oil seeds that will do this, but not sure if sunflower is one. For sure sesame seeds will work, I make a "scrambled egg" type thing with tahini in my microwave and it's rad! There's also egusi which are a particular kind of melon seed used in West African cuisine for precisely this kind of curdling quality. I once made an egusi soup recipe and was surprised how tofu-esque the texture of the cooked seed-clumps became. Sorry for the long comment!! I am a huge oil seed fan! Loved this video Mary! (Also I don't strain my blended pumpkin seeds when I use them and it turns out fine. Maybe that would increase the yield? I've never made pumfu though, just egg-like dishes like frittata).
I don’t know why or how I managed to have this video come up … but wow! My daughter who is visiting at Christmas has become vegetarian and I had no clue what to cook. I’m a farmer, grow a lot of my own vegetables, milk from my cows and raise my own meat and eggs. Being vegetarian and lactose intolerant is a new concept for this old girl. This recipe was so simple, easy and I can’t believe I’m going to say DELICIOUS! I can’t wait for my daughters visit to share this little gem with her. When I fire up the BBQ she won’t be left out, a seperate grill plate will be dedicated to Tofu and vegetable kebabs. Thank you so much for sharing this, I now hope I have a number pumpkin season (Australia)
@@wifsk484Some people do not eat meat, because they just don't like to eat it. No need to indirectly bitch on someone via their parents on social media. Also humans and animals have a lot more closer relationships then plants, but in the end its none of your buisness to decide what someone eats and what they don't. Another example some people do not like fish, would u force them to eat it, if they dont have to? Nooo cause thats called respecting someones boundries. Have a lovely day/ evening/ night💚
@@lisal.1114 yes this was all directed towards her daughter i want her to have a bad feeling about eating only plants and i hate it she doesnt eat meat it makes steam come out of my ears im fumin fam
I am so glad this video was recommended to me! As a person with a a soy allergy, red meat allergy and celiac's disease - I've run out of fun things to eat and experiment with! And I'm so excited to see this and find your channel! ! ! Easiest instant subscribe of my youtube existence! :D Thank you for this! ! !
😅🥲you are really positive from my perspective and yo I appreciate that energy - best of luck with your elevated dietary demands - whats good is delicious right!!? No premium mediocre
I've heard sunflower seeds can coagulate in a similar way to pumpkin seeds. Might be worth exploring that option. Plus, if you do end up using coagulant, the chlorogenic acid in the seed milk ought to turn the tofu a deep bluish green color. #reciperequest
Thanks for the recipe! I tried this recipe, it’s so cool! The only thing different is I heated until it boils so mine coagulated completely and the leftover liquid is clear. My hypothesis is because pumpkin seeds are high in magnesium, when heated those bivalent ions cross link with denatured protein and coagulate. The curd is so bouncy! I bet this recipe will be a great start for making vegan mozzarella. Usually people knead the cheese curd until it’s smooth and stretchy. I made mine all into tofu this time, next time I’ll try kneading!
Did you knead it? And also, do you think boiling it to coagulation made the taste any different from the way it was done in this video? I absolutely have never known anything about making cheese or tofu or anything like that so I’m curious about this
I'm in love with this "tofu from scratch" series. This video just blew my mind. I'm really interested to see tofus originated from different kinds of food because vegans have developed hundreds of ways to cook and utilize tofu in recipes so far. Tofu is able to turn any kitchen to a unique culinary development center. 😂 Could you make tofu from peanuts, kidney beans or peas? Thank you and greetings from Turkey! #reciperequest
Not vegetarian or vegan but i do love processing and making my own food and this looks absolutely phenomenal. At the very least, it seems like something i can do during pumpkin season. Thank you for this video!
Hmm... I am neither vegetarian or vegan, but I think I will be buying myself that tofu press and trying this out. It looks simple and delicious. Thank you for the idea. I'm actually about to start making miso soup in the near future and I'm curious to try this out in that. Hmm... I might try this with chia seeds too. I have a ton since chia seed flour is what I use to make my "daily bread" as most keto bread in the stores is not good. It seems that modified wheat starch is better as a marketing term than it is for your blood glucose.
