What is Peanut Tofu?

Have you heard of "Peanuts Tofu"? You might know Tofu which is a soy-based food that is made from curdling soy milk, but Peanuts Tofu is not actually tofu since it's not made with soybeans. It's named Tofu as it looks similar.

Peanuts Tofu is made by heating peanuts milk made from raw peanuts with sweet potato starch.

The taste is richer than tofu with a peanut flavor, and the texture is special, wobbly but firm. The savory dish is a traditional cuisine in the south part of Japan such as Kyusyu and Okinawa regions, and called "Jimami Tofu" in Okinawa, "Dakkisho Tofu" in Kagoshima ,Kyusyu,

The History as a Local Cuisine 

Highly protein and calorie contained peanuts were treated as an important ingredients in old days in Okinawa, and Peanuts Tofu used to be served only for celebrations. Nowadays, Peanuts Tofu is common for local people, and is popular for tourists. You can buy it easily in stores in the regions.

Topping for the Peanut Tofu depends on the region. So many variations! For example, eaten with Wasabi and shoyu (soy sauce) in Okinawa, eaten with Umeboshi (pickled Japanese apricots) and shoyu in Kagoshima, and eaten with Yuzu(Japanese citrus) and miso in Nagasaki, Kyusyu.  

INGREDIENTS

[ Serving: 6 pieces (350ml), for 15cm x 10cm x 3cm container] 

50g /1.8oz (about a half cup)  sweet potato starch 

40g /1.4oz (about 2 heaping tbsp)  peanuts butter            

2 cups   water

*1 cup = 200ml  

1 Peanut Butter

Use Peanut butter instead of fresh peanuts for making your cooking easy. Choose a creamy and unsweetened or less sugar one.

2 Starch 

This recipe uses  sweet potato starch (Kansho Dempun甘藷澱粉). The starch makes this Peanut Tofu a nice texture. You can replace it with other starches such as Kudzu starch, tapioca starch, potato starch, and corn starch although the texture will be different.  

INSTRUCTIONS

1 In a small pan, place the starch and water, stir well with a whisk. Add peanut butter, stir well with the whisk before heating. 

2 Heat on medium, stir constantly with a spatula. When the mixture begins to thicken, about 3 minutes, reduce heat to low and continue stirring for 3 minutes.

3 Transfer to a container. Let the mixture cool. Cut it into 6 pieces. 

How to Eat it

Savory options

As a dessert

You can make a dessert by adding something sweet like some syrup you have. It could be good to add whipped cream and fresh fruit.
 

Peanut tofu with Kinako (roasted soybean flour)  and Kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup)

Enjoy the taste of Okinawa and Kyusyu!! 

Other Recipes

What's Kuromitsu？ Japanese Style Syrup Recipe

Easy Recipe: Make Tofu from Soy Milk at Home !

Today's Recommendations 

Ingredient

・Sweet potato starch   Warabi Mochi Flour from Kyushu, Kyo no Kanbutsuya

Topping  

・Wasabi   Kameya Foods: Farm Direct Grated Wasabi

・Shoyu  Tomei Shoyu - Transparent Soy Sauce by Fundodai Goyo Inc.

・Kinako (roasted soybean flour)  Kinako (roasted soybean flour) made from soybeans grown in Hokkaido 北海道産大豆使用 京きな粉　

Traditional Okinawan tea  Nakazen: Jasmine Tea Sanpin-cha 

Jasmine tea, known as 'sanpin-cha' in Okinawa, is popular for its Jasmine fragrance, and has been a mainstay of the islands since its days as the Ryukyu Kingdom hundreds of years ago.

Nakazen's sanpincha jasmine tea is used a semi-fermented tea leaves (20% fermentation) and scented with jasmine petals.