Hello friends and not yet friends! Welcome back to Mary's Test Kitchen
where in the last episode I just about made the best vegan bacon
ever conceived. It was crispy, fatty
with a bite that really did feel like real crispy fatty bacon.
But I don't know about you. I just don't think bacon
should be green on the inside whether plant based or not.
So I'm taking the leftover marinade from that video,
adding a very special ingredient to actually make it taste like pork,
plus bringing in the horror show that is this can of beets.
Similar idea to the beet seitan I made years ago.
If a vegetable could be gory, beets would be it.
So here we are trying to make a more meaty colored pumpkin seed tofu
from scratch using these soaked and drained pumpkin seeds.
We've got to blend them with the beet liquid. And add some more water because that's not enough.
By the way if you haven't watched the full pumpkin seed tofu tutorial
you might want to check that out. I'll have it linked in the cards
or in the description where you'll also find the written recipe.
But I'm just going to speed through this since most of you already know what's what.
You know, I thought the green of the pumpkin seeds,
plus the pink of the beets,
was going to make the milk brown. But I was pleasantly surprised.
The pumpkin seed pulp is also pink. Of course, I'm going to save this
and make something out of it like I did with our previous
red lentil tofu pulp. If you haven't seen that one yet,
add it to your queue and prepare yourself for
an emotional roller coaster. Now for the second half of the seeds.
No more beet juice. So it turns out green,
but this milk is still overall pinkish.
Now this pulp is green. Maybe a good addition for pesto?
Some kind of dip? Maybe something else?
You'll have to stay tuned for future episodes of The Tofu Pulp Diaries.
So please subscribe if you haven't already and if you're having a good time so far,
please give this video a thumbs up. It would really help me out.
Algorithm aside, I let this milk settle for about 20 minutes in case any starch
wants to stay at the bottom.
You can see just a little starch left over here,
but for one pound of pumpkin seeds, I would expect a little more, to be honest.
Now over high heat, I will take this pumpkin seed milk
to a full boil. But on the way there,
I'll be constantly stirring so nothing gets burned to the bottom and
periodically checking the temperature mostly so you can see what to expect
as you go along.
We're approaching 155, 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which is when the action starts. T
hat is, this tofu is starting to make itself without the help
of any additional coagulant. Fine curds are forming.
They're made up of the protein and fat from the pumpkin seeds.
Some of the curds are starting to get stuck at the bottom
so I'll continue to scrape with my wooden spatula.
And mmmm. Do you see the futility of this
beet juice experiment starting to reveal itself? My friends, do you feel my spirit sinking
as the curds emerging are the same pale green color as before? I
should've known! Beet color is water soluble
and these curds are full of fat. But don't be too disappointed my friends.
I'm sure we can think of something else to color our homemade "PumFu".
Please leave your suggestions in the comments below
and maybe I'll try your idea. Not all is lost though.
We're going to keep learning. The pot is at a full boil now
and is going past the 180 degree Fahrenheit mark that I recommended in my original
pumpkin seed tofu tutorial. After I posted that though,
several of you recommended going up to 200 or a full boil to get 100% coagulation.
And we do indeed get full coagulation. No milkiness left in the whey.
So now my recommendation is amended. Only go to 180 degrees Fahrenheit
if you want pumpkin seed tofu and some creamy plant-based milk.
Or go to the full boil for the maximum amount of tofu curds and clear whey.
I'm going to let these curds cool for a while. In the meantime, I'll set up my tofu press.
Which regular viewers will know is my absolute favorite tofu press of all time.
Because guys, I have used DIY methods. They are fine in a pinch.
I've used cheap plastic molds. They are also good,
but you have to balance weights on them and sometimes it can be a disaster.
Plus, the tofu is never super firm. But this one comes with a
spring-loaded lid that's adjustable. So you can press your tofu a little or a lot.
I love this press so much that I just bought a second one
because with all the experiments going on, I wanted a spare for my own home use.
Then I can continue to make dinners like my famous black pepper tofu,
a weeknight staple. Anyways, it comes with
instructions, separate lid, and a cheesecloth. However, some people have bought the same press
on Amazon and told me theirs didn't come with a cloth.
I don't know why. So if that happens to you,
and you cannot get in touch with the seller, this is the cheesecloth I recommend.
It is washable, strong, and a little bigger too, which is nice.