@@marystestkitchen All I have is a Ninja Blender BN495UK 1000 W. Would that achieve the same results? I really have to be wary of spending on an expensive machine for a while, possibly foreseeably. Thanks.
@@7eardstapa7 Probably just depends on how you use it. Pumpkin spiced pumpkin seed tofu made into a vegan pumpkin spiced cheesecake would probably be delicious. :)
I really appreciate you talking about the cost of things in a serious way! I'm very much on a budget so that's important info for me and makes me feel a lot more normal to know you recognize this is a spendy recipe ☺️ great job on this though, it was super interesting!
You're most welcome. Budget is super top-of-mind for me and probably most people these days. Lots of people suggested trying sunflower seeds which are usually less expensive so I will try it soon :-) Please stay tuned!
The coagulation happens due to enzymes in pumpkin seeds that start to break down proteins - which pumpkin seeds are very high in amongst seeds - through the presence of heat. Would be interesting to see how the pumpkin seed milk behaves in baking, perhaps it has an effect similar to eggs that help set cakes faster.
Very appealing and surprising, will make this for sure. Thank you. Just a note: Please don't pour that nutritious soaking water down the drain; great for plants, indoors and out.
This is the first video I've ever watched from your channel and I loved it!! I love how thorough you are about your entire process and your end results, plus this recipe looks so good!! And I also appreciate your narration as well. It's not generic at all, almost like I'm listening to a friend explain something to me. Thank you for this video!
One reason it curdled is because of the high vitamin k content in pumpkin seeds. This can be seen with blueberries if you’ve ever made a blueberry smoothie, it becomes like gelatin.
@@fuyukazemi kind of has been done! taken from the internet- And, here’re the ingredients for making Kuzu Blueberry Tofu: 268 g Blueberry juice (no pulp) 21.4 g (8%) Kuzu starch Maple syrup (to taste) Sesame seeds (to taste) Directions: Make juice out of fresh blueberries and strain off the pulp. Blend in Kuzu starch until completely smooth with no lumps. Bring the mixture to boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 10 min, while continuously whisking. Pour the hot mix into a mold and let it set in the fridge for 1-2 hours at least. Unmold, cut if necessary, and serve with maple syrup and sesame seeds. Enjoy with amazing fresh, gluten-free & totally plant-based dessert.
I just tried this, and it works exactly as Mary describes. The product is tasty, and was very firm as I left it in the tofu press overnight. The only thing I did different from the video was not using a cloth inside the press, which caused no problems removing the final product. The pumpkin seeds I used were from Trader Joe's, $6.99 a pound, and made a pretty big block of tofu - several meals worth. Thanks Mary!
I work in a professional kitchen and decided to use my nifty tofu press to make this recipe! Everything came out exactly as described in the video, to the gram! So excited to come into work tomorrow and see my nicely curdled tofu. Amazing!!❤
Fascinating! Loved your real-time reactions as the temperature climbed to 180. I saw Pumfu at a health food store in NYC last week and was wondering if you had tried it. Yours looks even better!
Can you try sunflower seeds? They should be cheaper. Or perhaps other seeds that you see at the store that are on the cheaper side? Thanks for the content!
You might find a crazy chemical reaction there too because sunflower seeds can turn deep green at a certain pH in the presence of oxygen. So I could imagine it might turn green as it curdles or during pressing. Still good to eat though. I’d be interested in a hemp seed tofu…
Mary! You are an inspiration! I just put some Hempfu curds into the press. No coagulatlant needed. I used Hemp hearts from Costco and it worked very well. I will update after the Hempfu has set and we've done a taste test.
