Pressing Tofu and a DIY Tofu Press

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Have you noticed that a lot of tofu recipes tell you to press your tofu?  Why, you may wonder?  Most tofu is store in water and since it’s rather absorbent, it is full of water.  If you cook with the tofu as is, your tofu won’t be able to suck up as many of the flavors in your meal and will taste blander.  So, the idea is to press out as much of the water as possible, particularly for meals that have you marinate the tofu in liquid.  You can google “pressing tofu” and find lots and lots of ideas on how to do it.  Go here to see the results.

Many many years ago, my husband and I decided to make our own tofu press.  I don’t know that there were many options on the market back then as there are now.  It was rather easy, so if you are a do it yourself kinda person, you can give it a shot.

Materials:

• 1/4″ plexiglass, enough to make two 6″ x 7″ rectangles
• Four 5/16″ diameter by 4″ long zinc plated bolts
• Four wing nuts to fit the bolts

Process:

• Cut the plexiglass with a table saw to make 6″ x 7″ rectangles
• Sand the edges with a belt sander (or by hand if you want to put some muscle into it)
• Drill 3/8″ holes in each of the corners, with the center of the hole about 3/4″ from the edge
• Place bolts through both pieces of plexiglass and secure with wing nuts.

Voila!  Your very own tofu press!  When pressing tofu with it, I don’t crank down on the wing nuts at the start (which causes the tofu to burst, sort of), rather turn them a little tighter every couple of minutes as I’m preparing the rest of the meal.