Soak soybeans with cold water overnight. Drain the beans. Place drained soybeans in a blender. Add cold water, about 800 ml. Blend at full speed for about 2-3 minute until you have a smooth milk. Prepare a nut milk bag and place in a large container. The blended soy milk is a thick white mixture.
Slowly pour the milk into the nut-milk bag. Rinse the blender with another 400ml water and pour it into the nut milk bag. Lift the bag slowly and tighten up the strings. Squeeze out the liquid as much as you can. The leftover part of soybeans are called “Dou zha”, it can be added to pastries or I simply use it as a fertilizer in my yard.
Pour soy milk into a pot. Bring to a boil on medium heat. A huge cloud of foam will shoot out when the temperature rises. Turn the heat down to very low immediately to prevent overflowing. Keep the milk simmer for about 8 minutes.
The foam will eventually disappear. Transfer boiled soy-milk to a large container or leave it in the pot to cool to 175 F (about 80C).
Next let’s dissolve the tofu coagulant. Use about 1 and a half tsp of coagulant. Mix in 3-4 tbsp of boiling hot water. Make sure the coagulant is fully dissolved. As the soy-milk cools down, tofu skin will form on the surface. Remove with chopsticks. We will use a spoon to slowly mix in the coagulant solution in a few stages. As soon as you see curds forming in the milk, stop adding the solution and let the tofu set undisturbed for 10-15 minutes.
While we wait for the tofu to solidify, let’s make a simple sauce. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, salt, Sichuan peppercorn powder, sesame paste, a little sesame oil.
Now you can see the tofu is ready. It is very soft and we call this Dou Hua (aka “flower” tofu). First scoop some of the liquid into the bowl. Mix well to form a soup base.
Scoop tofu into the bowl. Top with some chili oil, fresh green onion, some preserved mustard tuber, fried peanuts or any other nuts you like. I also like to top with some savory cracker. Garnish with some sesame seeds to finish it off.