I made this recipe a few days ago. Just finished the last of the pumpkin seed tofu for lunch today. This was delicious!! I used the okara to make an oatmeal breakfast cookie, which is what I usually do with the okara from soy tofu. From now on, if I'm going through the hassle of making tofu at home, I'm only making pumpkin tofu. This was so delicious, and I never would've thought of it without your video. Thank you thank you thank you!!
Yes, please! I came to the comments to ask this. I've been making peanut milk lately because cashews, almonds, and pecans are so much more costly. I'd love to see you demystify peanut tofu so I'll be brave enough to try to make it.
P.S. I’ve been making my own tofu for a little over a year thanks to your videos and a particularly fresh tasting tofu dish I had while traveling! Thanks again!!
What if we mix pumpkin seeds with other types of beans to make it more cost effective and more rich in nutrients lol but ofc the recipe would be different. Its so funn to watch these cant wait for more ❤️
Just finished making this and it’s mind-boggling! I got giant curds! But the whey is rather clear and yellow. It tastes kind of bitter and sour, so that was kind of interesting. I don’t have a thermometer, so maybe I over heated it. Regardless, this is truly amazing! Can’t wait to try it tomorrow!
@@marystestkitchen I have not in a really long time but it goes like making tofu normally with roasted unsalted peanuts. They have a nice peanut taste which I really liked. The milk is also fantastic. Going to have to start doing it again now!
That looks so good! Unfortunately, pumpkin seeds are pretty expensive, unless you’re willing to put in the time and effort of collecting and processing your own from your own pumpkins. BTW, I have that same tofu press and really like it.
oooh I’ve seen pumfu in my fancy schmancy health food store a couple times, you’ve convinced me to give it a try! Didn’t know pumpkin seeds were so magic haha
I've got my pumpkin tofu in the fridge solidifying right now. I wanted to note that I prefer using the post-blender, pre-cooked pumpkin milk (VERY close to plain Rice Dream brand rice milk, imo) than the post-cooked liquid. The cooked liquid tastes MUCH more pumpkin-seed-like 😂 Luckily, I believe I'll just be blending soaked pumpkin seeds for plant milk from now on. I used to buy Rice Dream all the time, now I won't have to :D
Just finished eating some pumfu out of the air fryer. I coated it in a little onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika & panko bread crumbs before putting it in. To me, it was close to a McDonald's beef patty. Didn't taste weird, wasn't gritty. Was very chewy and soft like a McDonald's patty OR an omelette. (Can you tell I'm not fully vegan? 😂) And it was filling/satisfying
Egg is literally just a ball of protein and when you boil it hardens, maybe the same happens for the proteins in the pumpkin. If so found a new replacement for eggs.
I make pumpkin seed milk all the time! I'm excited to make it next time and also have tofu! I can't have tofu made from legumes and I want to add variety in my diet and not have so much soy, so this excites me! Thank you!
Thank you! We buy the pomfu at the grocery store as we preferred the pumpkin seed tofu and while less expensive than making it yourself, the bonus is the plant milk extra. Love this tofu series. Thanks!
Oh my god. The one ingredient I have more of in my house than RICE is pumpkin seeds (albeit they’re salted)! And I’ve been wanting to try some of these tofu recipes but I don’t have food grade gypsum. I’m going to try this out right now and update everyone in a few days.
@@marystestkitchen They worked out perfectly! I didn’t have a high speed blender so I couldn’t get as many curds as I wanted, but the resulting pumpkin milk made a wonderful autumnal hot chocolate! The pumfu itself was delicious, and the best tofu I’ve eaten in my life. Amazing as honey chicken. I also used the pumpkin seed pulp in some energy date bars. All in all worth it!