I've left the affiliate links in the description in case you want to check them out
or buy one for yourself. Affiliate links allow my channel
to make a little bit of change if you purchase from them.
But rest assured, there is never, ever any extra cost to you.
After getting all the curds in, I'm going to try to even them out in there.
Before folding over the cloth.
And adding the lid.
I'm twisting the knob which pushes the plate down for more pressure
and I can pour out the liquid from these handy vents.
Don't throw out this liquid either. It has a mild savory flavor
and you can use it instead of water in your next soup or stew recipe.
I put mine in this container and it will stay fine in the fridge
for a couple of days. You can see some starch has
actually settled at the bottom. So that's where that went.
The tofu can also go in the fridge overnight to chill completely.
In the the meantime, let's get to our marinade adjustments.
I'm using the leftover marinade from last time. I'll pop the ingredients up right here
and remember I had left out an essential ingredient to try mushroom seasoning instead.
But my friends, it is more pork-like with the real stuff.
Did you guess it? That's right.
MSG; monosodium glutamate.
The food additive shrouded in myth and legend even though MSG is now one of the most studied
food additives and is still considered safe like salt in moderation for most people.
If you don't want it though just leave it out. Don't be trying to fight me in the comments.
But like salt, it plays a very particular role.
Today's role: turn this seasoned soy sauce into pork tasting sauce.
Oh and I also added some nutritional yeast because I just can't leave well enough alone.
This can be stored in the fridge until you need it.
Which we do the next day when our pumpkin seed tofu is ready.
You can see pink spots, but it's mostly green.
I find it interesting we're having this marble effect.
I wonder why that is?
Anyways, it's not really the color I'm going for. So keep your gory suggestions coming my friends.
I'm going to need them. In the meantime, I'm going to slice this up.
And put it in our marinade. Looks like I need a bit more marinade
so quickly before the bottom half of this gets too salty.
I'm going to make more of our marinade
and this time I'm only going to use the essential ingredients that we need.
I'm going to spoon the marinade in between each slice,
which sounds like a tedious task, but it wasn't actually.
Really, it was fine. And then let this sit for
just a couple of minutes, not the full five,
because clearly we have been eating our time. Then I'm going to cook three ways again,
but this time most of it is going in the dehydrator.
I cannot wait to recreate that glistening, crispy, high-protein, plant-based bacon goodness.
And some goes in the air fryer
And some on a pan.
This is looking a little differently than before, my friends,
but I feel like I'm doing the exact same thing. I'm not sure if you can tell on camera,
but it looks a bit drier than before. It doesn't appear as if the fat
is coming out from the tofu like before.
And my suspicions are growing. Are yours?
Let's check out the airfryer results.
Just as I suspected. Do you see what's happening?
Can you tell the difference? it's way drier looking.
Could these pumpkin seeds just naturally have less fat content within?
That would be one explanation. But remember, the last vegan bacon
I made was using pumpkin seed tofu that had been previously frozen and thawed.
I couldn't see a difference in the internal texture nor was
there a noticeable taste difference but there was oil appearing on the surface.
Let's find out what happened in the dehydrator. This is after about 16 hours at 135 degrees.
I did blast it at 165 just to encourage it, to see what would happen. But here is our result.
Well, our marinated pumpkin seed tofu sure got dehydrated.
They are crisp as crisp bread. Where's that sheen though?
Where's the glisten? When I bite into it,
it is more of a crunchy than crisp. It doesn't feel fatty in the mouth
or retain that meaty texture. It's more like a cracker, guys.
Like what I would imagine "Crispers" being if they were bacon flavor.
But bottom line, it doesn't give the feel of bacon,
only the taste. My friends, are you as disappointed as I am?
Well don't be be. At least we learned something;
two things actually.
First, beet juice doesn't work to color pumpkin seed tofu.
And second, freezing and thawing pumpkin tofu does appear to do something.
Something we're gonna have to test further with different pumpkin seeds from different
sources maybe? I don't know.
Anyways, I'm still going to enjoy this batch of vegan bacon crunchies.
It's going to be awesome on salad, sandwiches and this flatbread.
We waste nothing! Which of course reminds me,
I got to get on that pumpkin seed pulp. The Tofu Pulp Diaries must continue and if
you want to follow along please subscribe if you haven't already. Hit that like button so YouTube
knows you're into this sort of thing. Plus it helps my channel out,
so thanks if you do that. Thank you so much for watching and
best wishes for the new year. Bye for now!