I’ve made this twice; my husband and I enjoy this very much! I made it the first time exactly as pictured in the video. The second time I ran out of time so put the pumpkin seed milk in the fridge overnight and made the tofu the next day. Cold from the fridge heated up to 180° it formed smaller softer curd, not as big clumps. Air fried, the second batch expelled a lot more oil and the texture was lighter airier. I prefer the texture made just as in the video with bouncy firmer texture. Guess I did my own test kitchen from your test kitchen. ✌️
Terrific! I've been wanting to experiment with lesser used/experimented seeds (pumpkin being one of them) as well as beans for things like butters, milks, tofu and stuff. Watermelon and hemp seeds are others and I've also been wondering if the hassle of collecting pepper seeds would be worth it, haha. You continue to be (and always will be!) a societal treasure, thank you for all your hard work. Hope you're staying healthy!! :)
I wonder whether sesame seed or poppy seed tofu would work 🤔 (Poppy seed milk tastes amazing 100% confirmed and you should try it anyway; but I wonder whether it'll tofufy)
MARY!! Made this pumpkin seed tofu last night and it was AMAZING! Seriously this tofu puts regular soy based tofu to shame. Followed the process exactly how you laid out in the video and it worked perfectly. The mixture start coagulating around 170. Did it in the morning around 9AM and took the tofu out around 4PM and it was fully set and very firm. I used about 6 cups of water in total to get the mixture to blend which produced a bunch of "milk". The whole process (after soaking the seeds overnight) took about an hour including cleanup. The taste of the tofu is creamy and very, very filling. Could only eat about 6 pieces of air fried tofu with that seasoning blend before getting full. Used some of the leftover milk the next morning in a smoothie which was outstanding also. Please do a video on what to do with the leftover pulp which I put in the freezer. I'm thinking this is pretty much pure fiber and will probably be putting some of it in my smoothie as well but there could be other uses. At any rate, this video is great and thanks for the heads up.
Yay! That's wonderful, Roy. Thanks for sharing your detailed experience! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I''m shooting the pumpkin pulp video today so please stay tuned for that.
gave it a try and frying a thin slice is a surprisingly spot on replica for a fried egg (with a pinch of kala namak sprinkled on top for that eggy flavour)
a few people mentioned that! Sadly costco doesn't carry anything else I want so I didn't get a membership. But this is a great tip for those who already have one!
If the nut milk bag is good at removing the fiber, couldn’t you grind the whole pumpkin seeds, hull and all? Unhulled pumpkin seeds would be much cheaper. I’m also thinking if you lightly ground the whole seeds, and put them into water, that the fatty seed particles would float and the shells (if soaked) would sink to the bottom, and then you could pour off the good stuff to continue with the recipe. I’ve never made nut milk nor tofu, so I’m hoping someone here who has can respond to these theories. I have about half a pound of fresh seeds from my Halloween pumpkins, and I was thinking about how most efficiently to use them. Since they come out of the pumpkin already perfectly hydrated, maybe this is the perfect use for them. I can’t find an efficient method to hull raw, dried pumpkin seeds, and then it occurred to me maybe it’s not necessary. Thoughts, anyone?
ahh but then we wouldn't be able to use the pulp for other recipes later. If you already have fresh pumpkin seeds though, I haven't tried using them but maybe you can do this and just compost the pulp.
I tried this and mine coagulated completely. The whey was clear. Also my tofu looks like it has white and green parts separated from each other. Not uniform color like yours. Anyway I'll weigh it down and wait until tomorrow to taste it, I'm sure it will be fine.
Pepitas aren't actually hulled pumpkin seeds, they come from particular varieties of pumpkins which produce seeds without hulls. Surprised me when I learned this, so I wanted to share.
And I will keep this pumfu for my life when I have a tiny house and will be have to eat only what I can grow forcing me to be vegan. Pumpkins are on the menu
I'm making this currently, it's in the tofu press (same one as in the vid) and hoping it'll be all ready tomorrow morning. Funny thing is, I wound up making only one product, as all the stuff from the "curdle soup" was curdled. I kept scraping the bottom of the pan so that the stuff that was coagulating there wouldn't burn. Methinks that might have been the starch? If so, the starch is in the curds, but I don't mind. Looking forward to tomorrow morning! THANK YOU for posting, cz I really wanted to find a soy-free option. I've tried for decades to like soy tofu, have cooked it many different ways, but in the end, I can't with soy tofu. Bleckh. Gonna post an update tomorrow morning. :) EDIT: It's SO GOOD! I love it! Methinks one can even eat it before molding it, gonna try that out. But yeah, THANK YOU for posting this! EDIT AGAIN: Nah, too soft without molding, but this week I made a block and my boyfriend made a block. We LOVE this stuff! THANK YOU for sharing!
When you told about the catch i got really happy actually because Tofu in denmark is quit expensiv, but pumpkinseeds are not. So this is actually not a catch but a plus for me, i love tofu but a cant affort it, but by making it myself like this i will finally be able to. I will by my first Tofu press in the start of next month and try this recipe and i'm so looking forward to taste it. Thank you so much for sharing this 🥰🌸❤️
I'm going to try this. I like tofu when crisped up nice in a wok with some soy sauce or other seasonings, but I get sick every time I eat it. 15-20 minutes later, I'm talking to my friend RAAAAALLLLPHHH about it very loudly. It's a pain. I can tolerate soy sauce, but I think the fermentation with koji helps with this allergy/sensitivity/whatever, because I literally buy Kikkoman by the gallon. (Don't judge me.) I'm not vegetarian, much less vegan, but I'm willing to learn things to diversify my protein sources, and I'm getting dreadfully tired of chicken all the time. I just don't enjoy other meat as much anymore, possibly because either covid nuked my taste buds a couple of years ago, or the random cases of thrush I seem to get when I eat too much starch has coagulated the poor taste buds and most meats taste like nothing. So I'm just grasping at straws. I'm happy to try something new that's tofu-like if I can eat it without getting sick like I do from soy tofu. I am tooling up from scratch for this. I have no decent blender, just this "Ninja" evil love-child of a bullet blender and a mini food processor that simply is not suitable for the task. But I'm not buying a $300 Vitamix (yes, they're wonderful, but my Scots blood won't let me spend that much on an experiment) for something I don't know if I'll be able to eat afterward. (Well, more than once. Yes, I'm scared. I don't deal with change well. Not just Scot ancestors, but I'm a double-Taurus on top of it. It's like a stuffed animal with googly eyes that look at each other. It's the cross-eyed bear. Badump. Sad trombone.) I found a high speed blender on Amazon that might work. Maybe. If you squint and cover up half of it with your hand. But it's also half off due to an instant coupon, so I'm trying it. I have a fire extinguisher on hand, so if it catches fire, I can put it out...but I'm hoping it actually works. I won't mention the brand until I survive this experiment. ;) I did order everything else from the list, including that adorable tofu press and probably way too many nut milk bags. You do realize that there are 3 different kinds of nut milk bag on that Amazon page you link to for the nut milk bag, right? And the company that makes the large cheesecloth you recommend has a bunch of different grades, right? Well, I guessed and bought a couple of different ones from the links and brands your recommend. Worst case, I can use a couple for making toddy coffee or something. (That reminds me...I need filters for the toddy coffee brewer. It's not just cold brew, it's super-concentrated cold-brew, and the final filter is a 3/8-inch thick disk of felt. But the coffee it makes is unbelievably good. My Dad bought one in the 60's, and they still make the things today.) Heck, I even got a small container of gypsum, even though the pumpkin seed variety appears self-flocculating. I might want it for another kind later, and I was already ordering stuff. I have a 20 lb bag of Epsom salt, but I don't think it's food-grade, and I use it for foot baths, so I'll just stay with gypsum. I found Mexican-grown pepitas (raw unsalted pumpkin seeds) that were a decent price. The comments on the Chinese pumpkin seed options were insane. Seriously, they scared me. So I chose a brand that WASN'T from China, in hopes I get something edible and not suitable for making batteries. (Too much heavy metal in some brands.) Any recommendations regarding that issue? I guess I'll see how these do. I did find some very inexpensive bulk pepitas on Amazon, but I don't want to buy 8 pounds as an experiment. Maybe later, if this works and I like the result. I'll have to look into what I can do with the leftover pulp that I can actually eat without dying or having to start injecting insulin. Sorry for the snark. It's a coping mechanism.
Oh no! Someone in my family has the same reaction to soy tofu. Such a bummer! Maybe you can try fava bean tofu. It's higher in protein, the texture is more like regular tofu, and the taste is similar too (but I find it even nicer). You don't need a vitamix for this. Just a standard blender is just fine but you will need to increase the blending time. I would recommend one minute and then see what the pulp looks like. The nutmilk bag should be this one "Nut Milk Bags, All Natural Cheesecloth Bags, 12"x12", 2 Pack, 100% Unbleached Cotton Cloth Bags for Cheese/Tea/Yogurt/Juice/Wine/Soup/Herbs, Durable Washable Reusable Almond Milk Strainer(Weave 66x70)" and it comes in a 2 pack or 1 pack. If you're watching from outside the US or Canada, you might just get a list that Amazon automatically generates. It's really annoying they do that. The cheesecloth should be from Olicity 20 x 20" grade 100. That's the one I use. Hopefully you can find pumpkin seeds locally. I'm lucky they are grown in Canada where I live so it's easy to get. :-)
@@marystestkitchen Good news, the pumpkin seeds I got online were quite good. The price was tolerable, given I bought them online. I probably could have gotten them cheaper if I had gone out and found a bulk store, but I do NOT travel well. I'll have to search around a bit. The ones I got were the GERBS brand, in a 2-lb bag. I paid $0.72/oz, a bit over $22 USD for the 2 pound bag. But they are marked as grown in Mexico, not China, so I hopefully avoided some heavy metals, as Chinese seeds and supposedly contaminated. I'm not sure about the veracity of that, I haven't actually seen an analysis. So I got the ones closest to me. They made good product, so I'm happy with them. I hadn't seen this reply until AFTER I bought my bits and pieces, so I wound up with the synthetic 125 micron nut milk bag. It's okay. I'm not negatively biased just because the fabric is synthetic. For me, that can be a bit of a plus, as the molds I am allergic to don't grow well if at all on synthetic materials. I'll just have to treat the cheesecloth with care, as I did get the 20"x20" unbleached fabric one. It worked very nicely for the pressing, so that's another plus mark on the nose of the plane. I did manage to get the Olicity 20 x20" grade 100. I might try fava beans at some point. I still have a fair weight of pepitas to work through yet, as I only made a half pound as a proof of concept. I had to get pretty much all of my equipment for this new, but the bulk of what I bought was mostly storage containers. We've just been putting leftovers in Ziploc freezer bags and chucking 'em into the freezer. So I ordered a 4-pack of 2.5-liter rectangular airtight boxes, a couple of 3 liter cylindrical tall containers, similar ones but only 11 oz (I apologize for the flipping between metric and freedom units, it's how they were marked on the package). I can use that, so I got two. I got a 16 piece set (actually 32 pieces, as they counted the container and its lid as ONE piece) with various shapes and sizes. I used one, a shallow round container, to store my finished pieces of seasoned and fried pumfu. But I digress... I was worried that the legendary power of the Vitamix motor would at least be a significant part of the process, but it turns out, as you said, not so much. I DID get a new, high-speed blender. A blender with a VERY high rating with a lot of people reviewing it. It's the "WantJoin Professional Countertop Blender for Kitchen, Max 1800W Blender 5 Modes for Ice Smoothie,Salsa,Sauce,Juice (Silver)", which had the standard price of... $62 USD. I was perfectly ready to pay that, and if I had, I still would have gotten a decent blender. But on that particular day, the gods smiled upon me and made it available -- for a limited time! -- with a coupon for 40% off. That sale's over, but I managed to get my high speed blender for about $32 USD. At that price, if it catches fire whenever I listen to Nickelback, I'll still be ahead four blenders in. ;) (I'm kidding. I don't listen to Nickelback.) All I know is, I bought the most blender I could for as little as I could spend, just on the off-chance that things would go pear-shaped at some point. But so far, I've been quite pleased. The blender has all the settings you'd expect, and has a small LED display that shows a countdown timer that starts when you hit "start". You can choose Low or High, but no matter which you choose, you can dial the speed up or down using the big knob on the control panel. I used High, and ran it up to 9. 30-40 seconds at that speed, and the seeds and water merged on an existential level, becoming one with one another. It was pureed most decisively, with zero unwhipped chunks of seed to be found. The pulverization of the seeds was total. I squeezed the stuffins' out of that nut milk, using the space age synthetic nut milk bag (honestly, I had actually purchased the one you clarified in the above reply, it just wasn't the bag I opened. Everything went absolutely swimmingly, even the cooking and coagulating step. Honestly, I aired out that the temps you were giving were in Freedom Units, not metric, and my pot hit 160F and BAM! I had curds. I let it go until a bit after 170, but the whey was almost completely clear, and there was nothing more coagulating. So I stopped the process, and ladled the curds and whey into a fine strainer on top of a large mug. I lifted the strainer from the mug, tapped it a few times to get the last free whey out of the curds, then put it all in the prepared tofu press. I folded the cloth over, put on the top, and tightened down the spring. I poured off a goodly amount of whey, which (yes, I'm a total blasphemer) I discarded. I don't currently have a use for the whey, so I didn't save it. After I squoze it as much as the press would squoze, I put it in the fridge. I have ALMOST a half pound of fluffy, light-jade-green pulp. I bagged it, tagged it, tossed a couple of 10 gram silica gel dessicant packs, then sealed the bag and put that in the fridge. That was all done by about 2:30 in the afternoon. Tonight, around 10pm, I pulled the press out of the fridge and turned out the block of pumpkin seed tofu onto a paper plate. It was springy and not crumbly. It was almost bouncy, and very firm. I sliced it up into pieces like you did, tossed together a similar seasoning mixture, which was quite heavy on onion and garlic, with some powdered thyme, chili powder, popcorn salt, and fresh ground black pepper. I like popcorn salt -- its as close as you can get to that lovely powdered salt in the takeaway packets at McDonald's as I've ever seen, EXCEPT for Alton Brown's superfine salt he made by whizzing regular kosher salt in a spice grinder until it was almost monomolecular. I saved out a couple of pieces that only got salt and pepper, and a piece I left plain, cutting it in half and tossing it in the hot oil without any seasoning. The other half, I ate without frying. It was quite good, though it didn't have much flavor. The minimally-seasoned pieces were even better, and the very seasoned pieces were wonderful! All got dipped in my favorite soy sauce -- just good ol' Kikkoman -- but frankly, I prefer it to almost all other soy sauce available. The flavor of Kikkoman is utterly unlike the flavor of that artificial hair sauce in the packets they give you in your Chinese food orders. But the best part? I ate 3 pieces, variably seasoned, one unseasoned and unfried, one fried with salt and pepper only, and one with my spice mix. And I only felt satisfaction from my tummy. There was NO allergic reaction whatsoever. This reassured me that the reaction I have to isolated plant protein is specifically limited to SOY protein. That's a big win -- I can make this stuff very quickly and easily now that I've been through the process once, and it'll make a good addition to our diet. Thanks again for going to the trouble of figuring out how to do this, and for being so rigorous in your experimentation.
No, you don't have to. If you're using a plastic tofu press like I am, you may want to let it cool just a tad so there's no chance of warping the plastic. If you're using stainless steel or bamboo, I don't think you need to let it cool at all.
I’d like to add that adding just a teaspoon of real SEA SALT not table salt helped in coagulating the proteins even more. I found this out by chance because I thought it would be a good idea to salt the curds while still cooking.
